The hero? In MacbethThe tragedy Macbeth highlights an ambivalent character who wants to be king. This article will take a closer look at his character. Samuel Johnson in The Plays of Shakespeare states that every reader rejoices at Macbeth's fall (133). In Shakespeare and Tragedy John Bayley speaks of Macbeth as an agent responsible for his actions: It is essential to the hypnotic tension of the play that Macbeth does not seem in any way “responsible” for his actions. Not only witches but every other agent is like a portent or an apparition - the mercy that walks in the explosion, the cherubs of the sky, the moans heard in the air, the voice that cried "Sleep no more" - they do not personify so much Macbeth's tormented imagination. how they act as separate, rival powers, distracting us from the difference between the usurper and the murderer and the mastermind that lured us in. . .] It is the feeling shared by both Macbeth and the audience, that something has "come for" him, that the safe world of thought and possibility, of the individual self with its desires and secrets, has gone beyond memory. (191) In "Macbeth as an Imitation of Action" Francis Fergusson considers how Macbeth fully understands the irrationality of his act: I need not remind you of the great scenes preceding the murder, in which Macbeth and his Lady unite to their desperate effort. If you reflect on these scenes, you will notice that the Macbeths understand the action that begins here as a competition and a stunt, against reason and against nature. Lady Macbeth fears her husband's human nature, as well as her own feminine nature, and therefore fears the light of reality... middle of paper... Samuel. Shakespeare's comedies. Np: np. 1765. Rpt in Shakespearean tragedy. Bratchell, D.F. New York, NY: Routledge, 1990. Kemble, Fanny. "LadyMacbeth." Macmillan's Journal, 17 (February 1868), p. 354-61. Rpt. in Women Reading Shakespeare 1660-1900. Ann Thompson and Sasha Roberts, eds. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1997.Lamb, Charles. On Shakespeare's tragedies. Np: np. 1811. Rpt in Shakespearean tragedy. Bratchell, D. F. New York, NY: Routledge, 1990. Mack, Maynard. Everyone is Shakespeare: reflections especially on tragedies. Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, 1993.Shakespeare, William. The tragedy of Macbeth. http://chemicool.com/Shakespeare/macbeth/full.html, no lin.Wilson, HS On the Design of Shakespearean Tragedy. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press, 1957.