Macbeth as a Tragic Hero.in Shakespeare's Macbeth Essay

Although William Shakespeare created the play, Macbeth, to be a tragedy, the tragic hero can hardly be considered to be one. For the entirety of one of Shakespeare’s most magnificent works, Macbeth is controlled and manipulated into committing atrocious acts that the witches and his wife desire. He is powerless to their tricks and through their sorcery/cunning words and his own morals (or lack thereof) “sustain[s] the central paradox–the heroic murderer” (Cusick). Despite the fact that he laments the loss of his king, Duncan, he still continues down his path of evil that only has one ending: his death. Although Macbeth gains a few insights on his inner self, his lack of ability to resist manipulation, willingness to kill, combined with his

William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a tragedy in which the main characters are obsessed by the desire for power. Macbeth’s aspiration for power blinds him to the ethical implications of his dreadful acts. The more that Shakespeare’s Macbeth represses his murderous feelings, the more he is haunted by them. By analyzing his hallucinations it is possible to trace his deteriorating mental state and the trajectory of his ultimate fall. Throughout the play Macbeth is never satisfied with himself. He feels the need to keep committing crime in order to keep what he wants most: his kingship. The harder Macbeth tries to change his fate the more he tends to run into his fate. His ambition and struggle for power was Macbeth’s tragic flaw in the play.

Lady Macbeth and Macbeth have been planning the action of killing King Duncan. Macbeth does not wish to go through with the plan of killing the king because he is a good person and he does not want to become a murderer. When Macbeth says this to Lady Macbeth she comes back and says to him:

Macbeth is confused as he is arguing with himself on what he should do. He states reasons not to kill Duncan, because Macbeth is his noble kinsmen and the act would bring dishonor. However, he also states reason why he should kill him, because Macbeth will then become king and fulfill the witches ' fortune. Lady Macbeth, who appears in the beginning as the driving force for the murder of King Duncan, also develops internal conflict. At first, Lady Macbeth seems to be a woman of extreme confidence and will. But, as situations become more and more unstable in the play, guilt develops inside her. For instance, she exclaims; "Wash your hands. Put on your nightgown. / Look not so pale. I tell you again, Banquo 's / Burried; he cannot come out on 's grave" (Shakespeare V, ii, 65-67). Lady Macbeth sleepwalks and frets about her evil wrongdoings because she is extremely guilty of her influence on Macbeth to commit the murder. Lady Macbeth reacts emotionally and dwells on her actions as guilt eats at her soul.

When she commits suicide, however; Macbeth declares “Life’s but a walking shadow.” (V:v, 24). His expression denotes how insignificant and empty life is. At this point, Macbeth is on the verge of falling apart. His experience differs from the beginning of the tragedy producing a major personality transformation.

     Macbeth’s downfall begins when his ambition takes over his conscience and leads him to kill King Duncan. He gets tangled up in a web of death and lies. Once Duncan is murdered, it only leads to more ruthless crimes committed by Macbeth against his loved ones. He feels the need to kill off Banquo and his son because they know too much and are a possible threat to his regime.

Laurence Sterne once wrote, “No body, but he who has felt it, can conceive what a plaguing thing it is to have a man’s mind torn asunder by two projects of equal strength, both obstinately pulling in a contrary direction at the same time.” This passage embodies one of the over arching themes of Macbeth. The character Macbeth, in Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth, could easily identify with this passage due to the fact that he is pulled in opposite directions by both his desire to do what is right and his desire for power.

Lady Macbeth is the most interesting and complex character in Shakespeare's play, Macbeth. She is, in fact, the point on which the action pivots: without her there is no play.

Macbeth is talking to an officer, when hearing of his wife's demise his mood suddenly deepens into that of emptiness.  He

In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the character of Macbeth is discovered to be a classic example of a tragic hero. Macbeth is a very ambitious and courageous person who lets three main things turn him into a violent individual. Two of the points, which most greatly contribute to Macbeth’s fall, are the prophecy, which were told to him by the witches, and how Lady Macbeth influenced and manipulated Macbeth's judgment. These two factors along with his tremendous ambition to be king is what caused him to fall from a noble man who was loyal to his king to a violent man who would kill his king to become king!

