Macbeth the Tragic Hero The most tragic hero was Macbeth. A tragic hero is one who commits an act and suffers tremendously for it. Just as all tragic heroes, Macbeth made decisions that led him to his doom. His actions were influenced by his wife, Lady Macbeth, and the Witches? prophecies. He was greatly haunted by his desire of being King and to remain King. His noble characteristic slowly downgraded to a violent and cruel individual as the story progresses. Macbeth once used to be a brave gentleman. He was well respected around Scotland and earned much trust from almost everyone. When the King said, ?For brave Macbeth ? (1.2.18),? we can interpret that even the King himself respected Macbeth. He goes out to war, defeat enemies, and save his country, his life was put on the line for the entire Scotland. He earned himself the titles Thane of Cawdor and Thane of Glamis. In war, he is a well rounded warrior?he kills many on the battlefield without hesitation. But when he had to kill King Duncan, it took more than courage for him to commit the murder. It might be a cowardly act to murder a King in order to gain his throne, but the courage he mustered in order to actually kill King Duncan was bravery. Added to the fact that King Duncan is Macbeth?s own relative plays an important role on how much it took for Macbeth to kill. But unfortunately, Macbeth used his bravery for evil intents rather than for good. Guilt played a tragic role in Macbeth?s downfall. After killing Duncan, he was haunted by his actions and couldn?t move on without worrying that his murder was going to be exploited. From the quote, ?Will all great Neptune?s ocean wash this blood? (2.2.60),? we can assume that Macbeth was worried of whether or not his guilt will vanquish. There was no turning back for him. As the story progresses, the only solution for maintaining his reign of Scotland was to kill. His close friend, Banquo, was also murdered because Macbeth assumed doing so would be best in order to prevent losing his throne. But little did Macbeth know that he was actually being killed by his own mind and ambitions Another important factor that brought catastrophe to Macbeth was the Witches? prophecies. His superstition was noted by his susceptibility to the Witches? predictions. If the Witches never told Macbeth that he was going to be the King of Scotland, he would have been his ordinary self and not ponder upon those thoughts.
Macbeth was a tragic hero. Traditionally, a tragic hero is someone who is born as an example of greatness but somehow along the way they acquire a flaw in character that brings about his own downf...
A tragic hero is a person of noble birth or potentially heroic qualities. The role of a tragic hero is common in many of Shakespeare's plays such as Macbeth. The character of Macbeth is a classic example of a Shakespearean tragic hero. A tragic hero often has a noble background. This person is predominantly good, but suffers a terrible fate falling out due to glitches in their personality. The tragic hero has a monstrous downfall, brought out by their fatal flaw. Macbeth is named a tragic hero because he learns through suffering, he is isolated, and he exhibits personal courage in his acceptance of death.
The definition of a tragic hero, as stated on dictionary.com, is a literary character that makes an error in judgment that, combined with fate and external forces, brings on a tragedy. It has been argued for years whether Macbeth from Shakespeare’s, The Tragedy of Macbeth, can truly be considered a tragic hero or whether he is solely a villainous tyrant. Although there are some valid arguments for the Macbeth is pure evil viewpoint, by looking at Macbeth in a holistic way you can see the tragic, the heroic, and the tragic hero within him. Macbeth is a tragic hero in every sense of the definition.
Everyone deals with guilt at least one time throughout their life, and several authors use guilt to help build up suspense in their story. Guilt in Macbeth not only affects his mental state of mind, but it also destroys him physically, along with a few other characters such as Lady Macbeth. The characters are affected by guilt so much, that it actually leads to their death essentially, just because they were not able to handle the consequences for the events that occurred. Despite being destroyed by guilt, they were still forced to carry on with their lives and they did have to try to hide it, even though Macbeth was not doing so well with that. His hallucinations were giving him up and eventually everyone knew the he had murdered Duncan so he could become the next king.
