Macbeth Tragic Hero Essay

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Macbeth, a play written by William Shakespeare in 1606, is about the ambition and eventual downfall of a Scottish noble (Macbeth Background). The play was written the year after the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 when English Catholics attempted to blow up the House of Lords and everyone in it, including the king (The Gunpowder Plot of 1605). This plot was unsuccessful but left a lasting impression that still exists today in the form of “Bonfire Night” or “Guy Fawkes(one of the conspirators) Night” celebrated on November 5th (The Gunpowder Plot of 1605). The play is about Macbeth, the main character, who kills the king and takes the throne. He then begins killing everyone and anyone who challenges the continuation of his rule until the usurped heir, Malcolm, returns to Scotland with an English army and Macbeth is killed by an ex-friend, Macduff. Macbeth, the main character in the tragedy, could almost be considered a tragic hero by…show more content…
He is a pretty good person to start out. The audience does not see much of this pre-murder Macbeth but from what others say about him and from his enormous guilt after he does kill, he looks like a fairly moral and ethical guy. This is demonstrated especially after killing Duncan, “One cried ‘God bless us!’ and ‘Amen’ the other, as they has seen me with these hangman’s hands: listening their fear, I could not say ‘Amen,’ when they did say ‘God bless us!’” (28). While his ethics and morals change after he goes insane after murdering his king and close friend, he was originally good, kind of like Anakin Skywalker or Darth Vader. Macbeth qualifies for the second characteristic of a tragic hero because he is high in rank at the beginning of the play; he inherited the title Thane of Glamis; and he gains higher ranks, like Thane of Cawdor and king, during the play. This puts Macbeth at the top of the totem pole so he can have a dramatic downfall at the end of the

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