Macbeth’s mental and moral deterioration throughout the play engages the audience illustrating how guilt overwhelms his conscience He believes he hears voices crying “Macbeth has murdered sleep” this demonstrates how he is battling against his morals and his ambition. His good qualities are battling his bad thoughts and this is the main reason for his mental downfall which makes for a deeply engaging plot. Macbeth goes from being a man of bravery, strength, honour yet he slowly loses these qualities. He once believed that killing a good man was an evil, un-worthy thing to do yet by the end of the play he is killing the people he once had close relationships with to get himself out of the mess that was dragging him deeper into despair and tragedy. This process is enthralling for the audience who cannot resist watching him go to any length to save himself as his morals go into deep decline. Ambition has completely taken over him in the soliloquy in which he states; “I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition, which o’erleap itself and falls on the other.” In this instance Macbeth is interesting because he realises that the only thing that is making him want to kill Duncan is

After Macbeth kills Duncan and becomes the king of Scotland, we see that he becomes out of control and starts to act like a tyrant. Macbeth begins to kill innocent people to hide his fear and become more of a man. He starts off by killing his best friend Banquo and attempts to kill his son Fleance. This is because he knows that Banquo suspects him of something. Macbeth is also mad that he has done all this work to become king and Banquo's Son will benefit from this and become King. After he kills Banquo, he says “For mine own good All causes shall give way. I am in blood Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o'er.” This quote shows that there is no going back now to stop killing for Macbeth. He is committed to killing and whatever terrible things he may yet have to do.

Macbeth is a tragic hero, in The Tragedy of Macbeth, as many people refer it as, has a main antagonist Macbeth who is by fault of character flawed and is destined to experience death, suffering, and downfall. And during the beginning of the play there was a supernatural force involved in giving Macbeth the temptation. And many can argue that the 3 witches in the beginning of the play made him do it but that’s not necessarily true they never forced his hand in the murder of King Duncan and the numerous murders he had involvement in. He did this on his own due to the lack of his loyalty, sanity, or whatever trait other people wish to give him. Regardless of what trait he lacks the story and Macbeth do follow in the criteria of a tragic hero.

Macbeth’s major flaws are his ambition and impressionability. Due to their flaws, a Tragic Hero’s actions are often atrocious and cause them to battle with their conscience after their desires have been accomplished. These battles with their conscience evoke empathy from the audience. A Shakespearean Tragic Hero will always lose their life in the end of the play as a result of re-establishment of what is good in the play. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the title

Absolute power corrupts absolutely… unless, of course, your absolute power is a God-given right. The iconic tragedy Macbeth is arguably one of the most recognised literary works of William Shakespeare, centered on the idea of illegitimate power. Throughout the text, Shakespeare explores the destructive nature of power through various representations and characters, conveying an unceasing struggle for power amongst the main protagonists that causes devastating consequences. Though Shakespeare conveys many different representations regarding the nature of power and the way it operates throughout Macbeth, in particular he represents power as a divine right with which one should not tamper, in order to avoid disaster. Written during the seventeenth century when belief in a divine-ordained hierarchy prevailed, this representation of illegitimate power acted as the driving force of the play and distinctly reflects certain socio-cultural views of the era. It was thought during this time that if monarchial power was gained through illegitimate means, destruction of the mind and state would result; Shakespeare foregrounds the idea that if one does indeed tamper with the divinity of power, the resulting control will be fleeting. This interpretation subsequently allowed the audience to anticipate Macbeth’s usurper of the Scottish throne to ultimately lead to a collective pain, loss and suffering. Whilst examining the play Macbeth, the representation of illegitimate power will be