The desire for dominance and power can result in disregarding the humanity of others that stand in the way. On the journey to ultimate power, friendship is omitted and power is put first. In Macbeth, Macbeth is given the opportunity to become king, the greatest power, and seizes it. He encounters three witches who tells him a prophecy that he and Fleance, the son of Macbeth’s life long friend: Banquo, will become king. … …… MACBETH:
As humans, the desire to want control or influence is natural. However, some people may go to greater extremes than others to obtain this power. For instance, in the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Macbeth was characterized as a good man, well renowned for winning a battle. His wife, on the contrary, Lady Macbeth, has a strong urge to obtain power and she is willing to do anything to acquire it. She implemented the thought of destroying everyone who stood in the way along the path to reach royalty in Macbeth’s mind by making him feel like he as though he is less of a man if he decided not to.
As individuals, we have a certain degree of control over our own lives and the decisions we make. While external factors such as social pressure, cultural norms, and personal circumstances can influence us, ultimately, we have agency in choosing how we respond to those factors. This is portrayed through William Shakespeare's tragedy, Macbeth, the titular character Macbeth is the protagonist, a Scottish general who receives a prophecy from three witches that he will become king. Consumed by ambition and spurred on by his wife, Lady Macbeth, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the throne for himself. However, his guilt and paranoia lead him to commit more murders in order to maintain his power, and he becomes increasingly tyrannical as his
Throughout the play Macbeth there are plenty of examples of corruption of power, the character that shows corruption of power the most in the play is Macbeth. Throughout the play, you can see Macbeth get greedier for power and as you continue reading the play you can see Macbeth's thirst for power. Macbeth kills the king so he could be next in line to become king, he kills Banquo, his companion, to cover his tracks of killing the king so Banquo could not get suspicious about the death of Duncan. The final example of corruption of power is when Macbeth gets the power of being king he leads troops into a battle he believes he can’t lose. "Stars, hide your fires; / Let not light see my black and deep desires"(1.4.50-51).
Greed for power has always been evil and even made a saint turn into a demon. As the quote goes “All power tends to corrupt and an absolute power corrupts absolutely” (unquote), which is true not only in the fictitious stories but also in real life and Shakespeare, th9e greatest writer ever known, has always been in habit of making fictitious character come alive and Macbeth is no exception to the rule. The character of Macbeth has two sides, one which is wholesome while other been dubious. He symbolized great ambition but went overboard and in the process not only became corrupt but also became a killer. Macbeth reflects great strength but within he has his own weakness and thus good over took evil resulting in its downfall and finally his own death.
In William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, Macbeth begins as a man of integrity and is a noble man. Infact he was one of the king’s favorite fighters and subjects. But over time Macbeth becomes corrupt once the power and the crown are his. Macbeth first becomes power thirsty when he and Banquo were given a prophecy by the three weird sisters. The theme ambition shows up frequently in the character Macbeth, especially when it has some relation to murder and the throne, to get the throne to begin with, some examples are when he killed King Duncan, Macduff’s family and Banquo, to keep the throne.
To conclude, ambition is a powerful force. It can be fueled by visions of power and lead people to change. This is best seen in MacBeth's character dynamic character. He changes from a good person, to someone who will kill anyone in his way to
Everyone, at one point in their lives has wanted power more than anything. Those who do get it have to make the decision whether they want to use it for good or evil. Power can turn a person into something they never dreamed they would become because it starts to take over their lives and people do not know what to do with so much power. There are many examples of power in the play Macbeth and every person that got it used it in very different ways. This caused many changes in people from turning from good to evil or evil to good.
For example, when the witches notify Macbeth that he will gain a new title, they are simply telling him of the fact and are not prompting him to act upon it (Rahman and Tajuddin 138). In spite of that, he instantly conjures up an image in his head of himself killing King Duncan in order to get the position of the King, and subtly questions if his thoughts are against his own morals (Mac I.iii.130-137). This thought is not the witches’ fault, but if they never told Macbeth of his imminent future, he would not think this way. Macbeth’s murderous thought of Duncan lets readers see that Macbeth has a lust for power, which ultimately leads to the tragedy (Kesur 5561). In addition, the witches’ apparitions also play a slight part in Macbeth’s decision making.
Power is always coveted in any society and the world of Shakespeare’s Macbeth is no different. In the play, Macbeth, a noble lord, shows his hunger for power with thoughts to remove an heir to the throne from power. Macbeth’s impatience to be king leads him to stain his honor by using murder. Macbeth travels further down the path of evil by arranging the assassination of a friend.
Absolute Power corrupts Absolutely As In a close reading from, Macbeth, William Shakespeare reveals to the reader, the staggering character development of the Thane of Cawdor and Glamis, and soon to be future King Macbeth. The author illustrates Macbeth as a man known to everyone as “Valour’s Minion” , and an honorable person to becoming a sadistic and cold-blooded king. As we progress in the story we see that Macbeth first taste with Murder starts with him doubting himself , and his ability in killing an innocent soul. As Macbeth’s persona begins to change, the murdering of Banquo becomes so effortless and easy, than that of King Duncan’s was , because Macbeth saw the “light” in Banquo and realized how far Banquo could threaten his kingship.
It is human nature to want power, to be at the top of the pyramid, to be king/queen, but that comes at a price as shown in Macbeth. In the play, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth will do anything to have absolute power and nothing stands in their way. From killing to going completely mad, they will become the next king and queen at all costs. The ambition and the want for power is so high that they kill many, they do whatever they can to be one step closer, and they go completely insane, all because they want that absolute power.
In the play Macbeth by Shakespeare, the main character Macbeth believes he will be king. The power he thinks he will have causes him to kill the people who stand in his way Of fulfilling his destiny. The Spiderman quote “With power comes great responsibility,” relates to the theme of Shakespeare's play Macbeth. Macbeth and the actor Lindsay Lohan, share the trait that people with power often abuse it, corruption is frequently the result of responsibility to great for one person.
Greed for power leads corrupt leaders to pursue power through ruthless and violent ways, putting their countries in an unstable state. Macbeth commits murders and violent acts to earn his absolute power, but his corrupt mindset of yearning power leads to instability in the Scotland. After hearing from the witches, Macbeth admits that, “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical/ Shakes so my single state of man/ That function is smother'd in surmise /and nothing is but what is not.”
Macbeth was always power-hungry as soon as he found out that he can kill Duncan , his first thoughts about it was “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, Shakes so my single state of man ,That function is smother 'd in surmise, and nothing is but what is not.” Macbeth’s first thought after realising that he can be a king was to murder Duncan, That indicates that Macbeth always wanted to kill King Duncan to take the throne and when Lady macbeth got the letter from his husband explaining that the witches prophesied him saying that he can be a king the first thing that came in her mind was to kill Duncan and take over. She also talks about Macbeth always wanted to do it but he isn’t man enough to do this task “ Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be ,What thou art promised.