A tragic hero is a hero that makes and error in their actions that then leads to their own downfall. I do not think Macbeth is a tragic hero. Yes, he started off as a great leader and was essentially a "hero," but as soon as he betrayed his king, he lost the title of hero. By killing the king, he then got the title of traitor. Although I do not see him as a hero, I do think he is tragic. The decisions he made slowly tipped the scale of his sanity. The more he did, the crazier he got. That to me is a great tragedy. One of the major reasons for this is because the more power he wanted, the crazier he got. So, for this reason, this connects to the EQ "How does power corrupt?" Power obviously corrupted Macbeth because he was willing to go to great lengths to first get it and then keep it. He hungered for it. He wanted nothing more than to have the most of it. This being said i also connects to the EQ "How far is one willing to go to get what they desire most?"
Macbeth:
Do you find your patience so predominant in your nature
That you can let this go?
Are you so gospeled
To pray for this good man and for his issue,
Whose heavy hand hath bowed you to the grave
And beggared yours forever?
The above quote from Act 3, Scene 1 shows that, along with Macbeth being a tragic traitor, he is a tragic coward. Because he now has the power and is just trying to keep it, he gets others to do his biding.
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YOU have a point that he does get ohters to do his bidding, but is that not wha a Kiings role is? WHy do you see him as a coward? He is a traitor because of all the friends he has killed. Other then the readers, many did not knwo that he killed Duncan until later. THey thought it was possibly one of his sons. True, he keeps wanting more power and keeps fighting for more. I'm not sure that your choice of quote quite fits in here. See me and I can explain. :)
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