Macbeth: The Tragic Fall of a Hero

Macbeth, a tragic hero, has authoritative status throughout the drama, but a flaw in his character eventually brings out his demise. As the play “Macbeth” begins, under King Duncan’s reign, the protagonist, Macbeth, is the Thane of Glamis, who then goes on to become the Thane of Cawdor, a hero who helps keep King Duncan’s reign powerful. With power, the crave for more power becomes accessible. Lady Macbeth, Macbeth’s wife, soon gets greedy with Macbeth’s power and wants to rule the land with Macbeth as king. Lady Macbeth drives the idea of power into her husband’s head, making him a notorious traitor. At the end of the play, Macbeth is a backstabber who killed King Duncan to gain control. After completing a bad actions, the only way to feel

Because of his valor and loyalty, King Duncan felt inclined to say, “O valiant cousin! Worthy gentleman!” (1.2.26). In the beginning of the play when Macbeth was coming down from the battlefield and King Duncan received news about Macbeth’s bravery, the Sergeant said, “For brave Macbeth—well he deserves that name/ Disdaining fortune, with his brandish’d steel.../ carved out his passage/ Till he faced the slave…” (1.2.18-19.21-22). Duncan is honored to have Macbeth under his rule, he saw Macbeth as a son, as a friend. The two are cousins which would give Macbeth even a stronger reason to not kill Duncan.

As the play progressed, Macbeth slowly started to decline, his mental state worsening with every turn of a page. King Duncan was a powerful king, always making the right choices. After his assassination by Macbeth, “His silver skin laced with his golden blood,/ and his gashed stabs looked like a breach in nature” (2.3.131-132). Duncan’s pure skin was covered with his rich blood. An honest man was murdered, which brought out the violent Macbeth to cause havoc in the

To relate the manner,/ Were, on the quarry of these murdered deer/ To add the death of you”(4.3.??) Macbeth did not care about who the person was, but if there was someone standing in his way on his route to power, they would get killed. Macbeth had everyone in Fife brutally murdered, all because of his first warning by the Weird Sisters. Macbeth later states that he has nothing to fear of Macduff because he believes that Macduff was “of woman born,” Macbeth decides that brutally murdering Macduff’s entire family is a step in the right direction, on the path to power. Macbeth decided to feel that the Weird Sisters prophecies were worthwhile to listen to. However, Macbeth got the prophecies too wound up in his head to think about. “Macbeth's capacious mind, despite its moral degeneration, remains at center-stage, showing the horrific consequences of a truly heroic spirit embracing evil”