Macbeth... the valiant warrior who turned against himself due to an inner greediness for power. It all starts at the beginning when he gets “promoted” to Thane of Cawdor because of his excellent fighting skills and bravery in battle. Then if that’s not enough the three witches tell him he will be king. With the taste of power he has now gotten through his promotion, he can’t help but take what the witches say to heart. He wants more, he wants it faster: he continues to be impatient and eventually his “vaulting ambition o’erleaps itself and falls on thy other” (1.7.26-28).
Greed causes even the best of men to brood immoral intentions. The Tragedy, Macbeth by William Shakespeare, describes the flaws of human nature and the traumatic effects unrestrained ambition may cause. The play commences, featuring Macbeth as an eminent, highly esteemed Thane and loyal warrior to the king; however, after being prophesied by the three witches, a torch of ambition is lit. Furthermore, upon hearing the witches prophecies, his reputation is downgraded as he steps into a realm of evil, and more tragically, finds that he has “in blood stepped in so far that should [he] wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o’er”. After murdering the rightful king of Scotland, Duncan, and therefore subsequently, one murder leads to another; to a point where he cannot return from his life of evil “I am in blood stepped in so far that should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o’er”.
Greed and guilt are two characteristics that can wreak havoc on the human mind and soul, and give someone what they deserve over time. Therefore, nothing seems more satisfying than when the villain or protagonist gets what they deserve for their bad deeds. In The Tragedy of Macbeth, William Shakespeare shows these traits, along with their affects, through the tragic hero of the play, Macbeth, and his wife, Lady Macbeth, also leaving the reader with the question: “Could this happen today?” After gaining the corrupt title Macbeth craves, being king is not as significant as he implies. Macbeth admits to his reign being spoiled saying, “To be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus”(Act III, Scene I, lines 50-51).
As a human race, we have all had instances where we have been experienced greed, the intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food. It is extremely unlikely, even impossible, that there is a person in the entire world that goes their entire life without a single thought of greed, no matter if it is significant or not. The best the average person does in response to their greed is mask it with exaggerated generosity to “cancel out” their greedy thoughts. There are many examples in literature that help convey the effects that greed can have on a person, one of the most well-portrayed ones being the main character in William Shakespeare 's well-known play, Macbeth. The main character in the play, Macbeth, was an extraordinary fighter in war, and he also had a respectful amount of power in his hands, as he was the Thane of a place called Glamis, and was close in with the King of Scotland, Duncan.
“Fair is foul, and foul is fair. Let’s fly away through the fog and filthy air.” That was the witches in the Shakespearean play Macbeth. These witches tell the character Macbeth about a prophecy that he shall be king. In his way to be king and while he is king he tries to bury the past and control the future.
After murdering King Duncan he realizes that he is just one step closer to the crown. As a result, he has the desire to kill anyone who stands in his way of him getting the throne. Banquo stands in his way as he knows that King Duncan needed to killed. In this case, Macbeth hires murderers to kill Banquo and his son Fleance. He tells the murderers, “To leave no rubs nor botches in the work /
Another quote is “Fair is foul, and foul is fair” The phrase foreshadowed how appearances could deceive because good is bad and bad is good. We was showed that MacBeth was a gentle nobleman who would hate the thought of killing. But his wife was greedy from the start. The phrase foreshadowed the change in characters because MacBeth was “fair” and his wife was the “foul” one. Looks can
Macbeth, Crime and Punishment Macbeth, a warrior, earns the title of Thane of Cawdor early in the play. His wife, Lady Macbeth, wants him to become king like the witches prophesied. They make a plan to kill Duncan while Macbeth starts to kill other people. All this murder begins to weigh heavily on the Macbeth’s and they start going crazy with guilt.
The Old Man in the play says this after they found King Duncan brutally murdered. This proves that the death was unnatural and it was in fact a murder, a murder by Macbeth. The scottish general was not only out of character but absorbed by his lust of the throne, Macbeth’s yearning for authority was pushed by the witches
After Macbeth kills Duncan he becomes king and sets out to kill Banquo and his son Fleance so they, he kills Banquo but Fleance escapes. Macbeth becomes hated by his people and ends up fighting
Macbeth’s ambition is one of the most prominent things that drive Macbeth in the play and truly becomes evident when he hears of the Witches prophecies. When the witches stop talking, he demands to know more. “Stay you imperfect speakers, tell me more” (I, III, 73-74). This portrays his excessive curiosity on the subject as well as his craving for more desirable prophecies. This ambitious nature and craving for power is also demonstrated only moments after hearing the witches, when he starts formulating a plan to kill Duncan in order to make the third prophecy come true.
The fact that Macbeth believes the witches’ prophecies are not evil nor good foreshadows how he will go on to kill any other person standing in his way to more power. His ambition blinds his mind to make him even think about ruthlessly committing a murder. This forceful way of gaining power will only lead Macbeth to become a “tyrant” in Scotland and his “fantastical” desires of killing Duncan and receiving the crown will lead Scotland to failure. Under Macbeth’s rule, Scotland seems to be in a terrible condition. With distrust among the people, there is tension all within the country, as Macbeth’s totalitarian regime had rendered the prosperity of Scotland.
King Duncan then decided he would go to Macbeth 's house for dinner where Lady Macbeth had already been made aware of the situation with the witches and that Macbeth was not named king. When Macbeth arrives home she suggests they kill him, after he declines, she starts questioning his manhood and peer pressures him until he decides to kill Duncan. This act scarred the two sons of Duncan so they fled the country and Macbeth was crowned. Obviously the play ends with Macbeth as the villain, dethroned and beheaded.
By portraying Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s loss of moral discipline, Shakespeare accentuates the calamitous corruption of human nature, and warns society that ambition without
What is it to be good or evil? Truthful versus deceitful? In Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, Macbeth is given a prophecy by three witches that he shall be King and Banquo, his noble friend, shall be the father of kings. Macbeth didn 't like the idea of sharing power and wanted it all to himself. He contemplates killing King Duncan but is forced to commit to it by his wife, Lady Macbeth.