A Look At Macbeth Tragic Hero English Literature Essay

In the play “Macbeth”, the plot focuses around a war hero who becomes greedy for power, which leads to his ultimate coronation as King, and demise. At the beginning of the play, Shakespeare displays Macbeth as a war hero, back from his latest campaign, and given a new title. At first, he is shown as a good person, however, after the influence of witches and his wife; he reluctantly gives into evil. After becoming King, he slowly becomes darker, as he seeks to ensure his position as King. This leads to him to becoming a tyrant ruler of Scotland, and eventually we find the war hero has become a truly evil person, who is then killed as a result of his own actions. By showing that Macbeth is a tragic hero, Shakespeare shows a character that initially starts off as a good and basically heroic person who will go to his downfall through the events of the play. The concept of a tragic hero is that instead of the stereotypical concept of a hero that succeeds in their adventure, the hero is a character that suffers tragedy and ultimately fails in what he has done. This is often due to a “tragic flaw” or because of an event that happens. Oedipus is an example of a tragic hero that features as a main protagonist but meets his untimely demise. I shall analyse the character of Macbeth and see if he was always a villain or just a hero who failed in his pursuits, due to how Shakespeare pushes him to that fate.

Shakespeare’s language can be quite complicated in understanding in the first scene, where is introducing the witches: “Fair is foul and foul is fair”. This means the good is bad and bad is good, an example of an anti-thesis, which gives a darker image to the witches. However, when Macbeth makes a statement later with similar words as an oxymoron: “So fair and foul a day I have not seen”, it becomes clearer that the meaning refers to the fact the day itself was pleasant but the events of the day were foul. Macbeth’s use of similar words also ties him to the witches, which adds an eerie feel to the words. The use of witches in this way and what they say immediately links Macbeth to them and their image, as witches were believed to be “daughters of the devil”, and this casts doubts over Macbeth.

In Act 1 Scene 3, Macbeth is seen for the first time. His first sentence incorporating “foul” and “fair” already ties this “noble man”, as he is described in the second scene, with the witches. After walking someway with his friend Banquo, they encounter the three witches who speak of prophecies of Macbeth, about his soon becoming Thane of Cawdor, and then saying “All hail Macbeth, King of Scotland”, this being the prophecy made about him from the witches. This scene is vital to the plot, as it sets the ball rolling for Macbeth’s conversion from a hero into a villain. This prophecy is soon re-told to Lady Macbeth, who will be the one who convinces Macbeth to kill King Duncan for his throne. This scene also has the effect of making Macbeth seem quite gullible, as he is ready to believe the prophecy of becoming King rather than doubting how unlikely it is that he should ever become King. This shows that Macbeth takes language at face value, rather than exploring the deeper meaning or fully understanding what is being said. We must also remember that witches would supposedly have divination qualities, so it is suggested that this is Macbeth’s destiny. This may be another reason why Macbeth is quick to accept what they say, as he is attracted to these stories of a good destiny. Banquo is not affected with any desire to believe them, perhaps because it is not his fate. Perhaps Macbeth’s ambition has been dormant until now, and these fantastic stories are playing on his deep desire to achieve greatness. This may be the first signs of a tragic flaw.

The character of Lady Macbeth is interesting, in the way that she seems to be a powerful figure in her relationship with Macbeth, and how she pushes Macbeth to murder the King. “Unsex me here”. Her unusual lines like these give the impression that Lady Macbeth is not the average wife, and it is also shown that Lady Macbeth is prepared to go against nature just to get what she wants. This is vital to the story, as it is this that pushes Macbeth from hero to villain. However, despite Lady Macbeth’s first actions in the first few acts that display her as an un-natural person willing to do anything for power, she is slowly eaten away from guilt. This is shown because after King Duncan’s death she is un-fazed by it, but later suffers hallucinations of cleaning her blood-stained hands, which is imagery used for guilt after murder: “Here’s the smell of blood still”. This is in contrast to Macbeth, who was opposed to killing King Duncan, and was afraid of the guilt of killing him, but after doing so slowly loses is inhibitions of killing innocent people for power, when he decides to have his friend Banquo killed to secure his position as King, and when he decides to kill the wife and child Macduff out of pure revenge. This singular act is the final event to show people that Macbeth has indeed become an evil person.

