Macbeth Tragic Hero

Aristotle shared his view of what makes a tragic hero in his poetics. He proclaimed that a tragic hero is a literary character who makes a judgement error that inevitably leads to his or her own destruction. The hero falls from grace due to a position of humility due to their ambitious pride. A man doesn’t become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall.

Shakespeare, in his time wrote many works of art, many of which represented this concept of a tragic hero. Widely considered as the greatest dramatist of all time, William Shakespeare was, as you all know a legend of his time and a brilliant play writer who was known for his verbal wit, psychological depth and emotional range. He is known for many different masterpieces such a

Macbeth falls victim to what could almost be seen as mind control. The series of supernatural phenomena is a vital part of the plot structure. In the play the three witches are responsible for the introduction of the homicidal tendencies forming in Macbeth’s mind. “All hail Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter” is one of the witches prophecies. After hearing this Macbeth, like any other ambitious person would, begins to build temptation and desire to fulfil his newly learned destiny by whatever means necessary. They changed his thoughts and attitudes to be malevolent, and from this encounter onwards it becomes apparent that Macbeth harbors a consuming ambition, whereas from the start of the play Shakespeare did not create a visual of Macbeth portraying villainous characteristics. However Macbeth cannot be labelled a villain, as witches were very powerful figures during this period of time. The persuasive power they possess is evident in act 1 scene 3 when Macbeth demands the “imperfect speakers to stay and tell him more”. If the witches had not been in the path of Banquo and Macbeth in the beginning of the play Macbeth would not have even thought of being Thane of Cawdor and Gladis, let alone king. The witches are a strong representation of Macbeth’s evil ambitions and should be considered the

Shakespeare positions the audience to view the character of Macbeth as a victim of puppetry under the control of his wicked wife Lady Macbeth. Macbeth's growing character degenerates from a noble man to violent individual as Lady Macbeth manipulates him through the use of his growing ambition. If not for Lady Macbeth, his ambition would not have been intensified enough to drive him to obtain and maintain his title of King of Scotland no matter what it took, even if it meant