Corruption In Macbeth And Putin

In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, three witches tell Scottish general Macbeth he is going to be the King of Scotland. Macbeth’s wife pushes him to kill the King, which he does and Macbeth becomes the King of Scotland. However the killing doesn’t stop there, Macbeth continues to kill out of paranoia. Civil war breaks out to overthrow Macbeth, leading to his death. The life of Macbeth is weirdly similar to that of Vladmir Putin. Macbeth and Putin's quick rise to power causes such great personal ambition that it ultimately leads to their downfall. Macbeth and Putin both experienced quick and unusual rises to power. Macbeth was a general in Duncan’s army, nowhere close to the throne of Scotland. However after hearing the witches’ prophecy of him becoming the King, Macbeth knew Duncan was what stood in his way. Macbeth decided he was going to kill Duncan when

For Putin this was Boris Nemtsov. Nemtsov was a strong public adviseary of Putin’s and even served as Prime Minister of Russia under President Boris Yeltsin. Many thought Nemtsov was to be Yeltsin’s successor, but instead Putin rose to power and Yeltsin eventually became a campaign leader exposing corruption in the Kremlin (Adamson). In 2015, five days before Yeltsin was set to lead a protest against Russia’s attack on eastern Ukraine, an FSB agent shot him yards from the Kremlin (Adamson). Macbeth’s Boris Nemtsov is Banquo. Macbeth has Banquo murdered by a hit team, just like Putin had the FSB squad kill Yeltsin. For example, Macbeth says “It is concluded: Banquo, thy soul’s flight, / If it find heaven, must find it out to-night” (3.1.139-140). Macbeth knows the witches’ prophecy that Banquo’s descendents will one day be king, so Macbeth is weary Banquo might try to do something that would allow his kids to be King. Both Putin and Macbeth’s ambition to retain power cause them to eliminate any threat to their