Macbeth Tragic Hero Essay

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By the definition given by Aristotle, a tragic hero in literature is the protagonist who is otherwise perfect in virtue and social standing, but who suffers from a fatal flaw, which when prodded by an external agent, leading to the eventual downfall of the hero. Shakespeare's tragic heroes mostly conform to the basic requirements of the Aristotelian dictum but not all follow to the tee. Macbeth is one such example of a hero who's character shows slight deviation from the ideal tragic hero yet he is no less a Tragic Hero then the next. He is trapped and influenced by forces around him and cannot be titled as a cold-blooded killer. Macbeth is a character built on a grand scale and with this comes a extreme degree in whom desire, passion or will…show more content…
Thus creating a sense that the "ambition" is more than what it seems and can easily overwhelm any man. We are then lead to feel empathetic for a man to be engulfed by such vaulting ambition. Macbeths passion for power and self-assertion are so intense that he manages to curb the voice of his conscience and proceed him to further evil. Yet Macbeth is too sensitive in his awareness of evil to be reducible to Malcolm's judgment: "this dead butcher" and thereafter Macbeth confuses his motives and persuades himself that he is a most cold blooded villain. Though in actual fact he is just being misguided by apparent agents and can't be blamed. Throughout the play Shakespeare's artistic genius helps to secure pity and admiration for the hero as all his decisions and motives are either based on external agents or have been influenced in one way or the other. Even on the verge of damnation, Macbeth commands our admiration by challenging fate and reasserting his valour like a true hero: “Macbeth is acutely aware of his tragic reversal, when he

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