Macbeth Power Changes

In the play, Macbeth by William Shakespeare, we receive a first hand look at the effects of power in the hands of two unruly sinners, Macbeth, and his wife, Lady Macbeth. Macbeth receives a prophecy and immediately starts to act on it with the help of his evil lover, Lady Macbeth. Macbeth eventually turns on his closest friends and changes into a completely different and terrible person. Macbeth wants it all-- power, rule and everything in between. The only thing bad about his desires is that he wants everything the incorrect way. Eventually, Macbeth’s obsession with having power becomes the death of him.

In the beginning, Macbeth is a somewhat amiable man. He has all he could possibly need at the current moment; Macbeth is the Thane of Glamis
Macbeth is extremely conflicted on what to do-- make his wife happy and become king the wrong way, or wait out the prophecy of the witches and enjoy what he has now. Macbeth tragically makes the wrong decision when he decides to murder the king in cold blood in his castle in Inverness. At this point, Macbeth’s character is still somewhat intact; it is obvious that he regrets killing Duncan. “I’ll go no more: I am afraid of what I have done; Look on ‘t again I dare not.” (II,ii, 48-50). Macbeth is only trying to make his wife, Lady Macbeth, happy. This unfortunately is the start of Macbeth’s tragic fall into evil and corruption. Once Macbeth gets away with the murder of Duncan and the two guards it is as if he feels invincible and especially since the sons of Duncan are the main suspects. Before they flee to their places of choice the Old Man leaves them with some invaluable words of wisdom: “God’s benison go with you and with those that would make good of bad and friend of foes.” (II, iv, 41-42). These words actually come into play later in the piece, which is somewhat significant. We officially begin to see Macbeth’s foul character when he has his best friend, Banquo, murdered before his [Macbeth’s] fancy dinner. “I’ll call upon you straight. Abide
Macbeth started off a admirable man with all the power man should healthily possess, but his desire for more power than he could handle and manage responsibly became too much for him. Shakespeare’s play can be applied to everyday life and even our world today: Too much power can be detrimental to not only one person, but an entire nation. The sin of Macbeth touched many people in a negative way. If only Macbeth would have listened to his heart and not his evil, worldly