Thus, he murders his friend for his own selfish desires and his crimes verge upon him through his ultimate ruination. Additionally, Macbeth treats his people with cruelty by murdering the innocent to display his authority. Macbeth orders, “The castle of Macduff I will surprise, /seize upon Fife, give to th’edge o’th’sword/ His wife, his babies and all unfortunate souls/ That trace him in his line” (4.1.164-167). Macbeth demands the slaughter of Macduff’s family after learning that Macduff has fled to England.
(I,iii,68) this quote that the witches say is their prediction that Macbeth will be king but Banquo’s descendants will be granted King after Macbeth. This leads Macbeth to hire henchmen in order to take out Banquo and his son in order to keep his power above all. Another murder that Macbeth has done to prevent an uprising against him was when he killed Macduff’s family, he killed his family in order to prevent a revolt on him “Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! beware Macduff, Beware the Thane of fire. Dismiss me.
“The castle of Macduff I will surprise; seize upon Fife; give to the edge o’ the sword his wife his babes, and all the unfortunate souls” (4.1. 165-167). This shows Macbeth’s complete disregard for human life and his willingness to commit crimes to maintain his power. He sees Macduff as a significant threat and is willing to do whatever it takes to eliminate him, including murdering Macduff’s wife and children. His ambition has consumed him, and he has lost touch with morality or compassion.
In act III of William Shakespeare’s tragic play, Macbeth, Macbeth plans the murder of Banquo and his son, Fleance, outside the royal castle at Forres in order to end the prophecy of Banquo’s sons taking control of Macbeth’s newfound throne. Macbeth hired three murderers to do this deed, as he was not man enough to do it himself as Lady Macbeth had said time and time again, and was able to convince them to do this by making them believe that Banquo is their enemy. He reminded them, “that it was he [Banquo], in the times past, which held you so under fortune, which you thought had been our innocent self… Do you find your patience so predominant in your nature that you can let this go?” (Shakespeare 3.1.85)
The play entitled Macbeth by William Shakespeare portrays Macbeth, a loyal and brave thane to the king. When a prophecy reveals he will become king, Macbeth is overcome with ambition and greed. Convinced of this prophecy and the encouragement from his wife, he is able to kill the king and take the throne. Although Macbeth was able to obtain the throne, he was was overwhelmed by power and guilt leading to internal conflict, which suggests that success is not desirable through cheating and corruption and ultimately cost more than its actually worth, Macbeth`s reckless pursuit of killing and becoming the king is representative of the power he has and what he is able to do with the power he's gained; therefore. His relentless ambition for king reveals the guilt behind power.
Through out the whole the play of Macbeth we see the deterioration of his mental state. Macbeth makes multiple wrong decisions that led to many consequences that eventually caught up to him after the end of Act V. Many of Macbeth’s character traits led to his mental deterioration, including his guilt, greed, ambitions, and false hopes. One of Macbeth’s tragic flaws is his blind ambition; this is a major cause of his mental deterioration. Throughout the play, Macbeth makes one bad decision after the other, mostly because he was hungry for power. Lady Macbeth convinced Macbeth to kill King Duncan so that he could become the new Thane of Cawdor, and later, King of Scotland.
Shakespeare has written numerous famous plays, MacBeth being one of his darkest plays, touching up on the topic of the thought that power sometimes leads to corruption, and how it can manipulate someone’s thoughts and actions, bringing them to do things they thought they never would. In MacBeth, there are many examples of MacBeth trying anything to gain power, even if the guilt will eat him alive. In the beginning, the Three Weird Sisters know of a prophecy allegedly saying that MacBeth will one day be King. After they tell MacBeth, he, over time, starts to obsess over becoming the highest positioned person in the hierarchy.
Here lay Duncan, his silver skin laced with his golden blood, and his gashed stabs look'd like a breach in nature for ruin’s wasteful entrance; there the murderers, steeped in the colors of their trade, their daggers unmannerly breached with gore. (2.3.129-135) To avoid accusations, Macbeth frames Duncan’s guards for the murder. He lies by saying that he saw the guards kill Duncan and that he killed the guards because he was emotional after watching his king die. He manipulates others in order to clear his name.
