Power and Tragedy in Macbeth by William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth tells the story of the noble thane, Macbeth, becoming corrupted due to his rise of power. Macbeth, who is the centre character, qualifies as a tragic hero. People are able to identify with Macbeth, see his nobility before corruption, and witness him acquire new knowledge from his dark story.

Readers and watchers of the play are attracted to Macbeth, despite his faults. Most people would not see Macbeth and say that they want to be exactly like him, yet they cannot say that he is a villain. As Lisa Low said in The Tragedy of Macbeth, “Macbeth is no Romeo and no Hamlet. He is a fiend and a butcher… And yet, almost against our wills, we are drawn to Macbeth” (Low, 146). Macbeth is not someone people aspire to be, more is he someone people can blame all wickedness upon. Rather, we are drawn to him because we see ourselves in him. Readers see ourselves in Macbeth not because they have all had the opportunity to become the thane of Scotland and do his deeds; instead, “We pity him because, like us, he stands next to innocence in a world in which evil is a prerequisite for being human” (147). Readers realise that Macbeth’s actions are just mistakes that they could potentially make if they were in his position, and as a result from that, readers feel sorry for him. Readers are human beings that have their faults, just like Macbeth. Lastly, Macbeth displays the characteristics of a tragic hero, as “he is great, magnificently great, in courage, in passionate, indomitable ambition, in imagination and capacity to feel” (Spurgeon, 124). Macbeth shows the human emotions that people consider as positive traits, and therefore they cannot say that he is pure even because of the depth of his character.

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...t in which she kills herself. In a short moment of grieving, Macbeth is struck with a new perspective on life, in which he states, “To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day, to the last syllable of recorded time; and all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death…[Life] is a tale told by an idiot, full of sounds and fury, signifying nothing” (V v 19-23, 26-28). Macbeth comes to the understanding that all he has done in life means nothing - moments of glory, nor moments of shame - when death arrives and ends your story.

Shakespeare’s character, Macbeth, is a tragic hero because he has the requirements of one: audience attraction, nobleness, and newly acquired knowledge from his downfall. Macbeth as a character may be disliked by many, however there is no doubt that he is a relatable and complex tragic hero.