The Tragedy Of Macbeth By William Shakespeare

The strive and ambition for power can seem to be right, but one should be careful of what they wish for because that power might be exactly what causes their downfall. This is true in William Shakespeare story of a man named Macbeth. In William Shakespeare's Macbeth, the main character Macbeth was told by the three witches that he would become the thane of Cawdor and later on the king. He compromised his honor and disproved moral responsibility to achieve power and position which resulted in his tragic end. In my opinion the term tragic hero definitely applies to Macbeth because he is essentially a good person, he has a Tragic flaw and his eventual downfall.

The first reason why Macbeth is a tragic hero is that he is, in essence a good
hearted, brave and loyal man. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth was described by the soldier as a brave and fearless man. “Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him, For brave Macbeth—well he deserves that name—Disdaining fortune, with his brandished steel, Which smoked with bloody execution” (i,ii,17) This displays a noble quality of Macbeth, a requirement of a tragic hero according to Aristotle a Greek philosopher who broadly studied tragic heroes . It shows that Macbeth is a loyal person to the king and that he is a great warrior. Furthermore, the king saw Macbeth's noble qualities and decided to make him the new Thane of Cawdor. “In which addition, hail, most worthy thane, for it is thine”. (i.iii.107). to sum up, In Macbeth, Macbeth can be seen as a tragic hero based o his characteristic. He did reside in a high status and, represented moral virtues.
Moreover, Macbeth has a tragic flaw which makes him a tragic hero.
His flaw was the desire for power and position, namely to be king. Which was provoked by Lady Macbeth. After the witches told Macbeth their predictions, Angus and Ross's announced that Macbeth has been entitled the new Thane of Cawdor. After hearing this he went through the possibility of becoming a king “If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me without my stir” (i.iii.147-149). Later on in the play Duncan names his son as his successor, the Prince of Cumberland. As soon as Macbeth hears this statement he goes on to ask that no light be shown on his secret desires to be king. “Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires“(i.iv.42). This definitely verifies that Macbeth had given thought to becoming king way before his wife provoked him. All in all his ambitions lead him to the point where he fell to the temptation of evil and triggered his
downfall.
Lastly, Macbeth is a tragic hero because he has a downfall which was the result of his own choice, not of coincidence or wickedness In fact, this error of judgment is known as hamartia. After Macbeth killed the king he felt that his soul could never be purified no matter what he did. As can be seen when he says “How is’t with me when every noise appals me? What hands are here? Ha! They pluck out mine eyes. Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red.”(Ii.ii.58-64). this displays that he really didn't want to kill Duncan, but he did it in order to become the king and later on in the play it caused his downfall. Furthermore, he schemed even further to protect his crown by killing Banquo. As can be seen when he says “Our fears in Banquo stick deep; and in his royalty of nature Reigns that which would be fear’d: ‘tis much he dares…there is none but he whose being I do fear” (iii.i.). The death of Banquo is the climax of the play as well as the height of Macbeth’s ambitions. Macbeth became so obsessed with ruling as king, but he did not realize that what he was doing to make himself more powerful was actually leading him to his downfall. All in all Macbeth is a tragic hero because his terrible actions lead to his downfall. In conclusion, Macbeth is definitely a tragic hero because he is originally a moral person, his character contains a hamartia and he has an eventual downfall.
The fact that he is a good person is one of the characteristic of a tragic hero, his desire for power and position was his tragic flaw which eventually lead to his destruction and not to mention that he had a down fall which was caused by his own terrible actions. A tragic hero must not be a man who is great and admirable. He should have some tragic flaws in his characters. For instance, Macbeth’s tragic flaw was desire for power that ruined his life. Macbeth meets these requirements and can, therefore, be called a tragic
hero.