Envy In Macbeth Essay

Envious. Lustful. Slothful. In William Shakespeare’s tragedy, Macbeth these three words can be used to directly describe the main character, Macbeth and the characteristics he has that lead to his eventual downfall. They are three of the seven deadly which are cautionary characteristics often used in pieces of literature and stem from the bible itself. Upon further analysis of the play it can be determined that Macbeth’s envy, lust and slothfulness are the most prevalent of the seven throughout the play, driving him to do unthinkable things to get what he wants while also holding him back from his full potential in the process. At several points during the story Macbeth admits to the intentions he has because of the envy, lust and sloth that

Throughout William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, envy plays a key role in the development and eventual downfall of the main character, Macbeth. It is what leads him down the dark path of committing unthinkables acts of murder and betrayal and what eventually will lead to his demise. Upon further examination into this subject, it can be shown just how Macbeth’s envy did nothing but leave him exposed and shorten his time on the throne. One of the main characters that Macbeth envies throughout the play is Banquo, a noble warrior to Scotland. Banquo is the character foil to Macbeth, he is honourable, noble and smart while Macbeth is deceptive and immoral. Because of this Banquo is the character that Macbeth fears most while sitting on the throne as he feels that Banquo’s greatness will overtake his own, similarly to how Caesar overtook Mark Antony’s as expressed by Macbeth. “Our fears in Banquo stick deep; and in his royalty of nature reigns that which would be fear’d… to that dauntless temper of his mind, he hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour… There is none but he whose being I do fear; and under him my genius is debunked, as it is said Mark Antony’s was by Caesar.” (3.1.53-61) Macbeth’s fear and envy of Banquo as well as the witches prophecy that Banquo’s descendants will

Sloth is one of the seven deadly sins and is the laziness and avoidance of work. Throughout the story Macbeth does his best to do as little work as possible by letting others take care of his problems for him. To take a look at all of the things he avoided to do or did very poorly we’ll need to start at the beginning of the story where Macbeth goes to see the three witches. Not only does Macbeth avoid work for himself but he also avoids thinking for himself. During the play Macbeth visits the witches and depends on them multiple times for information instead of using his own brain to try and solve problems. He also depends on other people to do things for him such as Lady Macbeth who plans Duncan’s entire murder out while Macbeth follows along. Another example of Macbeth having others do his dirty work for him is when he hires assassins to kill Banquo. He tries to make up excuses for not doing it himself by claiming that they have mutual friends, but all it is is excuses for his laziness. “And though I could with barefaced power sweep him from my sight and bid my will avouch it, yet I must not, for certain friends that are both his and mine.” (3.1.130-133) His failure to take appropriate action and being unable to think for himself ultimately leads to his demise as he is too slow to react to situations such as Fleance escaping or dealing with Macduff.