A tragic hero is a person that has a fatal flaw. Shakespears play, Macbeth gives a prime example of what a tragic hero really is. Through out the play Macbeth, the main character demonstrate the qualities one must have to be considered a tragic hero. Macbeth suffers from a tragic flaw, ambition, he is held in a higher status, and he is not entirely a good nor evil character.
All tragic heros must have a flaw. Macbeth suffers from ambition, his ambition is to be king of Scotland. Macbeth was hesitant at first to take the lives of people just in order to be king but with a little push from lady Macbeth fueled him to start his famous killing spree. Macbeth expresses this in many different ways. Before actually killing Duncan Macbeth said, If the murder had no consequences, and his death ensured success( Act I, Scene 7, Page 55). This quote is showing that Macbeth wants the title of being king so bad, he will kill for it. The witches fueled him even more by telling him his future a little while after doing so Macbeth said, Two predictions have come true. The first steps toward the ultimate goal, the throne( Act I, Scene 3, Page37 ). These two quotes are examples of Macbeths ambition to become king and just how far he really is willing to go. Macbeth will stop at nothing to achieve his goal, king of Scotland.
Macbeths ambition got the best of him and he is now king of Scotland. This puts him above anybody that lives in Cawdor. When he is crowned Banquo said, Its yours now. King Cawdor, Glamis (Act 3, Scene 1, Page 93 ). Along with being king comes an enormous amount of power. Macbeth abuses it. He kills, and kills, and kills, mostly for no valid reason. What the king does with the power that he is given determine the type of king he really is. However, Macbeth can not be put into and one category, due to how he reacted to the murders he committed.
Macbeth can not be categorized as a good or evil character, regardless of him killing many people. Even though he killed a number of people he showed guilt which is an emotion. Usually when a character is evil they show no emotions because this means that the character is weak. Macbeth feels extremely guilty about these killings. Well all great Neptunes ocean wash this blood clean from my hand (Act II, Line 60, Page 72)? Macbeth said this shortly after killing the former king, Duncan. This is a display of guilt. If Macbeth was truly a bad character he would not show nor have any guilt in his mind. Macbeth is feeling an overwhelming amount of guilt by this point so much guilt that he is beginning to hate himself. To know my deed; twere best not to know myself (Act II, Page 74, Line73). Again that quote is extremely strong. Macbeth is saying that what he has done was so wrong that he does not want to even know himself. However, on the other hand Macbeth has a very evil side to him as well. Macduff said to Macbeth, Well have your picture up on a pole like one of our rarer monsters and written underneath will be, here you can see the tyrant(Act 5, Scene 7, Page 201).
People in Scotland are referring to Macbeth as a monster. Even though Macbeth is a murderer he showed guilt which means he has a heart and truly did feel bad about what he has done. This shows there is no real category to place Macbeth in because he has qualities of bother good and evil characters.
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