The Tragedy of Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays to ever have been written. Takes place back in the Elizabethan age back when kings and queens ruled certain countries and people did not have much freedom. The Tragedy of Macbeth has to do with a couple madly in love with one another. Where Macbeth would do anything for his wife lady Macbeth; in ACT I Macbeth and Banquo return from battle, he and Banquo meet three witches who predict that not only will Macbeth be rewarded by King Duncan but that he will become king himself. This is when Macbeth actually starts to consider the assassination of King Duncan. However for Banquo the witches greet him as a father of kings. When Lady Macbeth hears of the witch’s predictions she comes to the conclusion that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth will kill King Duncan. On the night Lady Macbeth tries to kill King Duncan she hesitates on completing the task and she urges her Husband Macbeth to do the killing instead. In Act II Lady Macbeth drugs Duncan’s guards to make Macbeths task; on killing King Duncan much easier. Macbeth kills the guard...
In Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, the main character Macbeth is labeled as either a tragic hero or a villain. A tragic hero is a literary character who makes a judgement error that inevitably leads to his/her own destruction. A villain is the bad guy of the story. They are the ones who come up with a diabolical plot to somehow cause harm or ruin (“Literary Terms.”). As of now where we are at in the play, it seems as if Macbeth is a character who does reckless things but intends to do the right thing. In the beginning of the play, Macbeth is faithfully serving the king by slaying the enemies who try to invade the great land of Scotland. Although selfish by killing King Duncan, his righteous morals and servant attitude says otherwise in the
Laurence Sterne once wrote, “No body, but he who has felt it, can conceive what a plaguing thing it is to have a man’s mind torn asunder by two projects of equal strength, both obstinately pulling in a contrary direction at the same time.” This passage embodies one of the over arching themes of Macbeth. The character Macbeth, in Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth, could easily identify with this passage due to the fact that he is pulled in opposite directions by both his desire to do what is right and his desire for power.
William Shakespeare's tragic play Macbeth tells the story of the rise and fall of its title character. After proving himself in a battle, Macbeth replaces the thane of Cawdor, who has betrayed his country. Unfortunately, his ambition gets the best of him and leads him to usurp the king's throne. As king, he is a paranoid tyrant and his ambition ultimately leads to his death. According to the standards set by Aristotle, Macbeth can be considered a tragic hero.
A tragic hero would be a person that deserves to suffer from his or her mistakes on which he or she did on their own. I believe that Macbeth is not a tragic hero because, macbeth knew what he was getting himself into and how bad the consequences would turn out.
According to the classical view, tragedy should arouse feelings of pity and fear in the audience. Does macbeth do this?
Aristotle once said, “A man cannot become a hero until he can see the root of his downfall.” According to Aristotle, the characteristic of a tragic hero is a man of noble stature and occupies a high status position. There should be a fatal flaw that eventually leads to his downfall, the tragedy is usually raised by its character’s fatal flaw and the audience must feel pity or fear for this character. While there is less pity or fear for Macbeth, Macbeth still is a character who portrays a tragic hero through his nobility, high status position, his hamartia, and error in judgment.
At the end of an awful, long day one might wonder what went wrong – was the universe against them? Was it a mistake on their part? What have they lost as a result? Such a scenario can be exemplified in the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare. First, outside forces influence Macbeth into making decisions he would not ordinarily make. Second, Macbeth’s transition from a revered leader to a detested king can be symbolized by the absence of nobility loyalty, and peace. Third, Macbeth’s overwhelming pride and thirst for power leads him to commit a series of crimes. The play Macbeth by William Shakespeare highlights the role of a Tragic Hero signifying that not staying true to ones core values will ultimately lead to their downfall.
What would you do if three witches told you that one day you would be the President of the United States? Depending on your character, you would just wait patiently for the time to become President, or you would be impatient and take things into your own hands. This is the story of Macbeth.
A Shakespearean tragic hero starts out as a noble person; a great exceptional being who stands out. A tragic hero has a tragic flaw of an exaggerated trait that leads to their downfall and eventually to death. William Shakespeare often made his main characters tragic heroes in his plays. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the role of the tragic hero is given to the main character: Macbeth. This is because he starts off as a loyal and well liked man in the beginning, but has a tragic flaw of ambition which ultimately leads to his downfall.
Throughout Macbeth by William Shakespeare we see the transformation of the main character, Macbeth, from hero to villain. Translated, this basically means that Macbeth changes from a brave warrior to a serial killer!