Okwonkwo and Macbeth were both characters built with similar traits, but are also very dissimilar. Okwonkwo, from the book As Things Fall Apart by Achebe, is an African man during the 1900’s that is the leader of the Igbo tribe. Macbeth, From Macbeth by William Shakespeare, is a 35 year old thane from Scotland that wants to become king by any means necessary. Although Okwonkwo and Macbeth are different in where they live and have different lifestyles, they still share personality traits. This is important because this shows the different types of heroes that are across the world.
One characteristic that Okwonkwo has is that he was very brave. In the beginning of the story, Achebe says that, “He brought honor to his village by throwing Amal Inze the cat.” (Achebe 3) which shows that he is brave by overthrowing an individual that many people thought could never be beat; he is not troubled by a
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He says in the play that, “Seize upon fife, give to th’ edge o’ th’ sword his wife, his babes, and unfortunate souls.” (4.1.173-174) this is shown as cowardly. Not only because he doesn’t want to deal with the deed himself, but also because he goes so far as to slaying helpless people that he does not have to kill because of superstitions. Even though Okwonkwo seems more heroic than Macbeth, they’re still both considered heroes.
In some ways these heroes are similar though. For instance, both characters have pride in themselves. Okwonkwo has pride because he wants to avenge himself from the white settlers as it is said here, “But if they chose to be cowards he would go out and avenge himself.” (Achebe 199). This is an exemplary quote to use because it shows the lengths Okwonkwo would go to avenge himself even if it means doing things alone. There are many things that led Okwonkwo to act like this, but it’s mostly because he wants revenge from how the settlers had treated him and his