Is Macbeth a true tragic hero? Essay

Amongst all of Shakespeares tragedies, Macbeth is the most inconsistent and fragmented. Like the mental verbalize of the protagonist, the tragicalal coordinate of the play is in disarray from the very onset. According to Aristotle, all tragedies moldiness follow a certain set of fiberistics, and the most important of these is the straw man of a tragic protagonist. This tragic hero must possess a tragic daub, or hamartia, which is a good quality taken to practi strainy(prenominal) an extreme that it now exhibits immoral behaviour from the hero. He must in addition draw sympathy of his plight from the audition. Macbeth, al potassiumgh the protagonist, is non a tragic hero because he does non possess this hamartia. This significant absence of a faulting leads to his activitys being without justification, drawing no sympathy from the audience. Because doll Macbeths jockey for Macbeth acts as a tragic defect by ultimately transport about her d ownfall and extracting a large(p) amount of sympathy from the audience, she exhibits attributes to a strikinger extent tragically heroic than Macbeth.Macbeth is the protagonist of Macbeth because the play is inexorably tied to his actions. A protagonist is defined as the leading character of a literary work. In Shakespearean tragedies, the protagonist must also be from the nobility and possess exceptional character and vitality. One need not look farther than the title to determine Macbeths importance in the play. While the title does not necessarily provide median(a) sentiment of content, Shakespeare has an uncanny habit of titling his tragedies with the name of the protagonist Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, Julius Caesar and Othello are examples.As the play commences, farther evidence of Macbeths importance is apparent by dint of the witches subject in the very firstborn scene There to bear upon with Macbeth (I.i.7). It is for Macbeth that they pass on gather upon the heath, and he upon who m their efforts will be focused. In the nigh scene, Macbeths nobility is confirmed through Duncans subject matterfelt O valiant cousin, worthy gentleman (I.ii.24). The exclamatory nature of this sentence testifies Duncans affiliation with, and high regard for, Macbeth. aft(prenominal) the victorious battle, Ross describes Macbeth as Bellonas bridegroom (I.ii.54), an allusion meaning the husband of the Goddess of War, thus establishing him to be of exceptional character and vitality. Macbeths role as the protagonist is therefore legitimized through some others perception of him and his own noble character.While Macbeth is the protagonist and therefore meant to be the tragic hero, the glaring absence of a tragic disfigurement in his character prevents his recognition as thus. A tragic flaw must be a good quality taken to such an extreme that it now exhibits immoral behaviour. Macbeth has many flaws, a hunger for condition and a belief of superiority among them, til now none of these are tragic flaws because they do not have the ability to be virtuous qualities. This leaves inhalation and imagination as the main competitors. Ambition cannot be Macbeths tragic flaw because he recognizes it in his confusion soliloquy even sooner he kills DuncanI have no spurTo prick the sides of my conception, but onlyVaulting ambition, which oerleaps itself,And falls on the other. (I.vii.25-28)When dame Macbeth questions Macbeths intentions right after the obstetrical delivery of this soliloquy, the recognition of his ambition leads him to a determining(prenominal) We will proceed no further in this business (I.vii.31).The reason he later kills Duncan is because doll Macbeth appeals not to his ambitious nature, but to his self-respect. She accuses him of being a coward in his own esteem (I.vii.43) and weak in manliness you would/Be so a lot more the man (I.vii.50-51). It is not ambition, but a wounded pride and an inbred impulse to unquestioningly follow his wife that leads Macbeth to eventually beam the deed that ultimately brings about his downfall. Yet pride is also not his tragic flaw because it does not spur any of his other great offensive activitys. While pride triggers, but is not the cause of, Macbeths downfall, an lively imagination is not the tragic flaw because it merely serves as an legal instrument to illustrate that a character is in a confused state of mind. Macbeth is self-doubting all through the first three acts of the play in his lines sideline the witches initial prophecies, he states Come what come may (I.iii.146), portraying his wish of wilful decisiveness.Yet after the witches second set of prophecies, he takes decisive measures to crown his ideals with acts (IV.i.149), and his imagination vanishes. Similarly, wench Macbeths first statement of Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be/What thou art promisd (I.v.15-16) establishes her steely resolve. She is practical and unmolested by any visions. When she r ealizes the extent of the damage she has caused, withal, her imagination takes full reign. In the sleepwalking scene, she is depicted as a broken figure,tormented by imaginative hallucinations. In both cases, imagination comes along when the character is in a disorderly state of mind therefore, imagination, like ambition, is not Macbeths tragic flaw, testifying that Macbeth does not possess one and therefore is unrecognizable as a tragic hero.Macbeths lack of such a flaw deems all his heinous actions without justification, and as a result, draws no sympathy from the audience. The blest for his lapse in character can be placed upon nought but his own non-tragic flaws. He is depicted as a direful man he kills Duncan because of his inability to make decisions for himself Banquo out of paranoia our fears in Banquo/ tick deep (III.i.49-50) he says, before ordering the murderers to kill his former admirer and Lady Macduff and her son out of spite his current quarrel is with Macduff, however as he realizes that the nobleman has seceded his clutches, he proceeds to croak to the edge o the sword/Macduffs wife and his babes (IV.i.151-152). Macbeths central desire, the extremity to safely be king, is born of nothing more than despicable cowardice. The audience gets a sense of this despicability in Macbeths character firstly through the witches mention of him There to meet with Macbeth (I.i.7).By associating him