English Literature KS3 / GCSE: Shakespeare's heroes

Narrator:
Shakespeare’s heroes can be fairly clear cut – brave, well-meaning characters, trying to do the right thing against the odds and their own failings, like Julius Caesar or King Lear.

Sometimes though, Shakespeare starts blurring the lines, creating heroes who are both good and incredibly evil, plunging the audience into an inner tussle between what’s right and wrong.

Narrator:
Macbeth is a classic anti-hero. He starts off in the play as a shining example of goodness and morality. Having just helped win a vital battle, his boss King Duncan can’t say enough good things about him or even work out how to pay him enough for his bravery.

King Duncan:‘O worthiest cousin!
The sin of my ingratitude even now,
was heavy on me: thou art so far before
that swiftest wing of recompense is slow
to overtake thee. Would thou hadst less deserved,
that the portion both of thanks and payment
might have been mine! Only I have left to say,
More is thy due than more than all can pay.’

Narrator:
But then Macbeth turns killing Duncan in his bed while he stays as a guest. It’s all part of the plot to steal the throne and Duncan unwittingly pays the biggest, darkest price to this once noble Lord.

Macbeth sets off on a reign of terror killing anyone in his way but rather than hate him, Shakespeare creates a tragic hero who gets grudging admiration. He’s devoted to his wife, he promised her the crown and she’s going mad, so he fights on alone, to honour their plan. He loses the power to feel horror or terror in the process.

Macbeth:
‘I have almost forgot the taste of fears.
The time has been, my senses would have cool’d
to hear a night shriek; and my fell of hair
Would at dismal treatise rouse and stir
As if life were in’t. I have supp’d full with horrors;
Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts,
Cannot once start me.’

Narrator:
Romeo, on the other hand, is a tragic hero of romance.

The Montagues and Capulets are sworn enemies. Going out with someone from the ‘other side’ is unthinkable and marrying them is likely to lead to a very messy death.

But when Romeo Montague meets Juliet Capulet, it’s love at first sight in a big way.

Romeo:
‘If I profane with my unworthiest hand
this holy shrine, the gentle sin is this;
my lips, to blushing pilgrims ready stand to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.

Narrator:
Defying their parents and risking their own lives, they marry in secret. But then it gets really tragic. Romeo thinks Juliet is dead and too grief-stricken to be parted from her, he kills himself.

Romeo:
‘I still will stay with thee; and never from this palace of dim night
depart again. Here, here I will remain
with worms that are thy chamber maids; o, here
will I set up my everlasting rest,
and shake the yoke of inauspicious stars
from this world wearied flesh.

Narrator:
Henry V is a much more obvious and very royal Shakespearean hero.

Not only can he fight a good battle, but he inspires his men to follow him, leading them with honesty and sincerity.

Henry:
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
for he today that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother;’

Narrator:
Henry works as part of the team, fighting alongside his men for what he believes in and giving them so much faith in themselves and their king, they could tackle anything…

Westmoreland:
‘God’s will! My liege, would you and I alone,
Without more help, could fight this royal battle!’

Narrator:
So Shakespeare’s heroes come in many different shapes and they don’t all live happily ever after. Some die tragically for romance like Romeo, or kill tragically like Macbeth - a complex anti-hero. And even the more traditional royal heroes like Henry V – a magnificent leader of men – makes a lot of mistakes early on.

But then maybe that’s the mark of a Shakespearean hero – that they fight for their beliefs but come to understand the failings of both themselves and their society along the way.