Macbeth and Hamlet Tragic Hero Graphic Organizer

Characteristics of a Tragic

Hero

Macbeth Hamlet

A tragic hero is of noble birth, possesses royalty, AND/OR has a noble disposition & is a good person at some junction in the play.

Thane of Thamis Scottish general that

acquired fame through success in battles by being a brave & powerful warrior

Son of King Hamlet Prince of Denmark

A tragic hero suffers a reversal of fortune from having everything at one point in the play and then losing all of it.

Macbeth’s physical prowess & courage is accompanied by a naturally consuming ambition awakened by the witches’ revelation of Macbeth’s fate causes to believe that he is destined for greatness. The prediction that he will be king brings Macbeth joy, but his desperate desire for the throne creates inner turmoil that easily tempts him into murder, and once he crowned King of Scotland, he embarks on further atrocities with increasing ease and is unable to stop

Not naturally virtuous; weak character

Hamlet’s tragic flaw is utter indecisiveness that prevents him from killing Claudius to achieve his revenge at the beginning of the play. Incapable of making up his mind, Hamlet is trapped in endless internal debate. He had many chances to kill his uncle, such as the moment Claudius was praying, but cannot muster up the resolve to do so until the tragic end of the play. When Laertes is brought into the action, his conspiracy with Claudius leads to the deaths of multiple characters and the entire royal family

A tragic hero recognizes the consequences of his actions.

After murdering King Duncan, Macbeth suffers flashes of fevered action, in which he plots a series of murders to secure his throne, experiences terrible guilt when Banquo’s ghost appears, and pessimism after his wife’s death, when he succumbs to despair. These fluctuations reflect the tragic tension within Macbeth: he is too ambitious to allow his conscience to stop him from murdering his way to the top,

Couldn’t cry or exhibit emotion Can’t do the honorable thing As Hamlet’s mental state

deteriorates, he kills Polonius in a spontaneous burst that drives his beloved Ophelia to insanity

but also too conscientious to be okay with himself as a murderer

Couldn’t say “Amen” after murdering King Duncan

Never comfortable in his role as a criminal. He is ill-equipped for the psychological consequences of his atrocities.

The audience watches the actions of the tragic hero and is moved to pity, fear, and catharsis.

Macbeth’s fate would mean much less if Shakespeare had not characterized him before his meeting with the witches – at the start of the play he is an accomplished & loyal warrior on his way back from great success in battle. That a man with such love & regard for his king was driven to murder him is what gives the play its extraordinary power: if Macbeth was bad from the start, there can be no sympathizing with his descent into madness.

That a man with such love and regard for his king should be driven to murder is what gives the play its extraordinary power: if Macbeth was bad from the start, we simply would not sympathize with his descent into madness.

Macbeth’s extremes—bravery, ambition, and self-doubt—struggle for mastery of his character throughout the play. Shakespeare uses Macbeth to show the terrible effects that ambition and guilt can have on a man who lacks strength of character.

Ultimately Hamlet does avenge his father’s ghost, but not before he brought about his own death and inflicted extraordinary pain on others through his perpetual delaying of the actions he knows he will eventually have to take. Hamlet’s soliloquies reveal his constant procrastination. Although Hamlet is a man of formidable intelligence & great devotion to his family, his tragic flaw is his indecision and irresolution: he is unable to act on his impulses.

What part does the strange, the supernatural and chance play in the character’s journey?

The 3 “black and midnight hags” plot mischief against Macbeth using charms, spells & prophecies. The witches’ predictions drive Macbeth to wicked thoughts. When their prophecy that he will be made thane of Cawdor comes true, Macbeth is prompted to murder Duncan,

King Hamlet’s ghost claims that he was murdered by his own brother, which burdens Hamlet with the deed of avenging the death of his father; this catalyst is responsible for the events of the play.

order the deaths of Banquo & his son, and to blindly believe in his own immortality. The play leaves the witches’ true identity unclear, aside from the fact that they are servants of Hecate. They resemble the mythological Fates in Hercules, who unforgivingly weave the threads of human destiny. The witches clearly take a perverse delight in using their knowledge of the future to toy with & destroy human beings.

Hamlet is perhaps the holy-grail of Shakespeare’s tragedies because it harbors more complex character interactions than any of his other plays. Macbeth’s tragic flaw–ever consuming ambition–causes his fall through internal conflicts, and Hamlet, driven by respectable but indecisive motives, sees his downfall through an unfortunate series of events. Hamlet is portrayed as an honorable man throughout the play, despite the fact that his mental insecurities cause the destruction around him, evoking a sincere pity. While Shakespeare probably intended to create pity for Macbeth, his despicable actions make the audience rejoice with his demise. Therefore, Hamlet ought to be considered the better tragedy.