Though Macbeth is a man of war, he knows how to love. He is like a ‘hulk with a heart’. His love and trust towards Lady Macbeth proves this. As an innocent person he always shared his ideas, thoughts, feelings and secrets with Lady Macbeth and this also supports the idea that Macbeth is a loveable person. We can see this in the way he addresses Lady Macbeth: ‘My dearest love’. The use of superlative ‘dearest’ reveals the depth of the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth but this also suggests the extent of Lady Macbeth’s influence on Macbeth. A tragic hero in every case is goodness personified at the start and therefore I think Macbeth can be considered a tragic hero as he started off as a person who could be admired, trusted, loved, honoured, esteemed and glorified.
According to Aristotle, a tragic hero is a person full of good but eventually leads himself into sufferings due to his own tragic flaws. Macbeth possessed some flaws that led him to his downfall. In Macbeth’s case it is his inability to decide for himself, his insecurity as a man and his unnaturally large sense of ambition that leads him to his fall. His flaws give opportunity for Lady Macbeth and the witches to influence him and bring chaos into his life through his own hands.
Macbeth is ambitious to be the king; but he is against the idea of gaining kingship by killing Duncan. Even after the prophecies, he is strong enough to say ‘no’ to himself and this is shown in his soliloquy:
“I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o’er leaps itself, and falls on th’other –”
This soliloquy shows that he is aware of his flaws and is also aware that his decisions are evil and selfish. His ability to identify the wrong shows his good leadership quality.
His conscience will not allow him to commit the deed and it is only after Lady Macbeth challenged his manliness ‘When you durst do it, then you were a man’, that he was able to murder Duncan. We can see that Lady Macbeth can manipulate Macbeth easily, which is shown in: ‘that I may pour my spirit in thine ear’. Since Macbeth murdered Duncan in his sleep, he states that ‘he has murdered sleep’ implying that he reaps the consequences and has also lost peace. Macbeth hereafter can never sleep in peace. This is one of the symptoms of his fall at the end. The worst part of it is that it will be slow and painful. After the murder, Lady Macbeth asks him to wash his blood stained hands, but Macbeth on the other hand fears to have a blood stained soul, something that cannot be washed clean. The imagery of blood is used, showing the permanence of the act and also implies that Macbeth can get rid of it only by giving his blood – that is death. During wars Macbeth has killed a lot of people but that does not affect his conscience because he has killed them for a just reason – for the sake of his country, to protect his people from the enemies and to maintain peace in his homeland. In Duncan’s case, it is a totally contrasting situation. He does it to satiate his desire, which is a selfish act, leading the entire country – his homeland, into a trap of bedlam. The people who suffer from this act obviously don’t deserve it and thus the audiences are hinted that Macbeth will somehow have to pay for this wrong doing.
After the murder of Duncan, Macbeth says: ‘This is a sorry sight’ implying his guilty and sad attitude towards the murdered body, using alliteration. Macbeth reveals that before the murder he has been nothing but a puppet whose puppeteers are Lady Macbeth and the witches and now that the conduct is done, they have deserted him to experience the ‘sorry sight’. It seems like, before the murder, Macbeth has been possessed by some evil force and later he is so dumbstruck that he can not find a just reason for his misconduct. He any way admits it as his fault and regrets it deeply but this time he keeps it all to himself. ‘I have lived enough’ he says, implying that he wishes to die for what he has done, the deeds are so terrible. He admits his mistake, which is a characteristic of a noble man.
In the play after the death of Duncan, I see him continuously haunted by inner turmoil. He finds himself uncomfortable as the king. He discovers that what he has strived for, results in someone else to get the rewards. He is reminded of the predictions of witches that Banquo’s heirs would be the future kings. Macbeth plans to murder both Banquo and his son and to his dismay finds that it did nothing to ease his tensed mind. It adds more worries. Banquo’s ghost haunts him. His vision of ghost reveals his spiritual weakness and guilt that has flooded his mind. Here again we see Lady Macbeth question Macbeth about his manliness. Earlier Lady Macbeth asked Macbeth to prove his manliness by killing Duncan but it is in fact the sole reason for Macbeth’s loss of manliness and is scared of a ghost. Vision of Banquo’s ghosts has a great symbolism in the play. Macbeth sees him in his chair, which represent the truth of the predictions that Banquo’s heirs will take over the throne he possesses.
His imagination and insecurity as a man grows to such a monstrous size that it eventually sets him into the path of self-destruction. Macbeth, throughout the play depended on the prophecies and as the prophecies told him to be aware of Macduff; he soon moved to kill his family. One of his great faults is his flexibility of being led by other people. First the prophecies introduce the whole thing to him; later Lady Macbeth uses sensitive issues to ‘keep the ball rolling’. Incidents take place one after the other but Macbeth always depends on the prophecies for a decision. It seems like the witches possess him by their predictions, making him do things according to it. He suffers from the moment he murders Duncan till the moment he is executed. Throughout this torture he struggles to free himself, get back a peace of mind he once had. From the moment that Macbeth decides to live a lie in Act 1 Scene 7 'False face must hide what false heart doth know,' the audience knows that he has condemned himself. They know that all the things he thought of in the soliloquy earlier in the same scene will come true - that the killer is damned for eternity and that the killer will be killed. The audience feels pity for Macbeth, a valiant man, just because he trusted the witches and his wife is now on the verge of self-destruction. All these create an urge within the audience to help him out. He tries to set things right and this is another element which makes Macbeth a tragic hero.
The apparitions had falsely raised his hopes. The witches did not lie to him about ‘Birnam Woods’ and ‘no man of woman born’ but they predicted it in such a way that it could not be foreseen easily. Macbeth one day sees the Birnam Woods move but he is unaware that it is the English army with Macduff. The army takes over the castle and Macbeth does not flee. Instead he relies on the prophecy that ‘no man of woman born’ can kill him. He soon comes face to face with Macduff. He boasts in a satisfied way about what the prophecies have said. Macduff reveals his caesarean birth. Macbeth is immediately drained out of courage – a fallen hero. Everything seems numb to him. He refuses to believe this fact. He realises how he has been misled by ‘half truth’ as the truth. He finds himself betrayed and defeated. He is then given a choice – either captivity or death. Macbeth chooses death. We can see that there is a sudden change in Macbeth. He tries to be what he was before – brave, noble and free. He uses his last bit of bravery and strength to fight a losing battle with Macduff. The audience feels sorry for Macbeth.
Macbeth has suffered at his own hands. Macbeth in the end died nobly … more nobly than he lived. Macbeth here is a perfect example of a tragic hero as he is good at the start; has turned unnaturally ambitious due to the prophecies; loses control over his actions and finally has a fall. Macbeth comes to know about his faults at the end when there is no time; his death is then inevitable. All these sum up to show that he is nothing but a tragic hero.
