Macbeth: The Tragic Anti-Hero

Anti-hero n. - A main character in a dramatic or narrative work who is characterized by a lack of traditional heroic qualities, such as idealism or courage (dictionary.com). In Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Macbeth is portrayed as a tragic hero. Shakespeare employs many techniques to ensure that the reader feels sympathy for Macbeth but his tragic status declines as the play unfolds into a series of violent murders and power crazed madness. Just as Macbeth is torn between his morality and his evil desires, the reader is left unsure of what to think about Macbeth's character. Suddenly Macbeth is portrayed as an anti-hero through his greed, ambition, belief of the witches' prophecy, and weakness to his wife's manipulation.

Shakespeare first introduces Macbeth as a very honorable man. A sergeant reports to Duncan the acts of Macbeth in a great battle saying, "For brave Macbeth- well he deserves that name" (I.ii.18) and explains how he helped win the war. Duncan's admiration helps build Macbeth's character as a man of integrity. It does not take long for Macbeth's personality to be put into question, but his first impression stays with the audience.

Macbeth's honorable character is questioned very soon after the play begins when he hears a prophecy from three witches who hail him as future king. The witches "work on Macbeth by equivocation, that is, by ambiguous promises of some future state" (Johnston). Consumed by his own ambition, Macbeth decides, with some "help" from his wife, to take the crown with force, even though that entails killing the king. Although Duncan is guilt free, most readers do not view Macbeth as a villain after the first murder. Duncan's murder is committed off stage, which allows Macbeth to avoid being seen committing a violent crime. The reader feels no emotional attachment for Duncan. He is represented as a fair king, but his character is never developed personally enough to involve the reader, making his death even easier on the audience.

The murder of Banquo marks the beginning of a decline in Macbeth's tragic hero status. The reader is not utterly disgusted with Macbeth for he does not commit the murder; he hires men to do it for him. The third murder involving Lady Macduff and her children begins to make the reader really question whether or not they want to feel sorry for Macbeth anymore.

Macbeth cares less about the future of the world than he does about his own determination to "resolve" his inner torment. He is determined to set his life in order, to obtain what he set out to acquire with the first murder, preventing anything or anyone at all to stop him. The murder of Banquo stems from this desire. It's not that they present any immediate threat. Macbeth appears secure on the throne, and there is no talk anywhere of any immediate rebellion. But his mind is not at ease, and that is Macbeth's overwhelming concern (Johnston).

Shakespeare's plan for this play is very precise. As Macbeth becomes more disoriented and torn, so does the reader. The reader is not capable of making a rash decision because he/she is subject to the same opposing forces that exist within Macbeth. At the end of the play, the other characters are focusing on the violence committed by Macbeth but the reader is swathed by his personal struggle.

Although the audience is fully aware of Macbeth's indecision and regret, they cannot deny his evil deeds. The largest blame of course falls on Lady Macbeth who attacks his manliness in order to make him go through with the first murder:

What beast was't then

That made you break this enterprise to me?

When you durst do it, then you were a man;

And to be more than what you were, you would

Be so much more the man. Nor time nor place

Did then adhere, and yet you would make both (I.vii.53-58)

In these lines, Lady Macbeth is making Macbeth feel inferior and weak by questioning his manhood and bravery, both of which were highly significant for men of high power in that time period.

Macbeth's powerful imagination made him already victim to superstition. His superstition was seen by his inclination to the witches' influence unlike Banquo who still was not sure about their credibility. It was his superstition that made him so unquestioningly eager that the apparitions were in fact genuine. It was all of his superstitions that made him cling to his belief in these promises when circumstances became difficult (Macbeth Tragic Hero, paragraph 3).

What matters increasingly to Macbeth is not whether something is good or bad; for he is willing himself beyond those moral categories into a state of being in which acting on his own desires is all that concerns him. What matters now is the strength to keep going on the course where he imposes his desires on the world, even at the expense of any lingering connections he may feel to that society (Johnston).

The internal war of Macbeth makes it's last stand as the end of his life draws near. The lust for power and ultimately, survival, seem to outweigh Macbeth's self hate. This arrogance makes it seem as if all of Macbeth's remorse has disappeared. This revelation of Macbeth's character occurs just in time for the audience to not be completely appalled when he is beheaded.

Shakespeare's development of Macbeth as a man constantly battling himself creates tension throughout the play for the audience. Macbeth presents a problem for the audience in that "he evokes both sympathy and condemnation; he is both hero, in a manner of speaking, and villain" (Cummings). By the end of the play it is obvious that a valiant Macbeth no longer exists, but there is a blurry line between villain and tragic hero that Macbeth cannot seem to clarify for himself or for the audience. The characters of the play always see him as a villain. Readers are personally brought into the play as their own conflicts mirror Macbeth's, and they are not able to soothe their own mind until the end of the play when he is killed realizing how genuine his precious prophecies truly were.

Works Cited

Ø The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000. 3 Jan. 2007

< http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/anti-hero>

Ø Cummings, Michael J. Macbeth: A Study Guide. 2003. 26 Dec. 2006

< http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/xMacbeth.html>

Ø Johnston, Ian. Introduction to Macbeth. Malaspina-University College, Nanaimo, BC, 2001. 1 Jan. 2007

< http://www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/eng366/lectures/macbeth.htm>

Ø "Macbeth as a Tragic Hero". Anti Essays. 26 Dec. 2006