While power may seem alluring to many, Shakespeare’s Macbeth highlights the destruction and harm that comes with great power. Throughout Macbeth’s journey for more power, Shakespeare is able to demonstrate the cognitive changes Macbeth endures with his power gain. Macbeth is seen getting more violent and apathetic as the play goes on, showing how power corrupts the mind. Soon after Macbeth has a great increase in power, Act Three Scene One emphasizes how the determination for more power affects Macbeth. Macbeth is shown with little remorse for causing the death of one of his former friends, blinded by the desire for power. This scene shows how Shakespeare uses Macbeth’s drive for power to reveal how the hunger for greater power eventually leads …show more content…
In one of his soliloquies, Macbeth talks about how he will stop Banquo’s children from becoming kings; “Rather than so, come fate into the list, / And champion me to th' utterance” (3.1.76-77). When saying, “champion me to th' utterance,” Macbeth reveals how he believes that he is unbeatable. By challenging fate, it becomes apparent that he truly believes that he has so much power, not even fate can go against his will. Thinking that his will is stronger than fate is harmful to Macbeth because it will cause him to not think through harmful acts, resulting in damaging effects. Later when giving directions to the murderers on how to kill Banquo, Macbeth says to them, “I could / With barefaced power sweep him from my sight / And bid my will avouch it” (3.1.134-136). Saying he has “barefaced power” demonstrates the cockiness Macbeth has gained after becoming king. He believes that this power is making him untouchable. This way of thinking is dangerous to Macbeth as well as others because without thinking through these violent acts, unnecessary harm and death are bound to be …show more content…
By saying he will “wail his fall / Who I myself struck down” leaves the impression that Macbeth is unaffected by being the cause of the fall of his former friend. Power has changed Macbeth to the point where he is detached from regular emotions and is uncaring of the pain he causes. Not only is Macbeth apathetic towards the destruction he causes, but is also unphased if he has to manipulate and control others to get what he wants. Macbeth tells the murderers, “Know / That it was he, in the times past, which held you / So under fortune, which you thought had been / Our innocent self. / This I made good to you” (3.1.78-81). Saying “Our innocent self. This I made good to you” proves Macbeth is trying to deflect the blame and guilt off himself. Macbeth is using his power above the murderers to convince them that Banquo was the one forcing them to live in misery, instead of himself. The impact of power is so significant on Macbeth that the change in his personality from the beginning of the play is so prominent and obvious it is visible that power can change a person's way of thinking so
Macbeth is the main character in this tragic story, receiving a prophecy which suggests Macbeth will receive power. Instead of letting the power come naturally he takes matters into his own hand and commiting a murder, deciding he’s in too deep he does more atrocious acts to keep and gain more power. The quote “The quality of the will to power is, precisely, growth. The vaster the power gained, the vaster the appetite for
Power is a dangerous thing to have, no matter who you are or what intentions you have with it. William Shakespeare's book, Macbeth shows the tragic effects power can have and who easily it can corrupt your brain. Macbeth became king not exactly knowing what he was getting himself into, but eventually he realized being king had given him a lot of power so he did unspeakable things to keep that power and his crown. In Macbeth’s case fate brought onto him what he brought onto others in a shakespearean tragedy. Macbeth was so honored he could be king, he did anything he could to keep the power, including murdering, lying, and losing respect for others.
The forceful nature of humans paired with the greed for power can lead to their own and other’s downfall. Though coercive power is stereotypically influenced through authority, Shakespeare disregards authority in consideration of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s relationship. Lady Macbeth preys on her husband’s tenderness and submissive nature to gain an assertive status but, as prophesied, will ultimately ‘plague the inventor’ (Act 1 Scene 7). Macbeth’s humble but fallible identity of a tragic hero is instigated by his own wife in Act 1 Scene 5 as she challenges his manhood as written in her letter.
In one of Shakespeare's most popular tragedies, ‘Macbeth’, which was first staged in 1611, personal power is persistently emphasised and often prioritised more than authority. Initially, Macbeth, the protagonist, is shown to portray a captive attitude at the start of the play, despite having a high position of control in the army of King Duncan, until he experiences a downfall once the prophecy is revealed to him and decides to rush his way to destiny without waiting for it to happen. With his social power shown to increase every scene, his sanity and mental state deteriorate at an even faster pace, with him turning paranoid and seemingly lost at life towards the end of the play. His change in power is constantly altered throughout the performance;
Anthony Ho Ms. Barker English 2H 3 May, 2023 Macbeth Essay William Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of Macbeth is a story about change. The change in Scotland, positions of power, and most importantly, Macbeth. His desire for power changes him through these three main changes: initial state, rise to power, and downfall.
