The Macbeth of Meth
The Macbeth of Meth
Breaking bad and the Tragedy of Walter White
This chapter analyzes Walter White, the protagonist of Vince Gilligan’s Breaking Bad, as a tragic hero by developing a systematic comparison of the television series with Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Many regard White as a villain because of all the murders he commits, but Macbeth commits just as many, and yet Shakespeare presents him as a hero, albeit a tragic hero. For Shakespeare the fundamental tragic fact is that all forms of human excellence are not compatible, and a man who is admirable in some respects may yet perform terrible deeds in extreme circumstances. Treating Walter White as a tragic hero is the key to understanding the divided response the character elicited from television audiences. Beginning with the tamest version of the American dream—a middle-class home in the suburbs—Breaking Bad veers off in a more exciting and disturbing direction, as Walter White goes on a bizarre and perverse journey of self-realization and self-fulfillment that goes tragically awry.
Keywords: Breaking Bad, Vince Gilligan, Walter White, Shakespeare, Macbeth, Tragic hero
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