Macbeth Tragic Hero

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Macbeth as a Tragic Hero What turns an otherwise exceptional man into a tragic hero? Perhaps ambition? A personality flaw, such as ambition, can change a good person into a tragic hero. Qualities of a tragic hero consist of being a noble man, having a personality flaw, and learning something important in the end. In Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth, Macbeth fulfills the requirements of the stereotypical tragic hero. The first qualities of a tragic hero that Macbeth displays are being a character of noble stature and showing greatness. In The Tragedy of Macbeth, Shakespeare clearly depicts Macbeth as a noble man in Act I. Throughout the duration of this scene, Ross and King Duncan discuss how Macbeth valiantly performed on the battle field in order to protect his King's land. Even when the odds seemed to be hopeless against Macbeth, he fights heroically and triumphs over the enemy (1.2.47-67). Macbeth is exalted for his audacity in battle. The praise combined with his tragic flaw of ambition begin to give him a hope of one day obtaining the…show more content…
He learns from his mistakes through suffering and guilt. Macbeth’s misery is shown as he inquires, “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood from my hand?” (2.2.60-61). In this quote, Macbeth is panicking because he not able to make his conscience clear. Macbeth also learns that he has been deceived by wicked forces: "That palter with us in a double sense, / That keep the word of promise to our ear, / And break it to our hope" (5.8.20-22). The witches words sound promising, but that is only what it seems like on the exterior. They never let Macbeth in on the actual meaning of the phrases, so he was fooled. When Macbeth realized he was fooled, his attitude was that he was mislead and went after what was right, but was tricked by fate. To conclude, Macbeth has the tragic hero characteristic of learning something in the

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