Macbeth Tragic Hero Essay

Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies: dark drama of crime and punishment, drama of temptation, guilt, regret and revenge, but importantly the tragedy of Macbeth – The Tragic Hero.

Macbeth at the beginning in Act1 Scene 2 is given a heroic quality. He is described as a heroic warrior, “valor’s minion”, “Bellona’s bridegroom”.

Duncan praises Macbeth as “valiant”, a “worthy gentleman” and “noble”.

Macbeth is stunned by the prophecies and astonished by the news of becoming the Thane of Cawdor.

During Shakespearian times practicing witchcraft was a crime and punishable by death. Shakespeare and his patron, King James 1st believed that witchcraft was a real danger. This is reflected as a supernatural theme of the play.

In Act1 Scene3 brave Macbeth is infected with evil by witches and his concealed ambition is activated inside him and therefore the changes in his character started to occur.

Through his aside Macbeth expresses for the first time a

“If it were done…” the key word is “if.”. If he could do it and get away with it, then he should do it. But at deep, he realises that murder is not simple or easy for him, neither is the choice of evil. In Shakespeare play figurative language conveys in Macbeths character a feeling of terror, awareness of the seriousness of his crime as an act of treachery against Duncan. Metaphors “poison chalice”, “bloody instruction”, personified “Pity” and the hyperbole of “every eye” shows Macbeths own imagery of damnation after death and consequences in his life. At this stage he feels very emotional and sensitive about killing Duncan and the only justification for murder is his “vaulting ambition”. “Vaulting” being a powerful athletic metaphor, suggest leaping over all obstacles which could end in fall. With so much conscious, his finer feelings, pity and admiration for Duncan, have won when he says to his