From Heaven To Hell: Macbeth as a Tragic Hero

William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, a play written for the Elizabethan Theater circa 1606, tells the story of an esteemed Scottish nobleman who rises to the throne by murder and subterfuge, only to descend again into madness and damnation. Critics through the years have heralded Macbeth as one of the finest English tragedies by England’s finest dramatist. However, some might still ask: “Is Macbeth truly a tragic hero, or is he simply the protagonist of a bleak satire, doomed by powers beyond his control?” The answer to the former can be only an adamant, “Yes."

Before one can fully understand that Macbeth is a deeply tragic character, it must first be established, in brief, what a tragedy is, and that Macbeth is one. Shakespearean drama inherits many of its roots from the Greek drama of many centuries before. Aristotle, the quintessential philosopher of the Greek era, considered tragedy to be a genre that is serious in nature, deals with the emotions of pity and terror, and gives the audience a heightened sense of being through the “catharsis” of these emotions. In his book, Poetics, which is widely considered to be the first definitive model of literary criticism, Aristotle stated that, “Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an act

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He is so guilt-ridden before the murder is even committed that he leaves the feast at his castle to think to himself:

Besides, this Duncan

Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been

So clear in his great office, that his virtues

Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against

The deep damnation of his taking-off… (1. As can be seen, Macbeth meets the criteria of a tragedy, at least as long as its title character meets the criteria of a tragic hero. However, by the time Macbeth orders the death of Macduff’s family, his ambition and arrogance have unseated almost all other emotion. 2 73-75)

This promise considered, it cannot be said that Macbeth was not the great man that a tragedy requires as its protagonist. However, he is not yet without remorse. 7 25-28)

Here he realizes that he is a conscientious man pushed only by damning ambition.

From this point onward, Macbeth’s evil deeds become less and less the actions of an insecure man manipulated by others, and more the actions of the ruthless killer the witches wanted him to be.

All this considered, it is clearly evident that Macbeth was a man of great potential but damning faults that lead him to his destruction. 3 138-145)

Here it can be seen that Macbeth has doubts about how he should handle these prophecies, and it is this self-doubt, present in the early acts of the play, that allows him to be manipulated by the witches and by his wife so easily. 1 108-110)

These are not the words of a remorseless killer, and Macbeth is similarly haunted after he kills his companion Banquo. 7 16-20)

Macbeth, as it would seem, still has a conscience bearing down on him; he is not an evil man. A tragic hero, according to Aristotle, must be a great man who is destroyed by his hamartia, or a tragic flaw. Macbeth is not a play of fate: Macbeth is a tragedy on par with Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex; it is the tragic tale of a the disintegration of a noble man’s conscience, morality and peace-of-mind, a tale of a man who stood on a glorious pillar near Heaven and fell to Hell. This doubt is an essential element of Macbeth’s character, as it allows the audience’s sympathy to flow freely for him: were he more resolute and determined in his early ventures, the audience would feel nothing for him and regard him only as a ruthless killer.

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Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

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