A tragic hero is someone born into a noble lifestyle, destined for greatness, but is tested by fate through great destruction and suffering. In the book Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, this concept is well demonstrated in the main characters uprising. When Macbeth chooses the wrong path, he is led by his ambition to his destruction. The presence of an active flaw, the struggle to eliminate it when too late and the path to demise it created are all reasons Macbeth’s story is tragic. As a result, Macbeth’s tragic flaw of ambition led him to become a tragic hero. First of all, Macbeth started to become a tragic hero when many of his decisions allowed him to act upon his ambition in a negative way. For instance, Macbeth encouraged his ambition …show more content…
First of all, in an emotional aspect, it led to his demise as he lost all feeling and meaning to his life. In his castle, whilst preparing for the battle, Macbeth hears the cry of a women. Seyton enters to inform him that Lady Macbeth has killed herself. “Tomorrow, and tomorrow and tomorrow// Creeps in this petty pace from day to day// To the last syllable of recorded time;...// Out, out, brief candle,// Life’s but a walking shadow” (Ⅴ.Ⅴ, 18-20, 22-23). In learning the death of his wife, Macbeth expresses feelings of pointlessness towards life as a he no longer has anything important worth fighting for. Ultimately, with the lose of his wife and soon to be throne, he becomes depressed as a result of his ambition. To continue, Macbeth was led to his demise …show more content…
By choosing to murder the family, Macduff’s rage was enough to want revenge on Macbeth, having him killed. Approaching the final scenes, Malcolm and Macduff have been informed of Macbeth's latest murder. When Macduff becomes sore hearted, Malcolm steps in with words of guidance. “Be this the whetstone of your sword, let grief// Convert to anger. Blunt not the heart, enrage it.” (Ⅳ.Ⅲ, 231-232) . In these words, Macduff is told to use his rage with his sword to finally have Macbeth slaine, which inevitably brought him to his demise. After everything, Macbeth became a tragic hero because he could not and would not control his flaw, which eventually resulted in his untimely
Macbeth could justly be classified a “Tragic Hero” as his tragic story fills out the defined criteria for a tragic hero. Macbeth holds a significant social status, reveals essential truths about humanity through his suffering, has tragically wasted talent, contains a “tragic flaw” leading to his downfall and finally he finds some relief in his death.
Macbeth was a tragic hero. Traditionally, a tragic hero is someone who is born as an example of greatness but somehow along the way they acquire a flaw in character that brings about his own downf...
The novel Macbeth is usually described as tragedy written by William Shakespeare presents how a good hearted man can develop to a cold-blooded failure due to his egotistical mindset. The character Macbeth is a tragic hero in this novel. He had too much faith in the three witches who promised that Macbeth will presume to be king of Scotland. Although Macbeth carried uttermost ambition and this only resulted to deficient bearings. His inferior behaviorism can only predict how much of a downfall lies ahead of him.
What is more, the one thing that Macbeth does that encompasses every aspect of a tragic hero is fighting Macduff and knowing he is going to lose. Macduff is a man much like Macbeth, and arguably the man Macbeth would have become had he not been tempted into such awful actions. Besides that though, Macduff is the man that Macbeth wronged the most. Macbeth killed his family, his wife and children, and that is more pain than any one person should ever have to bear. So who better to slay Macbeth than the man who really deserves the vengeance. Macbeth goes into battle with Macduff not only because it is his nature, as mentioned previously, but because Macbeth owes it to him. It is Macbeth’s way of making things right, this is Macbeth’s apology and that is tragic, heroic, and most importantly an act of a true tragic hero.
Macbeth fits every characteristic of a Greek and Shakespearean tragic hero. The audience gets to see the full cycle of a rise to power, followed by a great demise. His ambition leads to his degeneration as a character which resulted in his ultimate downfall, death. Macbeth displays all the characteristics of a tragic hero, making him an infamous character in Shakespeare’s time as well as present day.
Greed is a quality that many have, but too much of it can be catastrophic. In the tragedy Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the character Macbeth has a tragic flaw that leads to his eventual downfall. A tragic hero is generally defined as someone who has great potential; someone who is born into nobility and could have a great future. However, they are doomed to fail and often die because of a tragic flaw. These characters usually learn a lesson from their deeds. However, it is usually too late for them to have a happy ending. These characteristics apply to Macbeth, whose greatest flaw is his greed for power. Shakespeare uses characterization, conflict, irony, and foreshadowing to show the audience that Macbeth is a tragic hero.
