Hello and welcome to "Read it and (Don't) Weep," the podcast that will help you breeze through your high school literature classes. Are you tired of struggling to understand the themes and characters in classic works of literature? Well, I’ve got you covered! I am your host, Jackey Taggart, and I taught high school English for almost 20 years. Join me each episode as I dive into the world of high school literature and break down the essential elements of each work. From Shakespeare to Steinbeck, I'll cover it all. My goal is to give you valuable insights and analysis on some of the most popular high school literary texts, as well as tips and tricks for acing your tests and essays. Let’s start reading!

Welcome back to Read It and (Don’t) Weep. I’m Jackey Taggart, and today we’re taking a closer look at the tragic hero, a character, like Macbeth, whose choices bring about their downfall. 

The concept of the tragic hero comes from the Greek philosopher Aristotle. In his book Poetics, he argued that a true tragedy should make the audience feel pity and fear, and that those emotions should lead to a kind of emotional release or cleansing. 

To create that emotional impact, the tragic hero has to be a very specific kind of perso,  someone whose downfall comes from within, not just from bad luck.

So, what actually makes a tragic hero? Well, Aristotle identified seven characteristics to help classify a tragic hero. 

First, noble stature. A tragic hero usually starts out as someone important, a king, a leader, a respected figure. Someone people look up to. Their fall matters because they have a long way to drop, and when they mess up, it affects a lot more than just their own life.

Second, the tragic hero must have a hamartia, or a tragic flaw. This flaw is the character’s main weakness. It is also usually a normal human trait like ambition, pride, or jealousy. This flaw is what leads the hero to make the choices that bring about their downfall.

Next is, hubris, or excessive pride. At some point, the hero becomes overconfident. They start believing they can control everything and outsmart fate. This overconfidence usually leads them to take bigger risks and ignore warning signs.

Then there is the peripeteia, or the reversal of fortune. This is the turning point in the story. The hero goes from rising and succeeding to losing power, respect, or control.

Next comes the anagnorisis, or the moment of recognition. Or as I call it, the a-ha moment. This is when the hero finally understands what has really happened. They realize how their own choices caused their situation, but by this point it is usually too late to fix it.

Then comes the nemesis, or unavoidable consequences. We call this the character’s downfall. Once the hero sets events in motion, the outcome cannot be escaped. The punishment for their actions catches up with them, often in the form of loss, isolation, or death.

Last is catharsis. This is what the audience feels at the end. We feel pity because the hero did not start out as a bad person, and fear because their flaw is something very human. It reminds us that anyone could make similar choices that lead to consequences and eventual downfall.

Now, let’s look at these characteristics to see if Macbeth meets these criteria. 

First, noble stature. At the start of the play, Macbeth is a celebrated war hero and a respected nobleman. The king trusts him, other thanes admire him, and he has real honor. His fall hits hard because he doesn’t start as a villain. He starts as an honorable person.

Second, hamartia, or tragic flaw. Macbeth’s tragic flaw is ambition. Wanting success or power isn’t wrong on its own, but once he hears the prophecy, he decides not to wait and see what happens. He chooses to force the outcome. That decision is what sets the entire tragedy in motion.

Next, hubris. As Macbeth gains power, his confidence turns into arrogance. He starts to believe the witches’ prophecies make him unbeatable. Instead of being cautious, he leans into that idea and keeps making riskier, more violent choices such as having Banquo and Macduff’s family murdered. 

Next up, peripeteia or a reversal of fortune. Macbeth’s reversal happens when his rise to king turns into fear and isolation. He gets the crown, but he loses peace of mind, trust, and stability. At banquet, when he sees the ghost of Banquo, we see that he’s not ruling through respect anymore. He’s ruling through fear.

Then we have the anagnorisis or the moment of recognition Near the end of the play, Macbeth finally understands what his choices have cost him. He realizes the witches didn’t lie exactly, but they did mislead him. In the “Tomorrow” speech in Act 5, scene 5, he admits that all the power he chased has left his life feeling empty. This is his moment of recognition.

Then we have his nemesis or unavoidable consequences. By the end of the play, the consequences catch up to him. No matter how hard he tries to control events, he loses everything, his allies, his reputation, his wife, and finally his life. His downfall isn’t bad luck. It’s the result of the choices he made.

Finally, we have catharsis, and this is where we come in as the audience. We feel pity because Macbeth had real potential. He could have stayed loyal and honorable. So, we feel sorry for him. We also feel fear because his flaw, ambition, is something any one of us could struggle with, and it could also bring about our downfall. That emotional reaction is exactly what Aristotle said tragedy is supposed to create in audiences. 

When you look at Macbeth through this lens, the play becomes less about witches and battles and more about human choices and consequences. Before you go stop and think, do you see Macbeth more as a villain, a tragic hero, or somewhere in between?

Closing

Thanks for listening to this episode of Read it and (Don’t) Weep. Be sure to subscribe to the show so you will be notified when new episodes are released. If you liked today’s show, please leave a review so others can discover my show.  If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes, drop me an email at readitanddontweep@gmail.com, or reach out to me on social media. I would love to hear from you. The links are in the show notes.  

Thank you for listening.  I am Jackey Taggart and remember to Read It and Don’t Weep.