There are two types of heroes. The first type is the true hero who is born into nobility, lives a life dedicated to the welfare of the people and dies defending the rights of others. Then there is the tragic hero who was born into nobility or rises to their rightful position through hard work and dedication but with a tragic flaw inherent in their character. These heroes are responsible for their own fate as they make an error in judgment based upon their tragic flaw which leads to their fall from power. The classic hero must have a challenge to meet, overcome hardships to meet it and emerge victorious as a better leader of men as a result of his experience. Because the noble hero must serve as model for the rest of society, he must discover a means of making things right before he dies even if he has made a mistake in the past. The tragic hero, on the other hand, discerns a challenge to be met but, because of a tragic flaw in his character, proves unable to overcome the challenge and thus brings about his own downfall. These two different types of hero are discovered in the Greek play The Odyssey as compared to William Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
In Homer’s Odyssey, the noble nature of the hero is made clear in the way that his servants speak of him and strive to behave as he would expect. Eumaios makes it clear that for him, Odysseus himself is god: “gave me possessions, / A home and a portion and a wife wooed by many, / Such things as a good-hearted master gives his servant” (62-64). In addition, he embodies the generous and hospitable spirit of the man he serves, making it clear that the house of Odysseus, although currently overrun by unworthy young men, was of the very noblest houses of the ancient world. Although he continues to berate the young men that have moved into Penelope’s house, he also continues to take care to send only the best meats available because he knows this is the type of hospitality Odysseus himself would expect to any guests of the house regardless of how welcome, or unwelcome, they might be, “I watch over these swine and protect them myself / And I make a good choice and send them the best of the swine” (107-108). He will put up with no lies or flatteries, telling the disguised Odysseus, “Do not blandish me or charm me at all with lies, / As I shall not respect and befriend you for that” (387-388). Thus, Odysseus is given his full noble stature without boasting of it himself and reducing its value.
However, it is Odysseus’ pride in himself that emerges as his tragic flaw. He makes this clear as he boasts of his successful attack on one of Poseidon’s favorite cities at the beginning of the story, causing Poseidon to send his ship off course and keep him away from home. Odysseus and his crew suddenly found themselves washed up on a foreign island upon which resided the wild Cyclops. Not knowing that the Cyclops they encountered was the son of Poseidon, the men of Odysseus’ landing party, those that had survived the two meals of the one-eyed creature, helped Odysseus gouge out the single eye and fool the giant into giving them the opportunity to get back to their ships. However, in their leaving, Odysseus boasted to the giant just who had blinded him, giving a necessary name for the son to request aid from the father. “Hear me, Poseidon… If truly I am your son, and you acknowledge yourself as my father, grant that Odysseus, who styles himself Sacker of Cities and son of Laertes, may never reach his home in Ithaca. But if he is destined to reach his native land, to come once more to his own house and see his friends again, let him come late, in evil plight, with all his comrades dead, in someone else’s ship, and find troubles in his household” (Homer, p. 528). That Poseidon answers this prayer is obvious in the way in which Odysseus must undergo years of travel and the slow reduction in the numbers of men accompanying him until he finally returns home disguised in evil rags and aged physique to a home full of unwanted suitors and a mistrustful family whom he must once again win over. Thus, Odysseus’ troubles and years of separation are caused by his own fatal flaw in the form of his excessive pride in himself.
Odysseus is able to emerge from his story as a hero, though, because he is able to overcome this excessive pride and do whatever it takes, no matter how humbling, to get home again. This will include building his own boat to get off of Calypso’s island, descending into hell to learn humility and return home in rags and in disguise as a stranger. To reclaim his former status, he must first win back his home and his family from the men who have taken residence in his courtyard. In order to do this, he must accept the help of his wife and trust her to recognize him for who he truly is. Penelope offers a final challenge to the suitors that she knows only Odysseus can hope to meet, “come forward now, my gallant lords; for I challenge you to try your skill on the great bow of King Odysseus. And whichever man among you proves the handiest at stringing the bow and shoots an arrow through every one of the twelve axes, with that man I will go.” This provides Odysseus with the means by which to defeat the men that have invaded his home before they gain the ability to overtake him.
