Macbeth Portrayed as a Tragic Hero
William Shakespeare, poet and playwright, is known for the work he produced in the sixteenth century. Many of these works are still celebrated today including Shakespeare’s many tragedies. In many of these tragedies lies a tragic hero which is a protagonist, usually of noble birth or high-standing, who brings about his own downfall by a choice brought on by a tragic flaw. Tragic heroes often face the consequences of their actions which ironically makes the audience feel pity for the character. In William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth the main character, Macbeth, exemplifies a true tragic hero through his tragic flaw, downfall, noble standing, and fate. Macbeth begins the play as a loyal kinsmen under
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Macbeth’s ambition led to his downfall and in the play readers can see the consequences for Macbeth’s actions. Macbeth is forced to deal with paranoia. For example, after sending hit men after his own friend, Banquo, Macbeth is visited by Banquo's ghost while he is having dinner with people from his kingdom. This causes Macbeth to panic as he is fixated on the haunting. This affects him so greatly that his wife, Lady Macbeth, has to excuse his behavior.
While Macbeth is paranoid, his former friends begin to target him. Macduff is so scared of Macbeth he chooses to flee the country for his own safety and leave his wife and kids to face Macbeth’s rage. To get back at Macbeth for all he had done, Macduff and Malcom come together to form an army to go after Macbeth: Come, go we to the king; our power is ready;/ Our lack is nothing but our leave; Macbeth/ Is ripe for shaking, and the powers above (Macbeth 4.3 21-23).
Macduff and Malcom are successful in their venture to kill Macbeth. Macbeth’s murder can be seen payback or a result of his own bad karma for all the lives he ended or attempted to end.
Macbeth’s fate is also sealed by the people around him. Lady Macbeth plays a large role in influencing Macbeth’s action to kill Duncan in attempts to gain the crown. Lady Macbeth threatened Macbeth’s manhood when Macbeth began to second guess himself for killing Duncan, which put even more pressure on