Macbeth as a Tragic Hero Essay

Task: How far do you consider Shakespeares Macbeth to be a true tragic hero?

Macbeth is a Shakespearean tragedy that tells the story of a mighty and flawed character. Macbeths ambition leads to his gradual decline into complete and utter insanity and his eventual tragic death at the hands of those he had wronged.

At the beginning of the play Macbeth is a hero of high birth and position as well as an extremely brave soldier who is greatly respected by his kinsmen. When Duncan asks the Captain about the battle, he replies with praise about Macbeth:

For brave Macbeth (well he deserves that name)

Disdaining Fortune, with his brandishd steel,

Which smokd with bloody execution.

It is obvious from the Captains speech that Macbeth is a great soldier and that in his eyes, and everybody elses, it is impossible for Macbeth to do anything wrong at that time. Macbeth has many good qualities at the start of the play. One of his noble virtues is that he is a loving husband to his beloved wife (Lady Macbeth) as is seen by the audience when he calls her:

My dearest love,

In fact, Macbeths loyalty and love for his wife is one of the factors in his eventual downfall as Lady Macbeth is the one person who convinces him to kill Duncan.

Another good quality that Macbeth possesses at the beginning of the play is that he has a conscience:

Still it crid, Sleep no more to all the House:

Glamis hath mutherd Sleep, and therefore Cawdor

Shall sleep no more: Macbeth shall sleep no more.

The fact he has a conscience, eventually drives him mad as we saw when Macbeth saw the Ghost of Banquo and also when he had hallucinations of a dagger.

Even though Macbeth has many good qualities about him, he has one startling flaw that ultimately destroys him his extreme ambition. Every step he takes in gaining more power is never enough as is seen when Macbeth says:

Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown,

And put a barren sceptre in my gripe.

Although he is in a highly powerful position, he is not content with the power he has and wants even more.

Macbeths ambition is encouraged and shared by the Thanes wife (Lady Macbeth). She from the outset of hearing about the witches prophecy is desperate for her husband to become King:

I have given suck, and know how tender tis to love the babe that milks me: I would, while it was smiling in my face, have pluckd my nipple from his boneless gums, and dashd the brains out, had I so sworn as you have done this.