Shakespeare is not formulaic in his creation of characters for his plays. Examples of this are the main protagonists of the tragedies Hamlet and Macbeth by William Shakespeare. Hamlet and Macbeth are polar opposites. The most notable difference is that their tragic flaws are completely opposite. Also, their motives to become king are dissimilar, and while Hamlet is most definitely a tragic hero, Macbeth is most certainly a tragic villain. By noting these examples, one must come to the conclusion that Hamlet and Macbeth are nothing alike.
             The first and most notable difference in Hamlet and Macbeth is their tragic flaws. Macbeth is over-confident due to the three apparitions and their prophecies (4.1, 81-107, Macbeth). Hamlet, on the other hand is constantly second-guessing himself throughout the whole play, but most notably in the scene where he sees the king praying in the chapel and wants to kill him (3.3, 77-101, Hamlet),. This is Hamlet's tragic mistake, where he has a chance to kill the king but his mind plays devil's advocate and gets the better of him.
             Completely polar as their flaws are, there is one similarity. This is the need to be king. However, even this drive to become king is different because in each case it is for a different reason. Technically, Hamlet's goal isn't to be king. He is trying to kill the usurper, Claudius, to avenge his father (1.5, 1-119, Hamlet). However, cause and effect places him in the role of king if he kills his uncle. Macbeth wants to be king. He fully realizes this goal in his conversation with the witches (1.3, 50-81 Macbeth). Macbeth is an ambitious man, and when he is told he will be king, this has an adverse effect upon his drive, allowing him to justify things to himself he wouldn't have before. This in turn leads to yet another dissimilarity between Macbeth and Hamlet, which is the fact that while Hamlet is a tragic hero, Macbeth is a tra
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