An Aristotelian tragic hero can be described as a literary character who makes a decision or performs an action that inevitably leads to his/her own destruction. In some cases, this can be hard to detect as a reader. But, when describing Macbeth from the tragedy, Macbeth by William Shakespeare, a tragic hero is one of the first things that comes to mind. Macbeth is easily a perfect example of an Aristotelian tragic hero because of his noble status his ultimate tragic flaw, his ambitious nature, or hubris, his fall from grace, and his redemption of loss of nobility through a moment of self-awareness.
The story of Macbeth starts out with Macbeth returning to his country as a war hero. The Captain tells King Duncan, and his song Malcom, about …show more content…
His intense desire for power ultimately plays into his fate, which is to kill anyone in his way of gaining power. His greed for eminence takes place after the witches visit him with prophecies about his future. As Macbeth is already Thane of Glamis, they predict that he will also become Thane of Cawdor and King of Scotland. He is filled with prosperity but quickly gets impatient. He juggles with the idea of letting fate play out; he thinks whether he should wait for his time to come or if he should kill King Duncan and/or his son Malcolm to get the throne. “On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires. The eye wink at the hand, yet let that be which the eye fears, when it is done, to see.” (I sc IV lines 51-55). Macbeth knows he shouldn’t kill Duncan because he is a well-respected and love king and a very good friend to Macbeth. He is disturbed by his own bitter thoughts, but his vaulting ambition eventually overpowers his …show more content…
She belittles him by calling him a coward and less of a man for not wanting to do whatever he has to do for the throne. She almost even does it herself before she backs down because she sees her father’s face in Duncan when he’s sleeping. Macbeth ends up committing the crime, and in that moment, his fall from grace occurs the second after he kills Duncan. “Ha! They pluck out mine eyes. Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red.” (II sc II lines 59-64). All redeeming qualities Macbeth once had have been destroyed because of his decision, or fate, to kill the King. His nobility and redemption from before are stripped in every second after this
The story of Macbeth starts out with Macbeth returning to his country as a war hero. The Captain tells King Duncan, and his song Malcom, about …show more content…
His intense desire for power ultimately plays into his fate, which is to kill anyone in his way of gaining power. His greed for eminence takes place after the witches visit him with prophecies about his future. As Macbeth is already Thane of Glamis, they predict that he will also become Thane of Cawdor and King of Scotland. He is filled with prosperity but quickly gets impatient. He juggles with the idea of letting fate play out; he thinks whether he should wait for his time to come or if he should kill King Duncan and/or his son Malcolm to get the throne. “On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires. The eye wink at the hand, yet let that be which the eye fears, when it is done, to see.” (I sc IV lines 51-55). Macbeth knows he shouldn’t kill Duncan because he is a well-respected and love king and a very good friend to Macbeth. He is disturbed by his own bitter thoughts, but his vaulting ambition eventually overpowers his …show more content…
She belittles him by calling him a coward and less of a man for not wanting to do whatever he has to do for the throne. She almost even does it herself before she backs down because she sees her father’s face in Duncan when he’s sleeping. Macbeth ends up committing the crime, and in that moment, his fall from grace occurs the second after he kills Duncan. “Ha! They pluck out mine eyes. Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red.” (II sc II lines 59-64). All redeeming qualities Macbeth once had have been destroyed because of his decision, or fate, to kill the King. His nobility and redemption from before are stripped in every second after this