The Flaws Of Shakespeares Heroes

The writing of Shakespeare is not only brilliant, but also reflects a sense of timeless effectiveness. The idea of illustrating a hero who possesses both tragic and heroic qualities is something that proves extremely artistic and creative. Shakespeare's tragedies "Macbeth" and "Coriolanus" both hold main characters that illuminate the stage with extremely humanistic qualities. One of those qualities is having a positive, flawless exterior while internally having true, tragic shortcomings. The Julliard School and the John Jay Theatre both held Shakespeare productions in which manifested lead characters that were invincible heroes with humanistic imperfections.

The text itself of both the plays "Macbeth" and "Coriolanus" highlight the main characters internal struggle with being a tragic hero. The essence that defines this characteristic is the continual internal battle between doing what is right on the surface versus giving in to the villainous shortcomings that every human is tempted with. The title role in the tragedy "Macbeth" suffers from this label resulting from his struggle between doing the right thing for himself and that of listening to his wife. All truly good characters possess this internal battle and the character Macbeth is no exception. After winning a significant and influential battle for his country, Macbeth runs into three witches that give him clear prophecies, in which highlight his climb up the social and political latter. They state that he will become the thane of Cawdor and then finally become King of Scotland. At first, Macbeth is reluctant to listen to these wandering witches and to give their absurd and idealistic fortunes a second thought. The tables are turned when King Duncan's men arrive, giving news that happens to confirm the witches' prophecies. The fortunetellers stated that Macbeth will be named the thane of Cawdor. The beneficiary of this good news still possesses reluctance to fully immerse himself in these prophesies, until his wife finds out the news.

When the audience is introduced to Lady Macbeth, the influence of the tragic hero is fully shown. She is completely certain of her intentions for her husband to obtain the Kingship and will do anything to make Macbeth take the witches prophecies seriously. Not only does she want to validity these fortune-tellings, but also she wants her husband to kill the current King of Scotland to sanction the apparent mystic destiny. As the play continues, the actor playing Macbeth is strongly influenced by his wife, and continues with an internal battle between following his own destiny or that of listen to the witches and hurt whomever gets in the way. It is imperative to understand this contrast between doing what is heroic versus doing what is tragic to understand fully the label, "tragic hero." The actor playing the title role of Macbeth highlights this label and did a phenomenal job at capitalizing the duality of the character. At the beginning of this tragedy, the audience can clearly see that if it were not for the fortune telling of the witches that Macbeth would truly by a hero. There is blatant evidence in the inciting incident; the war, in which Macbeth wins before the curtain actually goes up, highlights his heroic nature. Fighting for his country and for what he believed in, Macbeth illustrates that his attempt at climbing the political latter through playing by the rules. The actor playing Macbeth highlighted the patience, tolerance and even composure can all be seen in Macbeth's heroic nature before the influence of both the witches and his wife.

The play "Macbeth" is not the only Shakespeare production that possesses this idea of a hero pressured by such tragic influences; the play "Coriolanus" also highlights an internal battle and struggles of the main character. Acting in