When Macbeth is convinced by Lady Macbeth to murder Duncan, he is at first very opposed to it. He is reluctant because of the moral implications and how against nature it is: “Nature seems dead.” This shows that Macbeth is fully aware of the consequences of his forth-coming actions, and he desperately doesn’t want to commit the deed. However, he reluctantly proceeds to murder Duncan, after being pushed by his wife. This is an example of an external act causing Macbeth to meet a tragedy, but it is in this way that Shakespeare has used the wife to create Macbeth.

After the murder, Macbeth experiences more guilt of the crime, due to the fatherly nature given to him by Duncan: “I am his kinsman and his subject”. However, this does not prevent him from ordering the murder of his friend Banquo, to secure his position as King. This indicates the degeneration of Macbeth’s nature as he sheds the qualms of betrayal, but he still experiences guilt which is indicated by the apparition of Banquo’s ghost to Macbeth only. Surprisingly, this is done without him informing his wife, meaning that he has decision to do this was his own choice and was not pushed to “do the deed” again. This shows Macbeth’s growing independence from Lady Macbeth, due to his degenerating morals. However, the consequences soon catch up with him as he sees the ghost of Banquo: “Avaunt and quit my sight.” The ghost of Banquo is not seen by everyone at the table, so this implies that the ghost may be a figment of Macbeth’s imagination. However, witches are real in the play, so the ghost could be real. In any case, it appearance and Macbeth’s reaction show that he still has a moral conflict within him. However, afterwards he says that he cannot try to be morally conscience anymore: “I am in blood; stepp’d in so far that, should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as to go o’er.”

Macbeth also decides to return to the witches to seek more knowledge: “I conjure you by that which you profess, Howe’er you come to know it, answer me.” This meeting shows that Macbeth has begun to fraternize with evil for knowledge, and so is going against the natural order of things. The theme of going against the natural order of things is present throughout to play, from the use of witches, to killing of the King. To Shakespeare’s audience it would have been something of a horror play. There are also descriptions of Macbeth going against the natural order; “Macbeth hath murder sleep”, which destroys the normality and the nature of this world. The audience of the time would certainly find comments like this haunting as they are shown a world that is akin to a nightmare by their standards.

As Macbeth seeks to ensure his position as King, he slowly loses his feelings of guilt and for inhibitions. When he decides to have the child and wife of Macduff murdered because Macbeth has fled to England, the audience is now convinced that Macbeth has indeed become a truly evil person, and it is ironic that this action also has the effect of bringing about his downfall, as it makes Macduff strive to kill Macbeth even more. The irony is that another heinous crime for Macbeth finally is his un-doing, as he continues to cross the line, and his nature to continue with these crimes brings about his own punishment: he brings it upon himself. Also, in Macbeth’s desire to keep hold of his throne, he ensures his losing of it. After this event, Macbeth is shown to have lost every ounce of moral conscience he had in him at the start, as his temper has changed to one of anger and he becomes ruthless. However, he realizes that an end to his reign is near as the Birnam wood has drawn closer to his castle; “I ‘gin to be aweary of the sun, and wish th’estate o’th’world were now undone” which is a sign from the apparitions from the witches that his reign would soon end. He decides to die in battle, which is shown through imagery: “At least we’ll die with harness on our back.” By this time, Macbeth has realized his loneliness, and that he has lost all of his friends and honour and no longer has a reason to live. In his “Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow” soliloquy he sees life as a story, and because of all the death and pain he has caused, he has become numb to it. This shows Macbeth has regained some moral conscience, but has lost all reason to carry on and now is happy to face his death. In a way, in this final stand, he reflects the story of Oedipus in that he chooses to face the punishment of his wrong-doings and the series of unfortunate events. The audience may relate to the tragedy of this, but also the fact that he shows one last bit of heroism, fulfilling the criteria of a tragic hero.