Scotland rested on this man’s shoulders, and in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth let that responsibility crumble him into a weak-minded knight, blindly following his only motivators, Envy, Wrath, and Greed. Macbeth envies his friends and people above him, this leads him to strive for and create lethal actions against people he loves, This is not only due to himself, but Lady Macbeth as well, Lady Macbeth manipulates Macbeth with fluency and no hesitation at all, proving that Lady Macbeth suffers from pride. At the point in which Lady Macbeth gets the idea in Macbeth’s head that he can have power, he starts to push away and repent his friends, for the simple fact that they are more powerful than him, he cannot separate the idea of personality from his strive for perfection in himself, that perfection which he will never reach. The primary factor of
The main problem with power is it corrupts people. During the beginning, the prophecies told by the three witches causes Macbeth 's desire for power. After meeting with the witches, the characters of Macbeth and Banquo started to reveal. The prophecies told to Macbeth, grabbed his attention immediately as the first two prophecies came true. Macbeth was told three prophecies, which he would be Thane of Glamis, which he already was, Thane of Cawdor and king hereafter.
After examining the evidence it proves Macbeth was also a leader who had power and used it. Individuals with impulsive ambition commonly make poor choices and end up harming those around them. They become as blind-sighted as the world leaders of today out of a desire to succeed. In Macbeth, reckless ambition can be seen when Macbeth, encouraged by his wife and the witches, ends up killing the king, takes power, and then continues to kill more people out of paranoia. There are more victims of violence as a civil war breaks out to kill Macbeth.
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.
In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, Shakespeare presents power through the main character’s objective, to become the ruler. Macbeth looks forward to his ‘rise’ as king but instead, he wants as much control as he conceivably can and this eventually leads to his downfall. He listens to the prediction of the witches and gets to be so fixated on satisfying the prediction since it states that he will inevitably get to be a ruler. Having this information, Macbeth goes out of his way to constrain the prediction to come genuine. Shakespeare showed Macbeth as a power-hungry person who goes on to commit violent and treasonous acts because of his desires.
Power, a societal ranking of superiority and dominance, has influenced people for eons. In Macbeth, Shakespeare emphasizes power as a force that unwillingly controls the actions of others, resulting in broken relationships and dismay. Emotions primarily caused by the eagerness for power are guilt and greed. In Act 3 Scene 4 of Macbeth, Macbeth appears to be haunted by the ghost of Banquo, but no one can see the paranormal interaction besides Macbeth himself. " Avaunt!
Shakespeare's Macbeth includes the power that affects over a person who has rose to a post authority. Influenced by unchecked power, Macbeth takes events that have serious and devastating results for himself and for different characters in the play. When Macbeth has presented an act in which he utilizes control for negative ends, he discovers it is progressively harder to limit himself from perverted use of force. Eventually, it’s his failure to recognize the adaptive and maladaptive elements of force from each other that keeps him from understanding his potential significance.
\ Time after time, novels and plays have been written where the main theme is the desire for more power. I believe that this is prominent in the play Macbeth, and especially in the main character Macbeth. Throughout the play, we quickly come to see Macbeth is an ambitious and cunning man, who is willing to sacrifice anything in order for him and his wife to gain more power in society. This become apparent when Macbeth and Lady Macbeth kill King Duncan. They devise a plan in order to do this, which includes inviting the King into their home, and stabbing him while he sleeps, then covering up the murder.
That is a step on which I must fall down, or else o’er-leap” (1.4.55-56). However, once he gains the throne by committing treason and obtains all that he once wished for, Macbeth still holds envy towards others, wishing that he held positions of others rather than his own. Taking King Duncan ’s position through murder plants another seed of envy in him, as he begins to feel insecurity over the situation he has unrightfully placed himself in and realizes what could be done against him rather than the previous ruler now. “In restless ecstasy, Duncan is in his grave, after life’s fitful fever he sleeps well, treason has done his worst: nor steel, nor poison, malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing, can touch him further!
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.