Preview

Macbeth's Power

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1050 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Macbeth's Power
Throughout reading the play, Macbeth changes a lot from being a man of loyalty and honesty, to a man of whom is power hungry and greedy. This shows how the more power you receive the more power you want; which in many cases, such as this one leads to destruction. Many of the choices that Macbeth made were influenced by the power that he had, and this power began to take over him. This then lead to greed and destruction of not only others, but himself as well. In the beginning of the play, Macbeth is not in a position of authority yet still receives praise. Although Macbeth is not in a place of power, he is truly content with his life. Macbeth is looked up to and admired for begin so brave and courageous. In the beginning of the play Macbeth comes off as a genuine man who is admired by many people. This is demonstrated by a member of Macbeth 's battalion who refers to Macbeth as "the great Macbeth." This man is covered in blood and hurt, yet he still speaks of how noble Macbeth is. This really shows how respected and faithful the citizens are to Macbeth. "For brave Macbeth he is the one to whom oh so many praise." (1.2.18), said by the man. Hearing this news of Macbeth is very pleasing to the king, he now sees how noble and commendable Macbeth is, he then decided to give Macbeth the power of being Thane of Cawdor; by doing so he did not know what this decision was going to lead to in the future. The king gave him this power because he saw how fine of a man he was and thought that he would do a good job leading Cawdor with the power that has been given to him. But little did the king know that this taste of power would bring out new dangerous qualities in Macbeth. Once Macbeth possessed the power of being Thane of Cawdor he began to exhibit more greed. He has just been given such a huge responsibility and once he was given new power, he craved more; especially when he stumbled upon the witches. He liked the power that he had and wanted to gain more, no matter

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In Macbeth, the main character, the greed for power corrupts Macbeth. For example at the beginning of the play, Macbeth is portrayed as a person of conscience and nobility who wouldn’t commit the act of murder as he has a conscience. Macbeth’s greed begins at the first meeting of the witches where the context of superstition was an accepted norm, “All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!” This meeting ignited Macbeth’s latent greed which set him on his ultimate goal of domination. Through the use of dialogue and imagery Shakespare’s sets the scene for the ultimate tragedy. The positive power exercised by Lady Macbeth through her manipulation of her husband’s greed to help to achieves her own ends, “Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower,…

    • 889 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Firstly, having very high Ambition jolts Macbeth to go beyond being the Thane of Cawdor. This is proven when Macbeth says, “If good, why do I yield to that suggestion whose horrid image doth unfix my hair and make my seated heart knock at my ribs” (1.3.138-140). While saying this, Macbeth is basically stating that the act of killing King Duncan has crossed his mind even though it makes his hair stand on the end and his heart pound inside his chest. Macbeth says this after he receives the title of the Thane of Cawdor. This suggests that he will not stop at being just a Thane. When Macbeth says, “The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step on which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, for in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires; let not light see my black and deep desires: the eye wink at the hand; yet let that be, which the eye fears, when it is done, to see” he expresses his angry and feels ashamed because he is not named heir to the throne by King Duncan (1.4.50-55). “Stars, hide your fires” states that Macbeth wants to cloak his true intensions by being cloaked in darkness. “The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be, which the eye fears, when it is done, to see” foreshadows that Macbeth is soon going to commit something he rather not be able to see. It has been shown through these quotations that ambition leads Macbeth to go beyond his limit.…

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth Power Analysis

    • 587 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Throughout Act I in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the character Macbeth struggles with the Weird Sisters’ prophecy predicting his Scottish kingship. Macbeth believes the only way for him to rise to power is through murder. After contemplating whether or not to kill Duncan, the current king, Macbeth ultimately decides to follow through in order to gain status and power. As an audience member, I do not feel sympathy for Macbeth as he independently and consciously betrays his morals and noble duties.…