When understanding how Macbeth is portrayed as a tragic hero, it is important to remember that it is Shakespeare who actually created the character of Macbeth, as the play is only loosely based on historic events. In fact, Shakespeare is using the historical story as a vehicle for the character, basing Macbeth on a historical figure but dressing him with the tragic flaw, wife and ambition to . This means the Shakespeare could create Macbeth how he liked to within some degree, and so Shakespeare had free reign to portray Macbeth as a tragic hero or as just another villain. Shakespeare is also writing the play specifically about Macbeth, so the purpose of the characters is to help describe Macbeth himself, and to expand on his character. Shakespeare’s basis for Macbeth as a tragic hero could have followed the classical tradition e.g. the story of Oedipus, who is shown as a tragic hero in his own story, and also many other stories of famous tragic heroes. This is also done by showing Macbeth as a normal hero at the start e.g. brave and noble, but is truly shown to be very different from the standard conventions of a hero, and ultimately his being a tragic hero. Shakespeare uses many of the basic traits of a tragic hero, namely the downfall of the hero through mistakes and evil, but shows how what may seem like a hero at first, has dark desires: “Let not light see my black and dark desires.”

One must also be aware that modern interpretations of the play will be different to what an audience in the Globe in Shakespeare’s time would have thought of it. In modern times, we may not consider the murder of a King as such a sin that goes against the core of social morality, as we may understand that people may have such a desire to be King as to murder the current King, or at least we may understand the lust for such a position more than the people in Shakespeare’s time, who would have been concerned over the religious implications. Although we may still relate to the audience of the time with the act of actually killing a man to gain what he has, like a low-level thief. However, in their times it would be considered as one of the greatest sins ever committed as the King would have his power because of divine right, and his murder is an affront to God more than anything else. Characters like the witches and ghosts also do not shock us as much as they would have done in Shakespeare’s time when they were believed to exist and very dangerous. Macbeth’s ties with these bad things have a much larger effect on Shakespeare’s audience than a modern audience and would help make the play seem a lot more evil to his original audience.

Also, there would have been a difference in view points between the educated, the un-educated and the women of his audience. Un-educated people in the audience would, in general, be more interested in the more violent aspect of the play, as that would have been there general interest at the time. Also, un-educated people would have been intrigued by the witches and ghosts as they were considered to be real and dangerous, and would have added an element of horror to the play. Educated people would have been interested in the main plot of the story, the use of witches and ghosts, and the story behind the play, mainly that the story was based on a real event many years ago, and that the King was a descendent of one of the characters. Women would have related to the actions of Lady Macbeth, who was shown as a powerful figure in the play, yet not powerful by gender socially. Women would also have been touched by the murders of the wife and child of Macduff, and may have rejoiced in the punishment of Macbeth, as this horrid act consequentially leads to his demise.

Shakespeare uses stagecraft to make sure that the audience knows what is going on in the minds of the characters, as the psychological aspects of the play are important. Shakespeare uses the appearance of Banquo’s ghost to show the reader the thoughts that are eating away at Macbeth’s sanity, as no-one else can see the ghost. Also, instances like Lady Macbeth sleepwalking and showing that she cannot help but share the guilt of the crime, or the use of the witches to inject the eerie and dark manner to the play right from the beginning shows how Shakespeare has written a play that has a large psychological effect on the characters and the audience. In this way, he is able to create characters like Macbeth in new ways that can have so much more depth rather than what they physically show.

Throughout the play, Shakespeare developed the character of his Macbeth. As Shakespeare has progressed through the play, we have seen Macbeth take a fateful step into evil that leads him very deep. One could say that Lady Macbeth pushed Macbeth over a cliff, and that he fell into a very deep chasm. We see that Macbeth has grabbed a tree on his way down and stays there for a moment, but after losing his will to carry on, lets go and falls to his death. Ultimately, like so many tragic heroes, it is Macbeth’s hubris to what he should or shouldn’t do, and how his hubris develops through the course of the play to turn him into a completely different person. Shakespeare has in many plays like Hamlet and Otherllo displayed tragic heroes, but in Macbeth he has strayed from the typical Hellenistic stories of tragic heroes by creating such depths to Macbeth in his own way that the audience are enraptured against their better nature to a story of a noble man and his demise.