The Character Of Macbeth As An Aristotelian Tragic Hero

This will be added on to Beowulf’s other characteristics to mold him into a formidable hero. The second quality of Beowulf that makes him the wonderful hero that he is the faith that he shows through his battles and the glory he gives to God for success. This is a prominent feature of all heroes from the Beowulf Era of writing as Catholic and Protestant Christianity was very prominent. Here Beowulf can be seen exemplifying this, “I have borne from Grendel; but God still works wonder on wonder, the Warden-of-Glory.” (Beowulf, Chapter 14)

Antigone is one of the greatest tragedies ever written by Sophocles. There is a controversial question about this play: Who is the tragic hero? Could it be Antigone or Creon? Even though the play’s name is Antigone, but as I read the story. A sensible and responsible king, Creon, is a tragic hero because of his power madness, self-righteousness, and ruthlessness.

In any tragedy, the tragic hero is a great character with a tragic flaw and is destined for downfall, suffering, or defeat. The tragic hero conclusively can sometimes cause death upon himself due to his tragic flaw. Three main theories of the tragic hero are the Aristotelian model, the Shakespearean model, and the modern tragic hero. Each model has five defining characteristics, which are nobility, hamartia, downfall, anagnorisis, and suffering. In the Shakespearean mode of the tragedy, the play Romeo and Juliet best models the tragic hero.

Are you familiar with Davy Jones, Romeo Montague, and Oedipus Rex? They were the true definition of tragic heroes. Each one came from a high standing in their realm of life and fell to defect of their own. Many insist on arguing whether Hamlet is a tragic hero or not, but he fits the description very well.

A tragic hero is a person of noble status who has a tragic flaw in his or her personality and suffers a fall from grace due to that tragic flaw, only to redeem a small measure of that lost nobility through self-awareness. In The Tragedy of Macbeth, a play written by William Shakespeare, the character known as Macbeth has a variety of qualities similar to those belonging to a tragic hero. Despite the significant role that Macbeth already plays within society, he seeks out greater power that he attempts to acquire through unforgivable acts which leads to the death of many. His position in society, his ambition, and the actions he takes to gain more power as well as their consequences, qualify him as a tragic hero.

In the distinguished play Antigone, there is argument over who the tragic hero is, Antigone, or King Creon. A tragic hero must meet certain specifications, which include having a great influence, being essentially good with good intentions, having a weakness in them that leads to their fall, they must commit great sin which leads to conflict, that their story begins in relative happiness and ends in utter disaster, and that the hero commits their actions of their own free will. In this play, I believe that Creon is the real tragic hero and that Antigone sparks the reaction to his downfall. Creon’s position as king gives him great influence over the people of Thebes, allowing him to create laws to restrain, abstain, and assist the citizens.

In William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, ACT 3, scene 1 is a crucial in creating the circumstances that lead to the tragedy of the play. Shakespeare incorporates tragedy into Romeo and Juliet with the use of plot, language devices and aesthetic features. With these devices Shakespeare integrates poetic dialogue, forbidden love and devastating tragedy into the script of the play. In ACT 3, scene 1, Tybalt kills Mercutio and is killed by Romeo who is then banished by the prince, these unfortunate events contribute to the tragedy of the play. The scene begins with Benvolio and Mercutio hanging out, mocking each other and insulting the Capulets.

As stated before, Oedipus the King is replete with all types of irony, predominately dramatic and tragic irony. Irony in this tragedy is depicted in the king’s tragedy of fate. Sophocles, one of the most celebrated dramatic Greek playwrights during the Golden age of the Greek drama, blends dramatic and tragic irony in his play in a more multiplexed way than their abstract definition. It is found in most actions and speeches of the play. The playwright uses this striking dramatic device in Oedipus’ initial declaration.

What drives apparently good men to become ruthless, ambitious, jealous and greedy? We see an example of this in the play “Macbeth” performed at Pop Up Globe, directed by Tom Mallaburn, was written originally by the well-known author, William Shakespeare. Macbeth is based upon a big tragedy, where the two main characters, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, inevitably were forced to do evil things due to their ambition; taste the sweetness of victory and then downfall again. Although the play was written by an English author, Shakespeare smartly sets his story based upon the idea of ambition, a concept that relates to all of us, no matter where we are from. We have to admit that in our minds, the concept of power and ambition is linked to men.

This is why I think Brutus is a tragic hero. He starts of as a honorable man which is eventually turned against him. Then the play progresses and his tragic flaws causes his downfalls of a hero. At the end of the play he is stabbed just like Caesar was which is an example of peripeteia.

A tragic hero is defined as a great character who is all but destined for downfall. The tragedy of Macbeth falls in line with this depiction perfectly. Macbeth was a noble warrior, he experienced a downward spiral at the top of his game, and was overcome by a flaw, his pride, that led to his ultimate destruction. Macbeth was a noble warrior, an excellent soldier admired by all. We know this because throughout the play this fact is brought to light.

Ambition is a strong desire to complete a task and usually requires hard work to do so. The strong desire one needs to achieve a task could occasionally waiver and be affected by limitations that could cause one to question whether or not they would like to reach their goal. Throughout the play, Macbeth, Shakespeare demonstrates the use of internal and external limitations through examples in the play. Loyalty is an example of internal limitation that is displayed throughout the play. Macbeth demonstrates loyalty by being loyal to the king until he hears about the witch’s prophesises and his ambition gets in the way of him being faithful to Duncan.

Farwah Iqbal Mrs. Mantilla ENG3U0-B December 7th, 2016 Macbeth’s date with Destiny Life is full of choices, where everyone at some point makes a wise decision or a poor one. When poor judgments are made, the weight can result in the feeling of guilt. In the play Macbeth, William Shakespeare portrays guilt is caused by what pathway someone opted for. Macbeth is a tragic hero who ruins himself because he lets his ambition, insecurity and ignorance control him and his actions.