Tragic Hero

Essay by rxytrexHigh School, 10th grade May 2014

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Roxy Gonzalez 5/1/13

Period 3 Farley

Tragic Hero's

Although the plays of Macbeth and Agamemnon share the theme of murder, and

prophesies, Agamemnon dies by his wife out of revenge, while Macbeth dies by the hand

of Macduff in an ironical way. Agamemnon is introduced as king, while Macbeth starts out

as a Thane, then moves his way up the hierarchy and takes the position of king. Both men

start out in "high" places but follow the tradition of a tragedy and die at the end. These two

tales also have the motif of future telling which results, in the two being slain by close


The story of Agamemnon takes places in Greece during the Trojan War. Agamemnon,

king of Agros, is commander of the Greek navy that eventually seizes Troy. To please the

goddess Artimis, Agamemnon sacrifices his daughter Iphigenia, in order to safely travel to

Troy. When he returns from battle he brings with him the Trojan princess, Cassandra, as a

prize. There is where Cassandra speaks of her prophesies of murder in the royal house.

Soon the people of the palace find the king and his concubine dead by the hand of his wife

Clytemnestra. The death of the king is eventually avenged by his son. Revenge is what

fuels Clytemnestra to kill her husband and slave. Cassandra and Iphigenia symbolize the

innocence of the play since they are the petty women murdered. Fate is the common theme

that is tossed around in these type of plays.

The fate of Macbeth was quite similar to Agamemnon even though Macbeth was

responsible for killing multiple people to gain power. In this play, three witches tell the

future of the warrior Macbeth of him becoming king as well as other prophesies. His wife

convinces him to murder...