Skip to main content

In Shakespeare's play Macbeth, how does Macbeth fit the criteria of a tragic hero?

A tragic hero starts out as generally a decent person who is powerful and high-ranking in his society. Because of a tragic flaw or flaws, and the actions that he takes as a result of his flaws, the tragic hero falls (often he dies at the end of the play, but this is not always the case). The tragic hero does evoke the audience's sympathy and pity at certain points in the tragedy, and he is human (flawed), so he exhibits fear. Although he may briefly protest his fate, he eventually comes to accept it. We can see Macbeth exhibit many of the qualities of the tragic hero in Shakespeare's Macbeth.


At the start of the play, Macbeth is a respected thane and battle commander. After the battle in Act I, scene ii, Macbeth is promoted by King Duncan, with whom he seems to have a strong relationship. Once Macbeth is told by the witches that he will one day be King, however, he becomes excessively ambitious, and in the beginning of Act II, he has already murdered Duncan and ascended to the throne. Macbeth exhibits fear during and after the murder of Duncan; in fact, he is so disturbed by what he has done that Lady Macbeth has to go back to plant the daggers on the guards to frame them for the crime (Macbeth refused to go back to the scene because of his fear and disgust). Macbeth's fear quickly transforms into paranoia, and he constantly feels that his position as king is threatened. This leads him to have his best friend killed and to order the murders of Macduff's wife, children, and servants. 


Later in the play, Macbeth returns to the witches and receives a new set of prophecies. These apparitions tell him that he should beware Macduff but that no man born of woman can harm him, and that he will be in power until the trees march up the hill. Macbeth takes these prophecies as a guarantee that he will remain king and he acts recklessly. In a way, this could be seen as Macbeth protesting his fate, though he does not know it yet. The prophecies all come true in the end and Macbeth falls from power, but Macbeth chooses to interpret the predictions in his favor and does not prepare for the oncoming battle in which he is killed. 


Once he starts to see the prophecies coming true in Act V, Macbeth protests by vowing to fight to the death. He will take on Macduff one-on-one, and he still believes that Macduff can't harm him because he must've been born of a woman. However, Macduff was "from his mother's womb / Untimely ripped" (V.viii.15-16). Macbeth continues to fight, but at this point must accept his fate. Macbeth is also seen accepting fate earlier in Act V when he learns of his wife's suicide and gives his famous "Out, out, brief candle!" speech (V.v.23). When Macbeth is killed by Macduff and the rightful heir, Malcolm, is placed on the throne, Macbeth's tragic fall is complete.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

etymology - Origin of the greeting "Sweet dreams".

Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What are the similarities between the relationships of the characters in The Outsiders and Romeo and Juliet?

At first glance, it might appear as if the characters in  The Outsiders  by S. E. Hinton and  Romeo and Juliet  by William Shakespeare do not have much in common; however, when one isolates the core of the conflicts, it becomes clear that the relationships in both stories are rooted in rivalry and secrecy.  In both  The Outsiders  and  Romeo and Juliet , an overarching theme is rivalry. While   socioeconomic status separates the greasers from the Socs in The Outsiders , last names separates the Montagues from the Capulets, who appear to be relatively equal in terms of socioeconomic status. Due to these rivalries, there are instances of deadly interactions in both stories. In  The Outsiders , Johnny kills Bob (whether his actions were justified or not is debatable). In  Romeo and Juliet , Romeo kills Tybalt and Paris, and Tybalt kills Mercutio. These deaths have profound effects on the main characters. In Ponyboy's case, the Johnny's death and other events in the novel inspire h...
Post a Comment
Read more