Download Macbeth as a Tragic Hero

Macbeth as a Tragic Hero
According to the Greek scholar Aristotle, in Tragedy, the hero is someone “who is
not eminently good or just, yet whose misfortune is brought about by some error or
frailty”. The term hamartia is used to describe the “error, frailty, mistaken judgment, or
misstep through which the fortunes of the hero of a tragedy are reversed.” Hamartia is
often inaccurately called the tragic flaw, but sometimes it is simply a mistake that the
hero makes which moves the play from happiness to misery, an essential component of
tragedy. Aristotle says, “It is their characters that give men their quality, but their doings
that make them happy or the opposite.” Hamartia may be the result of bad judgment, bad
character, ignorance, inherited weakness, accident, or one of many other possible causes.
It must, however express itself through a definite action or failure to act.
One type of flaw that characters often have is that of “hubris” or overweening
pride or insolence (eg Satan). Another example of a tragic flaw can be seen in
Shakespeare’s play Othello, where the main character’s hamartia is expressed through his
jealousy and inability to have faith. In Macbeth, the main character’s hamartia is
expressed through his “vaulting ambition”, which causes him to break moral and social
laws in a vain attempt to transcend normal limitations.
Nonetheless, an essential ingredient of Shakespearean tragedy is that the final Act
must show some type of catharsis. Catharsis occurs when the emotions of pity and fear
are combined to produce a profound sadness due to the impression of “wasted greatness”.
Aristotle believed that this catharsis (from the Greek word for ‘purging’) was the prime
purpose of tragedy, as it aroused feelings of pity and fear in the audience, and then
released these emotions; the spectator would thus be given a deeper, more powerful
experience of everyday life. Part of what is necessary for the audience to feel pity, is for
the tragic hero to recognize his own shortcomings; the character must come to some final
recognition of his own part in his destruction.
In order to achieve catharsis, Shakespeare must first regain some of the audience’s
sympathy for the flawed character. The audience is thus reminded of the fact that this
character was once an honourable man. Yet, the death of the character is typically
inevitable and poetic retribution demands that the punishment fit the crime. This
typically means an eye for an eye is the justice doled out.
Through the punishment of the main character, order is restored to both the land
and, metaphorically, to the Great Chain of Being. This resolution to the play would
prove to an Elizabethan audience that justice has been done. Nonetheless, the audience
would feel pity that such a potentially great person should have ‘wasted’ his life through
his insistence on following his own ambitions to extremes.
Therefore, the essential ingredients of TRAGEDY include:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Define Hamartia- the proper definition:
How must Hamartia present itself?
What is hubris?
Define catharsis in YOUR own words.
At what point in the play will an audience experience catharsis? Why do they experience
catharsis?
What is poetic retribution?
How does poetic retribution help to restore order?
What is the Great Chain of Being?
Why would an Elizabethan audience both agree with this resolution and sympathize with
the main character?
As we read this play, you must keep track of whether Macbeth follows each of these
steps of tragedy.