Macbeth Tragic Hero Essay

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Macbeth is a story of tragedy set in Medieval Scotland during a time of great conflict. The main character is Macbeth the thane of Glamis, a great warrior and friend of the king. After winning a glorious battle Macbeth is confronted by three witches who seem to have an ulterior motive. They address Macbeth by the titles of thane of Cawdor and King of Scotland both of which he is not. Thus by this interaction the witches plant seeds of desire into Macbeth’s mind. Before this he was just a loyal military commander with no intent of being great. When he is granted the title of thane of Cawdor by King Duncan, Macbeth starts to believe that the witches prophecy is becoming true. This fuels his desire to be king, a desire that he didn’t have until the witches implanted it in his mind. …show more content…

Aristotle stated that a tragic hero must be of certain qualities: a man of noble stature, good, though not perfect, have a fall that results from committing an act of injustice, which is his own fault, and receive a punishment that exceeds the crime.”(schoolwork helper.net) “A tragic hero is a person of noble birth with heroic or potentially heroic qualities.”(tragic.hero.htm) This fully describes Macbeth because he is of noble birth and shows heroic qualities during the battle. Another criteria of being a tragic hero is that: “This person is fated by the Gods or by some supernatural force to doom and destruction or at least to great suffering.”(tragic.hero.htm). Macbeth is fated by the three witches although he doesn’t meet his doom just yet. “But the hero struggles mightily against this fate and this cosmic conflict wins our admiration.” (tragic.hero.htm) Yes, Macbeth does struggle with his actions and at times seem unwill to carry them out, because of this we don’t see him as a total villain because he does show hesitation and remorse. “Because

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