Macbeth Tragic Hero Research Paper

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A tragic hero is usually a great hero who gets the most respect from other people. Then again, a tragic hero can also lose everything he gained because of his mistakes. His downfall is the result of a wrong judgment, a flaw which might combined with fated and external forces. In the novel Macbeth by William Shakespeare it follows a general Macbeth as he rises through ranks in some very fraudulent ways. His criminal ways started as something that his ambition led him into by seeking power. His criminal ways starts early on in the story when he kills Duncan who is king at the time, this caused great commotion with in the kingdom because Duncan was the King when Macbeth killed him. This also shocked Duncan because he never thought Macbeth would …show more content…

For example many tragic heroes are fated by the gods or by some supernatural force to doom and destruction or at least to great suffering. This happens to Macbeth when the evil witch sisters drive his ambition by telling him these prophecies. One of the prophecies they tell him and Banqou is, “Your descendants will be kings, even though you will not be one. So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!” (Act 1, Scene 3, Line 68-69). This quote drives Macbeth’s ambition into his first murder of Duncan, and then into his next murders of Banqou and his son Fleance. Macbeth does this once again because of the dark side of his ambition, because when the witches tell him that Banqou’s descendants will be king he kills Banqou’s son to ensure his spot on the throne. He kills Banqou because he fears that he knows about his first murder of King Duncan, because he was there when Macbeth received the prophecy that he would be king. This shows how Macbeth is a tragic hero because the supernatural force him into great suffering. It also shows how his ambition has a dark side yet again because these prophecies drove his ambition to such a point that he started killing anyone who he thought would take the throne from him or anyone he thought suspected him of criminal acts to get to the

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