Any great accomplishment can make someone feel proud about their work. It makes one feel good; it raises a person's spirits. "No question, pride has its good points." (The Toronto Star, Nov 1999) Then again, there are also the bad points of pride one must consider before being proud. Pride can deceive a person into being ambitious and make them strive for something that is not rightfully theirs. Both Macbeth and Willy encountered this problem. Pride can also cause a bad relationship with the people one loves most. For Macbeth and Willy, their relationships with their families were burdened as a consequence of this pride. Pride can lead to much worse things; it can put a person in a position to be the ultimate cause of their death, and such was the fate for Willy Loman and Macbeth. "It's an excess of pride that buys you one-way, economy coach passage to the fires of hell." (The Toronto Star, Nov 1999) In the play Macbeth and Death of a Salesman, both Macbeth and Willy are seen as tragic heroes due to their pride, as seen in these three situations.
             First, both characters' pride swindled them into believing they could be so much more than they were meant to be; it made them ambitious. In any monarchial country, such as Scotland, the greatest achievement would be the crown. When King Duncan announced that Malcolm, his son, would succeed him, Macbeth's vaulting ambition made him believe that "[this] is a step, On which I must fall, or else o'erleap." (Macbeth, Act 1, sc. 4, ll. 49-50) His pride forced him to want to be king. Willy, who also has an excessive amount of pride, told his wife that "if he keeps it up, he'll be a member of the firm." (Death of a Salesman, Pg. 85) This small compliment paid to Willy by his boss is misinterpreted, taken much too seriously, and because of it, he turns down an excellent business offer from his brother Ben. Ben offered Willy the chance to go to Alaska to run a logging company.
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