Many of us want to become a hero, a person with exceptional courage and strength. Macbeth desired this, but he wasn’t flawless. Macbeth was a man with many faults that led to his downfall. Starting out as a hero, Macbeth soon became a cowardly man, a tragic hero. Aristotle defined a tragic hero as a man who "falls into misfortune through some flaw” or simply a great man, who possesses a character flaw, which eventually causes their downfall. In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Macbeth is a good example of a tragic hero. Macbeth is portrayed as a man who falls from his position of nobility due to a flaw in his character that eventually results in his tragic death. Macbeth, even though a great man, let the witches prophecies, influence of Lady Macbeth, and his ambitions get the best of him leading to his tragic death.
To conclude, Macbeth does in fact qualify as a Tragic Hero. He starts off as a very respectable and admirable protagonist, also with very relatable human characteristics. However he possesses a good amount of self-confidence, which is knocked down by his downfall. Macbeth goes through an insane amount of suffering, like the loss of his wife and the inevitable downfall that is his death. Despite all of his flaws and mistakes he has made, Macbeth still manages to make the audience experience a catharsis. All of which is crucial to being a Tragic Hero.
Thesis: Macbeth fits the definition of a tragic hero because of how the witches predicted that he would become king, Lady Macbeth’s drive to push Macbeth to get to power, and Macbeth’s reckless ambition.
At the end of the play, Macbeth has nothing left; his wife is dead, he has no friends, and Malcolm and Macduff are coming with an army to remove him from power. He finally realizes that his death is inevitable and that the things that come along with old age like honor, obedience and friends, are things he, “must not look to have,” (Act V, sc iii, line 28). Macbeth knows that he is going to lose to Macduff, but goes down fighting. “I will not yield, To kiss the ground before young Malcolm’s feet.” (Act V, sc viii, line
His blind ambition is shown to contradict his honourable nature, and this change in his persona is exemplified in Act I, scene 4, when Macbeth contemplates murdering King Duncan: "Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires." His easily impressionable nature causes him to not form his own opinions, but rather listen to the witches and his wife who leave these toxic thoughts to fester in his mind.These tragic flaws go on to play a major role in Macbeth’s demise. Due to his lust for power along with the provoking of his wife and witches, Macbeth begins to embed a low morale within him which soon proves to wholly overtake him; resorting to murder, for the sake for protecting his kingship, all while sinking into continuous moral degradation. Eventually, at the end of his battle with Macduff, Macbeth faces his tragic doom; due to his fate as a tragic hero, he also awakens himself to his anagnosis. His true anagnorisis arises in his battle with Macduff, where Macduff revealed he was given birth through Caesarean section,
Macbeth is not a tragic hero because a man is responsible for his own actions and this is the case with Macbeth. By deceiving and murdering his friends, he proves he is not a hero. He lets himself be corrupted by the prophecies of the witches. This weakness demonstrates that he lacks the qualities to be a hero (Johnson 1).
In order for a character to be a tragic hero, they must not be an angel nor a devil; he should have some virtues, a tragic flaw and suffering as a result of the tragic flaw. Macbeth is initially depicted as a character of greatness and dignity through appraisals but is then haunted by a fatal flaw – his vaulting ambition and lust for power ultimately leads to his demise. Macbeth meets all of the requirements and can therefore be called a tragic hero.
Tragic heroes, who destined for a serious downfall, are the protagonist of a dramatic tragedy. A tragic hero is usually a great hero, who gets the most respect from other people; on the other hand, a tragic hero can also lose everything he gained because of his mistakes. His downfall is the result of a wrong judgment, a flaw which might combined with fated and external forces. The downfall can cause the tragic hero to suffer for the rest of his life. In many literary works, the downfall of the tragic heroes usually happen in their highest point. In the same way, Macbeth is a tragic hero in the play called “The Tragedy of Macbeth” which is written by a legendary writer, William Shakespeares. Macbeth is a great general who gained many respect from the people and even the king. In the highest point of his life, because of seeking for greater power, it created Macbeth’s downfall. Macbeth, a tragic hero, causes suffering for himself and others by committing murders and creating distress, which are the negative effects of seeking for a greater power.
A tragic hero is said to be doomed from his beginning. A victim of his own ambition and moral weakness, Macbeth decline from a kind, respectable warrior, to a murdering, lying, fiend. It is his obsessive and literal belief in the prophecies that impaired him. The tragedy of Macbeth is of the kind of man he could have been and almost was, but fell short because he overlooked the contradictions in his character and made the fatal mistake of giving in to his ambition.