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: The Tragic Hero :
Literature entertains us and provides us with an escape from our everyday lives. In doing this we are introduced to many different kinds of heroes - the comedic hero, the romantic hero, the adventurous hero, and the tragic hero. However, it is the "Archetypal" tragic hero that is, by far, the most compelling hero we meet in literature. The tragic hero is usually of noble stature with a tragic flaw. This hero usually makes a tremendous error in his/her choice of action that brings him/her "down." Before the tragic hero's demise, he/she will come to some kind of understanding of what he/she has done that brought him/her down. Two infamous tragic heroes in literature who meet most of these requirements are found in the play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare and in the novel The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger.
The tragic hero Macbeth is a positive traditional tragic hero because he exhibits most of the characteristics of an archetypal tragic hero. His first trait is of being of noble stature. Macbeth becomes King of Scotland through treacherous means and ultimately influences his followers and royalty to conspire against him. Malcolm, who is one of the people who conspire against Macbeth, expresses his dismay in the quote
"This tune goes manly. / Come, go we to the King. Our power is ready, / Our lack is nothing but our leave. Macbeth / Is ripe for shaking, and the powers above / Put on their instruments. Receive what cheer you may. / The night is long that never finds the day." (Shakespeare 238)
The tragedy in the end is that he is slain by his former countrymen.
Macbeth's second trait is his tragic flaw, or is his hubris. This flaw appears after "meeting" with 3 witches who try to influence him in a negative way. They give him false hope and make him believe that he is invincible and that nothing can stop him. Macbeth shows excessive pride when he states
"Bring me...
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