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Use Of Power In Macbeth

678 Words3 Pages

Power can be used to achieve greatness and create a positive nature in the world, but it also has the ability to create havoc and chaos if in the wrong hands. In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, the main character, Macbeth, gains power quickly in terrible ways, and abuses the power to create pandemonium in Scotland. He was informed about a prophecy which foretold his future with many complications ahead of him. As the play progresses, Macbeth may be characterized as a hero who submerges to evil to become the villain, due to his ambition, maliciousness, and wickedness. In the beginning, Macbeth portrays himself as honorable and faithful to his king, but it is clear to say that he is the complete opposite. Soon after the three witches tell him that …show more content…

To do what is necessary to remain in power, he goes into drastic measures by telling his messenger, “Hang those that talk of fear” (V.iii.38). He is compelled to think that whatever or whoever is spreading fear or opposing him should perish. In addition, he intimidates his messenger after being told the Birnam Woods is moving to his castle by stating, “If thou speak’st false, upon the next tree shall thou hang alive till famine cling thee” (V.v.37). Shocked about the news, he threatens to take the life of his messenger for lying because what the messenger said about the forest moving makes the prophecy true. Macbeth will kill anyone to stay in power for his time being. While Macbeth was one of the heroes of Scotland, he soon turned out to be the villain by the end of the play, because his lust for power takes over his mind which makes him do things that he would not normally do. The ambition that strove his body to pursue power, the malicious feeling that he felt, and the wicked mind he possesses resulted his outcome of losing everything he had, including his life. Power can enhance someone’s life tremendously as well as it can also destroy their life terribly. It all depends on how the user handles

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Greed Quotes In Macbeth

1313 Words | 6 Pages

Both greed and power, if not controlled, can lead to destruction. Throughout William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, Shakespeare uses both characters Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to demonstrate how ambition can change one’s personal relationships. As in the beginning of Act 1, Scene 7 Macbeth and Lady Macbeth do not share the same ambition, and it is because of this that their relationship lacks love and affection however through the use of persuasion and other means, Lady Macbeth is able to get Macbeth to pursue her ambition. This not only changes their relationship drastically but it also changes Macbeth’s attitude towards ambition. Throughout the play, Shakespeare shows us through Macbeth, the possibility for ambition to eventually turn into greed and how the lust for power may corrupt us.

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Examples Of Persuasive Essay On Macbeth

541 Words | 3 Pages

Macbeth Persuasive Essay The play of Macbeth is one of the greatest pieces written in all of literature. William Shakespeare's “Macbeth” is about Macbeth, a Scottish General and thane of Cawdor, who runs across some witches who tell him about a prophecy that they have foreseen that he will become the next great King of Scotland. Once the witches tell Macbeth of his fate, he suddenly has a new found lust for power. Although the play of Macbeth can be seen as a Tragedy of Fate given by the witches, the play is really about the tragedy of character.

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Macbeth Quotes Analysis

682 Words | 3 Pages

Macbeth is the Shakespearean play that features the triumphant uprise and the inevitable downfall of its main character. In this play, Macbeth’s downfall can be considered to be the loss of his moral integrity and this is achieved by ambition, despite this, Lady Macbeth and the witches work through his ambition, furthering to assist his inevitable ruin. Ambition alone is the most significant factor that led to Macbeth’s downfall. The witches are only able to influence his actions through Macbeth’s pre-existing and the three witches see that Macbeth has ambition and uses it to control his action. Ambition alone is displayed throughout the play to be the most significant cause for Macbeth’s downfall.

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Examples Of Greed In Macbeth

1516 Words | 7 Pages

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.

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Hunger For Power In Macbeth

760 Words | 4 Pages

Macbeth’s impatience for power leads to drastic actions. He murders the king in the belief that “this blow might be the be-all and end-all” (1.7.5). This assassination could never “trammel up the consequence” (1.7.2-3), as Macbeth believes, but only leads to more trouble. Although Macbeth seizes the throne, Macbeth had to betray his loyalty to the king whose “virtues will plead like angels” (1.7.18-19), and his morality has paid the price. Macbeth has now lost all sense of what honor is by using such dishonest ways to become king.

