Submitted by: Submitted by Nimpfie
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Category: Literature
Date Submitted: 10/04/2015 07:32 AM
The play is named after him and he dies at the end. These two facts are indicative of Macbeth being a tragic hero, but they don’t make him one. So what does?
What is a Tragic Hero?
Macbeth’s Bad Side
It’s not difficult to explain how Macbeth conforms to the first of the rules above. As soon as the witches tell him that he’ll be king, he begins to have rather dark thoughts about how he can make it happen. “…why do I yield to that suggestion/Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair/And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,/Against the use of nature?…My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,/Shakes so my single state of man…”(I.iii)
Of course, he doesn’t stop at the assassination of Duncan, either. In order to retain the throne, he is driven to even more heinous acts, such as ordering the murders of Banquo, Fleance and Macduff’s household.
Macbeth’s Good Side
However, in concordance with Aristotle’s opinion, Macbeth isn’t all bad. At first glance, it may seem difficult to find redeeming features in a mass-murdering tyrant. But it’s important to remember that, at the beginning of the play, he is lauded as a great and loyal soldier. “For brave Macbeth--well he deserves that name--Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel…”(I.ii)
His hesitancy over committing regicide, “We will proceed no further in this business…”(I.vii) is also evidence of the fact that he is not an innately ‘evil’ person.
Macbeth’s Tragic Flaw
Alternatively, the terrible act can be as a result of ignorance or negligence.
However, Macbeth’s flaw, which is initially that of ambition, does not cause an accidental or unforeseen event. The murder of Duncan is a very purposeful act, although it could be argued that, as he was focused solely on the witches prophecy, it was an act of ignorance rather than malice.
Later, after he has met with the witches for a second time, he begins to develop another flaw; hubris, which mistakenly convinces him that he is immortal. “Be bloody, bold, and...