Macbeth is a tragic hero because of his rather spectacular and dramatic corruption: he begins the play as a good, brave, and loyal man who allows his pride and ambition to overwhelm his better qualities. If Macbeth were a villain to begin with, and he simply stayed villainous throughout the play, then it wouldn't really be such a tragedy. The end, with his destruction, would really just be the just desserts of a very bad man. However, because Macbeth is so good in the beginning, a man known for his courageous and excellent service to Scotland, his story becomes much more tragic. He is manipulated by the Weird Sisters and by his own wife, persuaded to act against his conscience, and -- once he does -- the violence to which he gives in becomes a slippery slope, and he must commit more and more in order to retain what he has acquired.
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