Zack Lindahl
Macbeth as a tragic hero
Most stories have a protagonist, a central figure that drives the story onwards. In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth the protagonist is clearly the Scottish thane Macbeth that is the protagonist. It is another question entirely if he is a hero or a villain in the drama. It can be said that Macbeth is a tragic hero, and not a villain, even though he is the perpetrator of several evil deeds. What then makes a hero tragic, and what elements of the tragic hero can be seen in the work, and in Macbeth? This essay will focus on exploring this throughout the play.
There are numerous times where Macbeth’s personality is spoken of or apparent throughout the play, which can be used to deduce if he is a tragic hero. The second time where the audience hears of Macbeth in the play is by an unnamed captain who talks of “brave Macbeth – well he deserves that name” (I, II, 16). This praise of Macbeth’s virtues continues, and we see him as a man of many virtues in the beginning of the play. This changes as soon as he is confronted with the prophecy that he will “be king hereafter” (I, III, 48). This is the moment where Macbeths flaws starts to be revealed to us, especially if we observe his reactions. At first he is shocked and as Banquo says “rapt withal [entranced]” (I, III, 55) but later questions the Witches about their prophecy bidding them to “Stay… imperfect speakers . . . Speak” (I, III, 68-76). Macbeth rejoice in his promised greatness, and Lady Macbeth does too, however she claims that Macbeth is “too full o’th’milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way” (I, V, 16-17). Lady Macbeth urges her husband on, but he still has doubts murdering Duncan, and suffers from it. During this time he is being taunted by Lady Macbeth, who claims that when “he durst [dared] do it then [he was] a man” (I, VIII, 49) This continues even after the gruesome murder, and he is tormented by his guilt, saying that the blood on his hands will “rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine” (II, II, 64-65) than wash it away. Even though Macbeth murders innocent children, and is indeed a tyrant, we still feel sympathy for him, as he continues down the road to his eventual demise, with a firm albeit delusional belief in the prophecy that “none of woman born shall harm Macbeth” (IV, I, 79-80). The audience’s knowledge of that the prophecy is being fulfilled, leaves us with Macbeth as a pitiful figure, as he hurls insults to his servants and curses the names of those who flee the castle Dunsinane. When Macbeth dies being mocked as a coward by Macduff, the spectators feel sorry for the once heralded warrior, who met such a grisly fate which ends with
