Macbeth: A Tragic Hero
William Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, is a tragedy that describes a man's lust for power and ambitious desire to become king, and how the combination of the two eventually leads to his disastrous demise. A tragic hero is usually introduced as a noble, brave, and heroic person, or protagonist, who is well liked and with whom the audience can empathize. This tragic hero has a tragic flaw, which, in Macbeth’s case, is vaulting ambition paired with the influence of outside sources. This eventually brings about the downfall of Macbeth. Therefore, Macbeth is a tragic hero due to his vaulting ambition, the influence of the witches’ prophecies, and the seduction of Lady Macbeth.
Many strong emotions attribute to Macbeth’s development into a tragic hero, but the most important one is vaulting
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Vaulting ambition is a very strong drive to succeed. Ambition can be positive or negative. It is beneficial in that it can help an individual achieve a goal. Unfortunately, however, in the tragedy of Macbeth, his ambition has a negative effect on himself and the people around him. A person’s ambition can also help them persevere. If a person has a redundant amount of this emotion, it could lead that person to do detrimental things and possibly even hurt anyone or anything that gets in their way. In the text of “Macbeth as a Tragic Hero”, Tanusree Roy states “Macbeth’s ‘vaulting ambition’ compels him to turn into a villain. He gives his ambition more consideration than his moral goodness. It is his vaulting ambition which brings about his nemesis.” (Roy, 20). This expresses that Macbeth’s vaulting ambition has blinded him of the destructive path that he is creating because that very ambition is