Lady Macbeth: A True Tragic Hero

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William Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, is filled with tragedies and unlucky characters. Almost everyone encounters a moment of total satisfaction, almost everyone suffers from the conflicts aroused, and almost everyone has an unfortunate downfall. However, some characters have more a critical role in the play than others, such as Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is the true tragic hero of the play since her greed ultimately leads her to presumably commit suicide due to the guilt she experiences.
Without Lady Macbeth’s characterization as a malicious yet motivated wife, the play fails to convey a powerful message because of the absence of a true tragic hero. Her hamartia is emphasized by how she overlooks potential conflicts when advising Macbeth to murder king Duncan. In addition, her instincts assist in formulating her scheme, where “in swinish sleep / [the servants’] drenchèd natures lie as in a …show more content…
Her unfiltered ambition carries the tone of the play successfully, while Macbeth merely acts as a character to support the play’s purpose. While sleepwalking, she murmurs that “the smell of the blood still [remains]. All the / perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten [her] little hand” (5.1.42-43). Sadly, her eventual realization of how glory does not mask her overwhelming guilt leads her to commit suicide and unjustly takes away her opportunity of fully redeeming her foolish crimes. Macbeth’s progression towards his downfall and defeat by Macduff is relatively smooth, as he is able to avoid most of the troubles that Lady Macbeth endures before she takes her own life. Because Lady Macbeth’s suffering and demise are evident throughout the entire play, she rightfully earns the title as the true tragic hero over

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