Anakin Skywalker As A Tragic Hero

As a reader, it is easy to hear “Oh Romeo, Romeo wherefore art thou Romeo” recited in a movie or see someone lift up a skull in a Hamletesque manner and speak, and immediately recognize that those are references to Shakespeare, but what is less known is that some of the most crowd-pleasing and attention-grabbing scenes in movies and modern entertainment are direct references to Shakespeare. When reading Shakespearean plays or seeing them performed live, it is easy to spot that their storylines and narratives almost parallel media that is observed today. Why is this? Well, as stated by Mental Floss, “..we [writers] cling to legends and potentialities to help us understand anything at all about the man whose writing has helped us to understand

Shakespeare’s work is also ever growing because his inspiration on modern writers, producers, and directors is seen every time viewers go to the box office or pick up a book, or watch television. An almost astronomically similar plot to Macbeth can be found in the ever popular story of Anakin Skywalker in director George Lucas’s Star Wars Saga. Anakin Skywalker, also known as Darth Vader, much like Macbeth, is an ideal tragic hero. Anakin saw in a vision that his wife would die during childbirth, and his end goal was to save her from dying so he felt his only option for saving her was to gain power by turning to the dark side. This is much like Macbeth because Macbeth was told prophecies by three witches that said they saw in visions that Macbeth would be king. This then causes Macbeth to drive up his ambition to gain power and turns to his own personal dark side. This is also another example of a common theme used in modern media. Sticking to the theme of betrayal, Anakin fights and kills his best friend, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and similarly, Macbeth has his best friend, Banquo, killed. What person does that other than a tragic hero who has lost his way? Macbeth and Anakin both hate what they do to themselves at first, but they grow to accept that it is now who they

Shakespeare’s influence on the modern world of media and culture can be seen each and every day, and it only grows with the times it is being observed. Any observer of Shakespeare knows the quality of his work and understands that it has deep meaning. This is why Shakespeare will live forever; he obviously won’t live in the literal sense, but he will live in the sense that he will always be alive in the media and in the culture due to what he created when he first became the brilliant playwright, he’s so well-known as today. It’s unclear to know if when William Shakespeare wrote Macbeth if he intended to influence so many people and future generations, but what is known is that he changed the way media is viewed and culture is observed