Lady Macbeth as a Tragic Hero in Macbeth Essay

Introduction

William Shakespeare's Macbeth is a tragedy that dramatizes the political ambition's destructive psychological and physical effects on individuals seeking power for pragmatic reasons. The play begins with three Witches who prophesy about the end of the civil war and add that they would meet Macbeth at sunset. After being summoned to leave, the Witches do so but state that what most consider "fair" would turn out to be "foul" and vice versa. King Duncan then hears about the victory of Macbeth after defeating Macdonald and his other invading army. Consequently, Macbeth is named the Thane of Cawdor after the previous Thane was accused of betraying Duncan resulting in his execution. As such, to many readers, Macbeth is a tragic hero in the play since he is presented as an upright man who is fiercely loyal to Duncan but finally suffers a sad ending as a result of his moral corruption. In contrast, a tragic hero should possess a good characteristic which goes to the extreme of now exhibiting an immoral behavior. As such, Macbeth cannot be considered a tragic hero since he is a weak man who is manipulated by others and fails to understand himself at the end of the play which makes Lady Macbeth the real tragic hero of the play.

Lady Macbeth: The Tragic Hero of the Play

Notably, Lady Macbeth satisfies a majority of the features that define a tragic hero. According to Dewar-Watson, often, a tragic hero arouses the pity of the audience since despite being a right person, they face a greater tragedy than they deserve and usually does not equal their "flaw" (Shakespeare 46). Based on this definition, Lady Macbeth is a true tragic hero because her experiences force the audience to feel pity for her. In the play, she regrets doing all that she did. Specifically, as a sign of remorse, she repeatedly washes her hands (Shakespeare 65). In act III, scene II, Lady Macbeth says, "My hands are of your colour; but I shame to wear a heart so white" (Shakespeare 22). She then adds that "Nought's had, all's spent, where our desire is got without content" (Shakespeare 35). In essence, Lady Macbeth demonstrates regret and guilt by stating that the killing of Duncan was not worth it since there was nothing to gain from it. Evidently, the lady expresses the shame that she feels after their terrible act. Her statements evoke pity because the remorse Lady Macbeth demonstrates is clear proof that she was not a bad person as the audience would think. Undoubtedly, readers are made to feel that Lady Macbeth's great human potential was squandered as she could have made a good queen were it not of Duncan's murder.

Lady Macbeth's Suicide

Another reason that makes Lady Macbeth a tragic hero in Shakespeare's play is that after her depiction as a loving and very hospital lady who always wanted to help Macbeth, she commits suicide when she realizes the wrong that she did. Markedly, this is in line with the definition of a tragic hero provided earlier, in which an extreme of the character's good characteristics results in immoral behavior. In act V, Lady Macbeth demonstrates that she does not want to feel guilty anymore. She says, "the Thane of Fife had a wife: where is she now? What, will these hands ne're be clean? No more o' that, my lord, no more o' that: you mar all with this starting" (Shakespeare 65). Essentially, she tells Macbeth that she cannot take it anymore. Since she could not bear the pressure of keeping such a huge secret any longer, her remorse caused her to commit suicide. Undeniably, this in agreement with Dewar-Watson's definition of a tragic hero in which the character arouses the feelings of readers and hence qualifying her as one (Dewar-Watson 47).

Additionally, it is evident from the play that Lady Macbeth undergoes a moral disorder which also makes her a tragic hero. She is the one who pushed Macbeth to kill Duncan and further causing the deaths of Macduff's wife and son (Shakespeare 52). Evidently, this depicts the moral decay of Lady Macbeth which causes her to make such a mistake. Her desire to be queen is so strong that she goes an extra mile to murder Duncan. The lady argues that Macbeth is too gentile and weak to kill Duncan. She says, "what thou art promised: yet do I fear thy nature; it is too full o' the milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great..." (Shakespeare 12). Admittedly, this depicts her hypocrisy since, in the end, Macbeth does kill Duncan. Although Lady Macbeth later realizes that it was not right to force Macbeth to end Duncan's life since it brought them more suffering, it is too late because the dead man could not be brought back to life.

Conclusion

Conclusively, as demonstrated herein, due to his weak nature as a man, his ease of manipulation and failure to understand himself at the end of the play, Macbeth cannot be considered a tragic hero. On the other hand, Lady Macbeth has various features that qualify her as a tragic hero in the play. Some of these reasons include her experiences that force readers to feel pity for her, her depiction as a loving and very hospital lady who always wanted to help Macbeth makes her commit suicide when she realizes her mistake as well as her the moral disorder that she suffers. Apparently, Shakespeare has used Lady Macbeth to demonstrate that power can make people react in a variety of ways and the most significant challenge is that a strong desire for it can lead to self-destruction like was the case with the lady.

Works Cited

Dewar-Watson, Sarah. "The Tragic Hero." Tragedy, 2014, pp. 41-60., doi:10.1007/978-0-230-39259-5_4.

Shakespeare, William. "The Tragedy of Macbeth." Shakespearean Drama, 1990, pp. 1-76.