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Sad, Bad, Or Mad? Do You Consider Macbeth To Be A Tragic Hero, Evil, Or Bewitched?

A tragic hero is someone who must begin noble and good, but is imperfect, so that the audience can see themselves in him. They are doomed from the start. In Macbeth’s case the witches are first on stage, and are planning to meet with Macbeth in the very beginning.
FIRST WITCH   When shall we meet again? …
THIRD WITCH   There to meet with Macbeth.
This shows that the witches are already plotting Macbeth’s fate.
A tragic hero must make a wrong decision himself or has a character flaw (ambitious, greedy…) which leads them down a path of bad events because of that one choice. They must realise what they have done, so this makes the audience feel sorry for the hero. The audience also feels fear because they know that the choice they made had led the character down a path of evil from which they cannot turn back. This follows Aristotle’s theory of tragedy which should inspire pity and fear in the audience. It can’t be stopped until the events have worked themselves out and their natural order restored.

The real Macbeth lived 1005-1057, and he ruled for 17 years. That proves that he must have been a good king and he created peace and order. He was also buried on Iona which was the traditional place for Scottish kings.
When Macbeth was killed, his son, Lulach, took the throne, but he was nicknamed ‘Simple’ so only riened for one year.   Banquo is real in the play, his character is changed but he was involved in killing Duncan. James thought he could trace his ancestry back to Banquo.
1603 James I (already James VI of Scotland) – Shakespeare wanted to impress the new king so he decided to write a Scottish play.
James believed in the divine right of kings. If you kill kings you come to a horrible end. Killing kings was thought of as a crime against God and witches were associated with death.     James was fascinated by witches- believed in them. He even wrote a book about attacking witchcraft, it was called: Daemonology.
In 1590 Dr Fran and the witches of Berwick...