Compare and Contrast Between Shakesperean Tragic Heroes

Compare and Contrast Essay Shakespeare Tragic Heroes: Macbeth and Brutus Kyla Yu English 11 August 4th, 2008 William Shakespeare is a world renowned English poet and playwright famous for many tragic plays such as Macbeth and Julius Caesar. These two plays both contain tragic heroes with Marcus Brutus from Julius Caesar, and Macbeth from Macbeth. A tragic hero is defined as a protagonist of high standing with heroic or potential heroic abilities who must oppose some external or internal force. A tragic hero needs to have a â€Å"tragic flaw† where a character has too much or too little of one of Aristotle’s twelve virtues. Macbeth and Brutus are both considered tragic heroes but have many similarities as well as differences.†¦show more content†¦Macbeth wouldn’t accept his feelings about murdering Banquo and was almost driven to madness by it while Brutus acknowledged Caesar’s ghost because he knew that he had done a dishonorable act and would be haunted. There is also the possibility that Macbeth and Brutus were faced with real ghosts since many of Sh akespeare’s plays revolved around the idea of the supernatural; therefore, they might have been haunted by real ghosts from their murders. Fourthly, Macbeth and Brutus had extreme influence and manipulation from outside sources that caused the degeneration of these characters from noble men to tragic heroes. Before the death of King Duncan, Macbeth was a true hero, fresh from a victory on the battlefield and not harboring any desires to gain the throne. At first, when faced with the witches’ predictions, he responds the way a loyal subject would, not like man who aspires to take over Scotland; ...to be King stands not within the prospect of belief, no more than to be Cawdor... (Macbeth, Act I, Scene iii, Lines 73-5). Also, Brutus was an honorable man with promise, ability, and was loyal to Rome. Both Macbeth and Brutus were good men until they had influence from the outside that caused the start of their degeneration into darkness. Macbeth had influence from his wife, Lady Macbeth, who was the one that urged him to kill Duncan and seize the