In Act 3 Macbeth fears that being king won’t last if Banquo's descendant is destined for the throne. In the beginning of Act Three, Macbeth has become king, he feels being king is worthless if his position is as king is safe. (Act 3, Scene 1, Lines (52-76) Macbeth thinks he can cheat fate by killing Banquo thereby preventing him from producing heirs to the throne. (Act 3, Scene 1, Lines 75-76).Furthermore, this leads to Macbeth hiring murders to kill Banquo and Fleance before/away from the banquet so he can remain blameless. (Act 3 Scene 147-148)
They told Macbeth that he was going to be king, and told Banquo that his children were going to be king. With the knowledge that there is a possibility to become king, along with the selfish human nature, noble Macbeth was easily swayed by this prophecy. At first, Macbeth’s conscience took care of his ambitions, he was afraid he would betray the king, because he knew that he was “his kinsman and his subject” (1.7.13). However as the three witches continue to encourage Macbeth with carefully chosen words, he eventually pushes his conscience away and committed crimes that were dishonourable. Macbeth, easily controlled by his ambitions, loses his noble and heroic title in fear of losing his power.
In act four of Shakespeare's "Macbeth" Macbeth murders most of a noble man's family out of impulse and paranoia. He suspected said nobleman of plotting against him, and much like the murder of his friend Banquo, he killed him before he got the chance. But this murder is not like the ones before it, this one is much more sinister. The man Macbeth suspected, Maduff, was suspect because he refused to show up to any events that Macbeth attended, and when Macbeth went to ask the witches they warned him Macduff was to be cautioned. This time Macbeth decides right away that Macduff must go.
Macbeth feels his destiny is to murder King Duncan and become the King of Scotland, which is why Macbeth promises Lady Macbeth achieve his destiny. Therefore, Macbeth’s ambition for power leads to the death of King Duncan. Moreover, Macbeth’s ambition for power triggers the massacre the ones who impede him from his pathway to the Scottish Throne. First, Macbeth has murderers kill Banquo to avoid obstructions in his plan to become the King of Scotland. Macbeth tells the three murderers hired: “…
Macbeths guilty conscience makes him unable to play the ‘true’ role of a villain of the play. Macbeth begins to see ‘false creations’ before murdering Duncan; the image of a floating dagger taunts Macbeth’s senses. Macbeth is devoured in his anxiety he starts to hallucinate the crime before going through with it. Macbeth is unable to dispose thoughts of his guilt and doubt, which prevents him from being stuck at the point where it is too late to turn back, yet the fear of his nature prevents him from turning completely into a ruthless coldblooded
After achieving the title of the King of Scotland, Macbeth wants to secure his position as the king and desires to inherit the Scottish throne to his ancestors. His aim was showed in “To be thus is nothing, /But to be safely thus” (III, i, 52-3). This quote reveals that Macbeth not only wanted to become the king but also wants to secure his position as the King of Scotland for the welfare of his upcoming generation. This reveals Macbeth’s is implying the witches’ prophecies; as long Banquo’s sons live, Macbeth’s throne would not be able to inherit down to his ancestors. As the play progresses, Macbeth’s hires murderers to kill Banquo and his son, Fleance, as represented through, “Banquo, thy soul’s flight, /If
Lady Macbeth influences Macbeth to kill Duncan, but he continues to have second thoughts about it (i.vii.31-34) and feels terribly guilty afterwards (II.ii.63-66). However, following the murder of Duncan, Macbeth loses any ethics he had left. Macbeth kills the servants, Banquo, and Macduff’s whole family in cold-blooded murder. On the other hand, when Banquo ponders the witches prophecy for him, he contemplates the thought of having to kill someone to get power, but he quickly shuts it down (III.i.9-11).