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Macbeth
A tragic hero is a character who brings on their own downfall, usually by failing to recognize the errors in their own actions and learning from them. Macbeth can be considered a tragic hero. At the beginning of the play Macbeth is shown as a courageous and respected character, having just defeated the kings enemies in a row. The rewards given to him by the king are not enough to satisfy his ambition and his ambition gets the better of him and causes him to do cruel things. Finally he becomes very paranoid he makes some very bad and unnecessary decisions along the way, which gets him deeper and deeper in trouble.
Macbeth starts out being very loyal, courageous and smart. He has just fought two wars in a row for his king, Duncan. While Macbeth is walking home from the war, the three weird sisters appear and tell Macbeth that he will someday be king. When he hears that he is going to be king, he gets scared; this shows that he might have already been thinking about being a king. “ All hail Macbeth, who shalt be king hereafter/Good sir, why do you start and seem to fear things that sound so fair” (I.iii.48-49). Macbeth has a lot of ambition and he seems that he can’t get that out if his mind.
Macbeth is certainly pleased to hear that he will be king and he writes to his wife Lady Macbeth. Once she receives the letter she has the idea to kill Duncan. She easily influences Macbeth into doing the deed, by criticizing his manliness. At this stage Lady Macbeth seems to me more evil than Macbeth. She even calls upon evil to help her. “Come you spirits/That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here/ And fill me from crown to the toe top full of direst cruelty” (I.v.40-43). It also seems like Macbeth has too much ambition to say no. This is his final chance before he begins a series of terrible things. He debates if he should kill Duncan, but Lady Macbeth easily talks him back into it. Macbeth still has a bit of a...