Macbeth Tragic Hero Essay

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Two-Face Macbeth Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, is a tragic play that takes place in medieval Scotland. The play is about Macbeth, general to his cousin, King Duncan of Scotland. After winning the battle from two invading armies, from Ireland and Norway, they met up with three witches on the moors whom greeted Macbeth and Banquo with a prophecy. This meeting put into motion a series of events, leading Macbeth named the new Thane of Cawdor, and then he kills the king, acquires the thrown and lastly, proceeds to kill all that he perceives as a threat, real or not. Later, he seeks the witches for another prophecy which entails circumstances that will lead to his downfall; one, he can only be slain from one born by caesarian section, and second, Birnam forest moves to Dunsinane where his castle lies. The play marvelously depicts Macbeth as a tragic Machiavellian hero. According to B.K. De Paolis’ book, The Machiavel in Elizabethan & Jacobean Drama,” the Machiavellian villain-hero … embodies a character that is evil, cunning, ruthless, deceptive, treacherous, and usually foreign”. A tragic hero should be of high status with a tragic flaw, which leads to their downfall, and we should pity the poor bastard. In the beginning, he is recognized as a valiant hero. Portraying an account of his bravery and courage; out of the mist at Duncan’s camp, a gashed sergeant reports on Banquo and Macbeth: “…as two spent swimmers… but all's too weak: For brave Macbeth—well he deserves that name—Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel, Which smoked with bloody execution… like valour's [sic] minion…show more content…
He is a hero by virtue, a Machiavel because he is a conniving, remorseless, serial killer and tragic because his ambition, fueled by the slithering tongues of women caused his downfall. Most will agree that Macbeth is a walking tragedy losing everything, at the end, including his

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