A Shakespearean tragedy is a tale of exceptional suffering and destruction. “Macbeth” by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is one of the finest paradigms of the classical concept of the tragic figure. He is easily traceable as a tragic hero since Shakespeare has decorated him with all the tragic features.
High Birth or Blood
A tragic character must have high birth or blood. Macbeth is one of the high-class people of Scotland in the play “Macbeth”. He is the Thane of Glamis and has been nominated and eventually selected as the Thane of Cawdor. Though we know nothing about the parentage of Macbeth, he is a man of royal vein because of his professional position and activities.
Neither So Good nor Bad
Aristotle recommends that a tragic character be a person of average class. He must not be so good or bad. In the beginning, Macbeth is a good and noble general who shows his bravery on the battlefield between Norway and Scotland. His patriotism is proven. A patriot cannot be so bad. But his better human nature gets degenerated by the influence of the witches and the criminal incitement (encouraging people to commit crimes) of his wife. The bloody dagger scene is a hallucinated expression of his guilty mind. So, Macbeth is a well-matched dramatic persona with the concept of a tragic figure.
Hamartia
Hamartia is a Greek word that means tragic flaw that causes the downfall of the hero. It does not refer to moral falling or the absence of morality. Rather, it indicates the three facts: ignorance of circumstances, error of judgment, and voluntary commitment to error. Here Macbeth fulfills all the facts of tragic flaw due to his soaring ambition and the ways in which he commits murders. Macbeth says,
“Stars, hide your fires!
Let not light see my black and deep desires.”
Hubris
Hubris is a Greek word that stands for excessive pride and disrespect for the natural order of things. Macbeth is engulfed with hubris. He is caught by hubris as soon as Duncan declares that his elder son Malcolm will be the next king of Scotland. Now Macbeth ponders over the possibility of his being king. He violates the natural order and decides to kill King Duncan.
Peripeteia
The Greek word peripeteia implies the reversal of fate which is one of the prime features of a tragic character. It is the journey of a tragic character from happiness to misery or from misery to happiness to distress. Until the criminal activities were done, Macbeth was one of the happiest and most prestigious men in Scotland. His fate is completely reversed when he kills Banquo. A brave general like Macbeth also turns into a coward. In Act 2, scene 2, after murdering Duncan, he is completely overwhelmed by the growing physical and mental fear which is why he cannot return to the place of murder.
“I’ll go no mor:
I am afraid to think what I have done:
Look on’t again I dare not.”
Nemesis
Nemesis prescribes the punishment and suffering for a tragic character. The tragic character must suffer the utmost because of his hamartia and hubris. His hallucinations can be cited as an example of his suffering. Lady Macbeth’s incurable sleepwalking and madness destroy his happy and sensational conjugal life. Thus, Macbeth’s life becomes a heap of destruction.
Catharsis
Catharsis refers to pity and fear roused within the audience. There is no audience worldwide who cannot but shed tears seeing the damnation of Macbeth. Though Macbeth’s ruin is a poetic justice, it brings about the purgation of pity and fear because he was a patriot and has not completely committed the crime out of his intention.
In termination, it can be undoubtedly asserted that Macbeth is a classical tragic character like Shakespeare’s King Lear, Hamlet, Othello, or even like Sophocles’ Oedipus although Shakespeare has turned him into a villain.
Read Also: Macbeth Summary
