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Greed Quotes In Macbeth

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Erich Fromm once said, “Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction.” In William Shakespeare’s play titled Macbeth, a soldier’s greed, after hearing about his prophecy by witches, forces him to kill many that are close to him and fulfill his role as king. Overtime, he goes paranoid, is led to his eventual downfall, and has his head severed off. Macbeth was manipulated by various figures into a path that he tried not to take. Macbeth is the ultimate victim of the play not only due to the witches control over him, but also to his blood hungry greed. The main conspirators that victimized Macbeth are the witches because they manipulated with his emotions and fate. …show more content…

The witches were the first people to plant the idea of killing the king into Macbeth’s mind. They cause him to question his thoughts about becoming king. Macbeth at first thought that becoming “king stands not within the prospect of belief (I.iii.76-77).” Immediately after he becomes Thane of Cawdor, he begins to think about his future on the throne and does not appreciate Duncan’s gift to him of becoming the new Thane of Cawdor. The witches said what they did to Macbeth in order to drive him to the point in which he will kill the King, who gave him nothing but kindness. The witches take advantage of Macbeth’s weakness of being power …show more content…

After he murders King Duncan, Macbeth says that he heard a voice say “Macbeth shall sleep no more (II.ii.57).” Macbeth’s biggest flaw was his inability to prevent his greed from directing his life. His greed and thirst for power not only drive him to kill a king who just gave him an honorable title, but they also cause him to hallucinate. His greed is taking its psychological and mental toll on him. Macbeth’s greed has gotten the better of him so much that he remains in the state that he is permanently. The greed clouds his judgment and does not allow him to see the people that he is terrorizing. Immediately after he assassinates Duncan, he says that he is “afraid to think what [he has] done (II.ii.66).” He realizes the mistake that he has made, but he doesn’t think about redoing everything because he has finally fulfilled his greed. Macbeth’s greed is like a mask that he cannot take off no matter how hard he tries. His greed forces him to kill many innocent people. He feels guilty about killing the king that he worked to defend. He seems as though he did not want to do it, but some force, his greed, caused him to kill Duncan at the end. The point at which Macbeth’s greed turns him for the worst was when he said “there the grown serpent lies (III.iiii.32),” in reference to Banquo after hearing about his death. They were best friends and fought together throughout the duration of the

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