Shakespeare's Macbeth is a Tragic Hero

In the late 16th century and early 17th century, no playwright was better known

than William Shakespeare. He was especially known for many famous tragedies. When

Shakespeare wrote these plays he took many key aspects into account to create as much

of an impact as possible on the reader or the audience. Macbeth, for example, is about

one man, Macbeth who does what he thinks is necessary to become king but dies

tragically due to his judgement. In this play, Shakespeare communicates how Macbeth's

destiny can be changed depending on how he deals with his predicted future, in other

words, his fate versus his free will. Macbeth makes many foolish decisions throughout

his life like believing evil and supernatural powers will help him, allowing the endless

verbal assault by Lady Macbeth to control him, and allowing his own ignorance in his

decisions to overtake him. These are the main contributing factors that lead to his

eventual breakdown and death.

There are several instances in the story which suggest that the Weird Sisters are to

blame for Macbeth?s downfall. At the very beginning of the book, the witches meet

Macbeth and right away fill his mind with desire for the throne by telling him he will be

king. The witches state ?All hail Macbeth that shalt be king hereafter!? (1.3.53). Since the

witches are telling this to Macbeth, they are giving him a false sense of security by

predicting what the future holds for him. After Macbeth converses with the witches,

Banquo gets the feeling that the witches are bad news. ?The instruments of darkness tell

us truths / Win us with honest trifles to betray?s/In deepest consequence? (1.3.136-138).

This means that the ...

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...and supernatural powers to control him, allowing his own

ignorance in his decisions to overtake him and allowing the endless verbal assault by

Lady Macbeth to control him, Macbeth is indeed a tragic hero. He has a fatal flaw that

combined with fate, brings on a tragedy of all sorts. The Weird Sisters, Lady Macbeth

and Macbeth himself play key roles in the downfall of Macbeth and each of them is to

blame for the deaths of many people in the play. Shakespeare therefore allows them to set

other people up for their crimes, especially Macbeth who gives a sense of vulnerability to

many obvious culprits to the crime, making the play more enjoyable to watch and listen

to. Along these lines, Shakespeare?s plays and books are the guidelines to many other

tragic plays and books recorded through centuries and centuries of great literature.