“After all, every murder when he kills runs the risk of the most dreadful of deaths, whereas those who kill him risk nothing except promotion” – Albert Camus. In the tragic play, Macbeth, Shakespeare tells the story of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. These two are a daring, ambitious and somewhat evil couple, who, driven by ambitions and prophecies, travel down a path of crime. This path only ends in their downfall. Through the use of metaphors, foreshadowing, and lessons Shakespeare portrays Macbeth as a true tragic hero because of how he takes things too far and loses everything important to him trying to achieve his goals, further resulting in his tragic downfall. One way Shakespeare portrays Macbeth as a tragic hero is through metaphors. Soon after …show more content…
Once Duncan announces his oldest son Malcom is heir to the throne, Macbeth immediately feels he is another obstacle in Macbeth’s race to the throne, expressing his thoughts he says, “Stars, hide your fires; / Let not light see my black and deep desires” (1.4.57-58). This displays Macbeth as a tragic hero because it shows how he went from a rational, good man to being a killer whose solution to everything is to murder more people. Further showing characteristics of a tragic hero because Macbeth is not forced to kill these people, he is doing it on his own for his own benefit with complete disregard to the people he has hurt. The foreshadowing present in these quotes portrays Macbeth as a tragic hero because of how it ties events in the future to ones in the past, allowing the book to come full circle. Shakespeare demonstrates, through the use of metaphors, foreshadowing, and lessons, that Macbeth is a true tragic hero because of how he takes things too far and how he loses everything important to him while trying to achieve his goals. This all resulted in his tragic