To pity, or not to pity

Throughout life, one encounters people who are to be pitied and people who don’t deserve to be pitied. Abram defined the term tragic hero as someone who is to be pitied, someone who is quite arrogant in his or her remarks, and who is influenced by his “error of judgment”, or tragic flaw. In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, a respected soldier, Macbeth, is to be bombarded with the most awful misfortune. In this case, Macbeth has two out of the three conditions to qualify as a tragic hero; extreme arrogance and tragic flaw. Even though Macbeth qualifies for most of the conditions of a tragic hero, he does not deserve the remaining condition; pity.

During the beginning of the play, Macbeth is praised which raises his social standing, and later develops arrogance which ultimately leads to his downfall. Shakespeare cites “What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won” (1: 2: 78). This quote represents the praise Macbeth receives from the king, and his promotion which will further raise his self-esteem to a point where it is dangerous. According to Abram, “This tragic effect will be stronger if...