Examples Of Greed In Macbeth

It’s human nature for people to claw their way forward through bad or worse just for even a chance at more power. We gamble our money away for a chance to hit big. We sacrifice important things for our own gain. We take risks. A risk working in our favor opens a door in our mind, and we keep taking them. We fly ever closer to the Sun, like Icarus. We take more chances, until we fail. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth is corrupted by his lust for power over the course of the play. He starts out as a morally just knight, and ends the story as a psychopathic tyrant who is too far gone to even consider his horrendous actions. This is shown best through his interactions with other characters in the book like Lady Macbeth, the killers he hires to assassinate Banquo, and Seyton.

They prophesize that he will become Thane of Cawdor, then king of Scotland. He doesn’t believe them, but is soon named Thane of Cawdor. Lady Macbeth, informed about the prophecy, tells Macbeth that they’re going to kill Duncan. “O, never Shall sun that morrow see! Your face, my thane, is as a book where men may read strange matters. To beguile the time, look like the time. Bear welcome in your eye, your hand, your tongue. Look like th’ innocent flower, but be the serpent under ’t”(I.vi.71). However, he doesn’t want to do it. He says “First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, strong both against the deed; then, as his host, who should against his murderer shut the door, not bear the knife myself.” Macbeth doesn’t want to kill Duncan, but knows he has to to become king quickly. He could wait and let things happen, but why miss your