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Macbeth I Want It All Analysis

642 Words | 3 Pages

The reader is able to see this through Macbeth’s contemplation on whether or not he should kill Duncan, Lady Macbeth's lust for power and Macbeth’s final yet selfish decision. The overall comparisons are able to demonstrate the harmful physical and psychological effects of power throughout a community. As a result, the reader can learn from both Queen and Shakespeare that one's evil pleasure and desires can be a result of one's destruction all

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Examples Of Power In Macbeth

876 Words | 4 Pages

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.

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Ambition For Power In Macbeth

935 Words | 4 Pages

Furthermore, when Macbeth promises Lady Macbeth to become the King of Scotland, Macbeth assures his developed corruptive mindset. Macbeth says, “I am settled, and bend up / Each corporal agent to this terrible feat. / Away, and mock the time with fairest show. / False face must hide what the false heart doth know” (I. vii.

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Power And Corruption In Macbeth

931 Words | 4 Pages

William Shakespeare, playwright of Macbeth, shows the importance that power and corruption can hold on a person’s humanity. In order to prove the true effect of personal gains, he uses the main character, Macbeth, to show how evil people are willing to become. Personal power has the ability to be essential to greatness, but at the same time is able to destroy a person’s true nature. Believe it or not, Macbeth once was a man of honor. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth was loyal to King Duncan, a strong military leader, and a respected husband.

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Power And Corruption In Shakespeare's Macbeth

496 Words | 2 Pages

At the beginning of the play Macbeth, the main character Macbeth learns that he will become King. When he realised he could be the leader, the power he desperately craves motivates him to alter his character. “Tis unnatural, Even like the deed that's done.” (2.4.6-14)

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Macbeth's Strengths And Weaknesses

824 Words | 4 Pages

At the beginning of William Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ the protagonist Macbeth is described as ‘brave’, ‘noble’ and ‘honourable’, however Lady Macbeth’s and Macbeths desire for power consumes them. Macbeth’s ambition overrides his conscience and transformed his greatest strength into his greatest weakness. Macbeth’s inability to resist temptations that led him to be greedy for power, Macbeth’s easily manipulative nature which allowed his mind to be swayed, Macbeth having no self control and his excessive pride was what allowed him to renew his previously honourable and celebrated title into one of an evil ‘tyrant’. Macbeth is led by the prophecies of the witches after they foretell he will become the Thane of Cawdor. Not only the witches, but also his wife easily manipulate Macbeth as she attacks his manhood in order to provoke him to act on his desires.

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Self Fulfilling Prophecies In Macbeth

1590 Words | 7 Pages

He feels that because the witches said it that it must be true no matter what the consequences in the future are. This is a leading factor that causes Macbeth to decide to murder King Duncan. Macbeth consciously makes the decision to commit treason and knows that it will have consequences. He even ponders the fact that although he will have a prosperous life on

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Abuse Of Power In Macbeth

789 Words | 4 Pages

Power can not only bring ambitious people honors, but also make them lose everything. In the play, Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, it demonstrates that the immoral power influences the life of Macbeth dramatically. Macbeth’s abuse of power destroys his relationship with his cousin, friend, and wife, which shows that Macbeth’s wild ambition causes him to be isolated. Macbeth’s abuse of power destroys his relationship with his cousin, Duncan.

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Ambition In Shakespeare's Macbeth

1015 Words | 5 Pages

Macbeth is also a power hungry man who would do just about anything to achieve his goal of becoming King. When Macbeth first hears the prophecies from the three witches he instantly became invested with the journey to become king. Similar to Lady Macbeth, nothing was going to come between him and his potential power, “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” (1.3.52-55). This quote exemplifies how Macbeth’s initial solution to becoming king was murder.

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Desire For Power In Macbeth

1323 Words | 6 Pages

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.

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