Jordan Bohn

Mrs. Wood

English 11A

Febuary 21, 2016

Macbeth Goes From Hero to Tragedy

Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth is a story about a tragic hero named Macbeth and the things he is willing to do to gain power. At the start of the story he is confronted by three witches who prophesize that Macbeth will become the Thane of Cawdor and then from there the King. He is unsure of the prediction but once his wife, Lady Macbeth hears of this she is determined to make her husband King, for her own selfish reasons, whether he really wants to or not. Between his wife and his inner desire for wealth and power, Macbeth sees to the witches prediction coming true. Although Macbeth was known as a highly respected and moral person by many at the beginning of the book, his lust for power and his guilt led to destruction of his mental state and a transition from hero to something much less than that.

Macbeth was greatly respected. He was considered to be brave, courageous, and loyal by his community. Even all of the royalty respected him. In the tragedy, the Thane of Cawdor, Macdonalwald was treasonous to Scotland. Due to this action, King Duncan had him executed leaving him looking for the next Thane of Cawdor. The Captain suggested Macbeth be the replacement; “For brave Macbeth well he deserves that name, Disdain Fortune, with his brandished steel, which smoked with bloody execution” (2:1 16-18). It can be seen that Macbeth was obviously a prominent member of the kingdom at this point in time, and seemed fitting for the job by many. King Duncan made the decision to give Macbeth the position fairly easily; “Would thou hadst less deserved, that the proportion both of thanks and payment might have been mine! Only I have left to say, more is thy due than more than all can pay” (1:4 18-21). King Duncan’s decision and the things he had to say prove Macbeth’s hero like status at the beginning of the story. This was before his community realized what he (and his wife) were really capable of doing for what they wanted.

Although seemingly kind and honorable to most, in reality Macbeth was selfish and greedy. Once Macbeth was given the title of Thane of Cawdor a realization came to him that this was part one of the prophecy. He immediately fell to wishing that what the witches said would come true; “For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires: The eye wink at the hand;yet let that be which the eye fears, when it is done, to see” (1:4 51-54). Macbeth’s words to himself give readers the insight to how he really feels. This also foreshadows that he would be doing things that he may regret and that may not be very ethical. Now that Macbeth had become Thane of Cawdor, he saw that he was only two steps away from King. His eyes were on the prize and when Duncan names his son Malcolm, Prince of Cumberland, Macbeth saw that he was a blockade between him and his prophesied position; “The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step on which I must fall down, or else o'erleap” (4:1 48-49). Macbeth seemed to have had intentions of doing whatever it took to get his spot as King. Eventually the greed and influence of his equally greedy spouse got the best of him and he did what he needed he killed King Duncan. When Duncan’s sons fled, Macbeth assumed his position as King.

At this point in the tragedy Macbeth is consumed by himself. Macbeth took on his wife’s personality and the two of them together would go to any extent to keep their power and avoid Macbeth’s crime being discovered. He had lost so much of his moral compass at this point he had his best friend, Banquo killed along with his son, Fleance, all because the witches’ prophecy said that Banquo would “have kings”. Macbeth had to convince the murderers to kill Banquo and his son, he almost guilted them into doing it; “Ay, in the catalogue ye go for men; as hounds and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs, shoughs, water-rugs and demi-wolves, are clept, all by the name of dogs” (3:1 93-95). His harsh words, were something that no honorable, kind hearted, hero, that everyone knew him to be at the beginning of the story would say. Now Macbeth had become someone he along with everyone else would not have pinned him to be. Once he really stepped back and assessed the situation he had himself in he became nearly consumed by guilt. Seeing “ghosts”, not sleeping, and having mental breakdowns, he saw karma coming back at him; “ O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!” (3:2 36). Macbeth had now started to acknowledge what he had become. Although he had gotten what he had desired, his royal title was a constant reminder of the wrongdoings he committed. Eventually the guilt was too much for Lady Macbeth to handle, leading to her death. When Macbeth received the news he seemed kind of numb to all of it, rather than a shocked or sad reaction he should’ve had. At this point in his life he had fallen into a deep depression of guilt and sadness, with no energy left to care too much about anything;

“She should have died hereafter, there would have been time for such a word. Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day. To the last syllable of recorded time; and all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury, signifying nothing” (5:5 17-28)

From this excerpt one could come to that conclusion that Macbeth had more or less given up. Macbeth had reached rock bottom, where the reader can really see that he is not a hero anymore, he is tragedy himself.

In The Tragedy of Macbeth as the story moves along, Macbeth shifts dramatically from hero to a sad mess. Shakespeare shows that greed can turn people down the road for the worst. Macbeth lets his desire for power justify his actions that would have been unthinkable to the man he was before the witches came along to predict his future. Started as a man of power and honor, one that could be considered a hero, his inability to think for himself and be influenced by his wife and his greed turn him into the furthest thing from a hero and eventually cost him his life.