Was Macbet a Tragic Hero

The Tragedy of Macbeth was a story about a man that, under great pressure committed foul actions in order to obtain a higher status. The story, to me, represented the extreme hierarchical society and the pressures of gaining status in that time. The Main character, Macbeth, is a flawed character that we are supposed to relate through because the pressures he faced by society and those around him and making mistakes because of those pressures. Even though, the societal pressures on Macbeth were great, as many know; Macbeth is not a Tragic hero.

How one classifies a good person can be very dependent on someone’s own moral character. Some people classify Macbeth as a good person based primarily on his guilty conscience that shows throughout most of the story and the pressure that was placed on him to make these bad choices. In my opinion, it takes more than a guilt-ridden conscience to make a good person; it takes a strong moral compass that can’t be swayed so easily and some sort of selflessness that inflicts an emotional attachment in the audience. You don’t see either of those traits in Macbeth. Macbeth was so easily manipulated by his wife and the three witches, and yet he did in fact make his own choices. And even though his guilt did show some humanity, as Macbeth became more accustomed to killing, we slowly see his only shred of humanity that the audience could relate to, fade. He never did anything for anybody else but himself throughout the entire story, and not only is the selfishness obvious to the audience, but it is well represented when we see the kingdom of Scotland crumble under his rule. Even though Macbeth may have not been a bad person, I don’t think Macbeth was ever a very good person either, which is why he can’t be a shakespearean tragic hero.

He can’t be shakespearean tragic hero also because he does not necessarily elicit fear or pity from the audience. In my own opinion, I thought it would take a lot more for me to pity Macbeth, because of all that he’d done. Even though we are supposed to see ourselves in Macbeth and the mistakes he’s made and the pressures put on him to go to extreme length to gain power, most people don’t even have the luxury to want power. Macbeth had all of these things that he was lucky to have and yet didn’t appreciate it; it was like Watching a kid in the store throwing a fit because he wants a