Within his play Macbeth, Shakespeare presents a tragic hero in the title character. Macbeth has risen to a highly respected position as a result of his brave actions during King Duncan’s war. While he is now considered a noble, his rise to this position is presumed to be a result of his efforts rather than his lineage because of the way he’s presented. Macbeth’s hard work is shown in the fierceness of the battle being fought as it is reported by the wounded captain in Act I, Scene ii. He tells the king the battle was “As two spent swimmers that do cling together / And choke their art” (I, ii, 8-9). By phrasing things this way, the soldier is telling the king that both sides were equally matched but that Fortune was against Macbeth. “But all’s too weak / For brave Macbeth (well he deserves that name) / Disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel … unseamed him from the nave to th’ chops” (I, ii, 15-17, 22).
The way that Macbeth’s efforts are rewarded reinforces the belief that he is noble because of his own previous behavior. As soon as he hears of Macbeth’s victory, the king immediately makes Macbeth the new Thane of Cawdor to replace the man who’d just been named traitor. It is believed this is how Macbeth achieved his position as Thane of Glamis at the same time that it is made clear how quickly men could rise and fall in Duncan’s realm. Macbeth also demonstrates nobility of spirit as he considers the idea of assassinating King Duncan in his own home: “He’s here in double trust: / First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, / Strong both against the deed; then, as his hose, / Who should against his murderer shut the door” (I, vii, 12-15). He knows at every level of his existence that what he is considering breaks every moral, ethical, honorable and noble code he’s ever been taught.
However, when Macbeth receives news of his elevation to Cawdor, this immediately reinforces the information he has received by the witches and his tragic flaw kicks into gear. His ambition is tied to the figure of his wife, which is illustrated as he addresses her in his letter, “This have I thought good to deliver thee, my dearest partner of greatness” (I, v) and reveals to her the prophecies the witches had made. In writing to her, he is aware that he is asking her advice in what they should do to prepare. This link between his personal ambition (tragic flaw) and his wife as symbol and spark for that ambition plays a large role in his actions, decisions and mental state in ensuing scenes. Although he knows he has no reason to move against his king other than “vaunting ambition, which o’erleaps itself” (I, vii, 25-27), his ambition proves overpowering, forcing him to the act. This single evil action thus commits him to further evil acts and the destruction of his soul.
When Macbeth willingly participates in murder, this quickly escalates to massacres of perceived enemies and the propagation of lies and deceits as a means of maintaining the perception others have of him, hastening his destruction. His own deceit of Duncan forces him to consider the possible schemes of Banquo, thus leading him to order murder once again. To avenge himself on Macduff for having escaped him, Macbeth orders the massacre of Macduff’s family, and the evil flows on. Macbeth’s insecurities lead him to seek additional advice from the witches, thus intentionally seeking out evil rather than waiting for it to come to him, eventually losing his heath and sanity in the process.
While both of these characters share numerous characteristics as heroes, only one is successful because of his ability to overcome the challenges that are in front of him. Odysseus and Macbeth are both noble characters with status and title as well as a proven track record of working hard and achieving success. However, they both also have a tragic flaw. Odysseus is too proud of himself and his boasting continuously gets him into trouble. Macbeth has too much ambition, which he has associated with the figure of his wife and this leads him to commit an act from which there is no recovery. Odysseus’ challenge is to discover humility, which he finally accomplishes after losing his entire crew and having to humble himself in numerous ways during his voyage home. As a result, he is able to recover his home and family. Macbeth’s challenge is to overcome his ambition, which is symbolized in the form of his wife, whom he is not able to resist. As a result, he sets in motion a chain of events from which there is no good escape. In both cases, the challenge comes from within as does the strength, or lack of it, to overcome and become the heroic or the tragic.
Works Cited
Homer. The Odyssey. Trans. E.V. Rieu. New York: Penguin Books, 1946.
Shakespeare, William. “Macbeth.” William Shakespeare: The Complete Works. Alfred Harbage (Ed.). New York: Penguin Books, 1969: 1107-1135.