From Heaven To Hell: Macbeth as a Tragic Hero

William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, a play written for the Elizabethan Theater circa 1606, tells the story of an esteemed Scottish nobleman who rises to the throne by murder and subterfuge, only to descend again into madness and damnation. Critics through the years have heralded Macbeth as one of the finest English tragedies by England’s finest dramatist. However, some might still ask: “Is Macbeth truly a tragic hero, or is he simply the protagonist of a …

…his downfall are his own. Once his descent begins, the reader cannot help feeling an undeniable sense of loss and pity for Macbeth. Macbeth is not a play of fate: Macbeth is a tragedy on par with Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex; it is the tragic tale of a the disintegration of a noble man’s conscience, morality and peace-of-mind, a tale of a man who stood on a glorious pillar near Heaven and fell to Hell.