How Is Macbeth A Hero

In William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth perfectly correlates to a tragedy in the Aristotelean sense. In this play, Shakespeare perfectly incorporates Aristotle’s ideas of a hero, by having his hero be of Scottish nobility and using Macbeth, a character who can be portrayed as both a hero and a villain, this is because of the flaws he is given. Macbeth also allows the audience to experience a great amount of catharsis, or an experience of pity and horror that leads the audience to live a better life; the audience is able to do this by following Macbeth and the sometimes faulty choices he makes in order to obtain the Scottish throne.
When we are introduced to Macbeth, the Weïrd Sisters are telling him that one day he will be the king. Then, Macbeth is given the title Thane of Cawdor, he is given this title because, the previous Thane was found out to be a traitor and was executed. Then, Macbeth had to prepare for Duncan’s royal visit where he thinks, “Present fears/ Are less than horrible imaginings./ My thought, whose murder is yet but fantastical,” (1.3 150-3) Macbeth says this because as he finds that as his power is increased, he craves more power and starts to believe that the only way he can get to the throne is by killing Duncan, the
So, Macbeth orders for Macduff’s family to be killed. When the murderers arrive at Macduff’s castle, they spare no expense, brutally killing all of Macduff’s children and even his wife, announcing his decision by telling Lennox, “The castle of Macduff I will surprise,/ Seize upon Fife, give to th’ edge o’ th’ sword/ His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls” (4.1 171-4) Macbeth claims this out of his pure and extreme anger. After Macbeth completes this “mission”, the audience is shown the true evil within Macbeth, changing their opinion of the