with the witches so early, Shakespeare foreshadows Macbeths later affiliation with them. Lady Macbeth recognizes cowardice and ineptitude in Macbeth she calls him nerveless of purpose when he is unable to carry out the plan of sidesplitting Duncan to her perfection. It seems that Shakespeare trys a sympathy-inducing endeavour through Macbeths Will all great Neptunes ocean wash this blood/Clean from my hand? (II.ii.60-61). This attempt backfires however, because instead of showing Macbeth in a remorseful light, the irrepressible imaginativeness of bloo d only serves to farther exemplify the wrongs he has wrought and how disgraceful they are to his moral being.As the plot furthers, Macbeths crimes pile up, from belittlement, to hypocrisy, to bare-faced lying, and finally to treacherous murders. Even in catharsis he is despicable his first words upon realizing the truth about the witches are Accursed be that patois that tells me so (V.viii.17), cursing others instead of himself for the dreadful deeds he has committed. This is not pitiful, but repulsive. These crimes all sprout from the regicide at the number one, and since thisfirst terrible crime lacked purpose, the others do so too.From the very onset, Lady Macbeth is sharply contrasted with Macbeth because she possesses this purpose, driven forward-moving by her love for Macbeth. This love is her tragic flaw because it leads to her ultimate downfall. She does not want Macbeth to be king because of some ulterior motive she wants it for his benefit. nowhere in her first soliloqu y, in which she speaks to herself and need not hide her true thoughts, does she mention the want of greatness for herself instead, she refers to Macbeth and says, super C wouldst be great (I.v.18) and Thou ldst have the crown (I.v.22), proving her loyalty to Macbeths cause for his sake. She proceeds then to call upon spirits/That tend on mortal thoughts (I.v.40-41) to rid her of all kindness, gentleness, sensitivity, sweetness, and lenience that accompanies her womanly nature, all the better to kill Duncan.This is not a fiddling sacrifice on her part, as seen later through the repercussions it has on her conscience. After Macbeth becomes king and begins isolating Lady Macbeth, the at one time resolute woman is visualized as a powerless being, unable to survive without the husband that once loved but now alienates her why do you keep solo? (III.ii.8) she asks him after having to request a meeting to speak with him. During the banquet, she is seen to jeopardize her nature as a graceful hostess to protect Macbeth Stand not upon the order of your going,/But go at once (III.iv.85), she says to the noblemen. It is Lady Macbeths tragedy that she sacrifices so much for the love of a husband that will not confide in her anymore, and this love is much more touching than the alleged tragedy of Macbeth, which is born from his cowardice.Because her tragic flaw is something pure and good, her transfer is so heartbreaking, so utterly tragic, that it draws an unequalled amount of audience sympathy. The notorious Sleepwalking Scene, the last presence of Lady Macbeth in the play, shows that she has reached the very laughingstock of the pit of tragic downfall that she started falling down at the beginning of Act III. It is a reflection of her mental and emotional state that she speaks in prose instead of iambic pentameter in this entire scene. While Macbeth, previously diligent by horrible hallucinations, has now dulled his ability for feeling horror, Lady Macbeth ha s done the opposite. This role-reversalleaves her in a state of severe trauma, exposing her inner thoughts and feelings. The maams words of This is Lady Macbeths very guise, and, upon my life, fast asleep (V.i.20-21) depict Lady Macbeths trauma as being so great that she cannot escape it even in sleep. This is decidedly more sympathy-inducing than Macbeth, who, the last we saw of him, had lucid the brutal murders of an innocent noblewoman and her unguarded son (IV.i.150-154). While Macbeth seems intent upon bloodying his hands remorselessly at every opportunity, it is ironic that Lady Macbeth sprucely rubs her hand to get them rid of Duncans blood It is an accustomed action with Lady Macbeth, to be seen thus washing her hands (V.i.29-30).This irony excites audience mildness for Lady Macbeth as she is all the way disillusioned and has reached her tragic recognition much earlier and more genuinely than Macbeth does. The imagery of blood that is present end-to-end the play now re aches a climax as well Lady Macbeths obsession with her figuratively blood-stained hand is revealed through her anguished anticipate of Out damned spot (V.i.35) she rhetorically asks, Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him? (V.i.39-40), then notes that the smell of the blood (V.i.50) is still rampant.This blood symbolizes the guilt that she is loaded down with, even years after the murder she helped orchestrate, contrasted with the remorselessness of Macbeth. The gentlewoman, innocent of the crime her lady has committed, still says, I would not have such a heart in my bosom for the dignity of the whole body (V.i.54-55). It can be deduced that the status-deprived gentlewoman does not wish to have the status of a faery if it means feeling the sorrow of Lady Macbeth. This clearly illustrates that our heroine, the true tragic character of the play, is very broken, only because of the great love she has for her husband. Love is not a crime, and this ma kes her predicament all the more sympathetic.Macbeth is clearly a tragedy, yet it is tragic more because of the role of Lady Macbeth than that of Macbeth himself. The love that propels her change from a strong, sensible character to one overwrought with guilt is much more tragic than Macbeths character change, propagated by his cowardice and incompetence. In a play about disorder and ambiguity, where fair is foul and foul is fair (I.i.11), it is only fitting that the role of the tragichero is also clearly indeterminate. It seems that Shakespeare involved himself so much in creating perfect ambiguity that he let the tragic structure of the play become quite ambiguous as well.BibliographyAgnes, Michael, ed. Websters New World College Dictionary. 4th ed. Foster urban center IDG Books Worldwide, Inc., 2001.Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Mississauga Canadian School Book Exchange, 1996.