    • 587 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    At the beginning Macbeth outwardly looks strong and not the sort of man to be swayed by three evil beings. He has status he is not a nobody, he is already a thane. However, the Witches prophecy that he will become Thane of Cawdor and then King of Scotland lights a spark of ambition and greed for greater power. The audience of today often have mixed feelings about the use of the witches. However, the audience that Shakespeare was writing for believed in witches and was very scared of them. Through his use of the…

    • 1001 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the story, a reader can comprehend Macbeth’s greed as power that the witches gave indirectly by their prophecies. Although Macbeth did not fully believe them, he was still curious and started taking their prophecies to be factual. Three of the few prophecies that they had made were: (1) Macbeth would be king; (2) Macbeth would be king until the forest itself would march forth to siege him (3) No man or woman born would harm Macbeth. Macbeth’s death was caused by his and his wife’s poor judgments, not the witches. However, the witches did know about his death though, “He will not be commanded. Here’s another / more potent than the first” (Act IV, Scene I). Macbeth’s greed for power was the cause of many tragedies in the novel. He was responsible for the death of his cousin Duncan and also the death of his friend Banquo.…

    • 791 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth - Blind Ambition

    • 880 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Macbeth is initially presented in the play as a brave and noble character but it takes only a hint in the direction of kingship from the witches to enflame his ambition. Early in the play Macbeth is praised by the king for his courage and loyalty. He is a figure of admiration and is rewarded for his efforts with the Thane of Cawdor. Shakespeare gives Macbeth his first taste of power and ambition with the prophecy of the witches and this kindles a sense of curiosity in him about what the future may hold. He makes a leap between being a passive figure in the face of destiny to entertaining the idea that he may himself direct the workings of fate. As Macbeth says,…

    • 880 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Everyone in life yearns to be successful however, some people end up more so than others. This is due to the fact that if someone’s goal is unreasonably large then they might take drastic and, unmoral measures to achieve their goals of glory and power. Proven by their rise to power, characters who seek glory are doomed to fail, even when they, in the end, recognize their flaw…

    • 898 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth S Crimes

    • 664 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, we are faced with a character, Macbeth, who is known as a strong soldier in the play and from this we can infer that he is a determined character. In saying that, we witness the transition from a character that is already very ambitious, into a character that becomes fuelled with the desire for power. The fuel had begun from the prophecies and apparitions given by the witches in telling Macbeth that he will rule the kingdom of Scotland. Not only do the witches begin and spur Macbeth crimes, but also does Lady Macbeth in encouraging him and instilling the evil values that she possesses towards him. Macbeth was driven by his own greed and ambition to have the power and Macbeth acknowledges this of himself.…

    • 664 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    been able to sense this and would not have taken the three apparitions at face…

    • 1868 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Motif Of Power In Macbeth

    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Many people want to obtain power to satisfy their needs. Once the individual gains the power, they continue to strive to gain more without acknowledging the consequences until later. In William Shakespeare's Elizabethan tragedy Macbeth, the corruptive quality of power influences the individual to go against their nature in order to obtain power by any means necessary. Shakespeare utilizes the motif of blood to show that the steps taken to obtain power will not always yield favorable results and the consequences will stay with the individual.…

    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth judges that power is more important than fear which is shown through his actions and words, and that reveals greed for more power will cause one to resort to an irrational nature. Macbeth’s judgment being power is more important than fear is shown through his actions towards Duncan and Banquo, which displays that greed for more power will cause one to resort to an irrational nature. Macbeth murdering King Duncan reveals his judgment.…

    • 325 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Is Macbeth Good Or Evil

    • 788 Words
    • 4 Pages

    People that are very nice can turn bad because of their ambition or because someone forces them to do bad things. It is impossible for people to be not selfish, greedy, and wicked because everyone is selfish, greedy, and wicked. In William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, he shows how dangerous people can become evil because Macbeth’s desire to be King. He is the reason of how perfect this person’s life is until he became the opposite of him. Over the course of the play, power causes Macbeth to change from loyal to cruel which leads to his ambition getting out of hand.At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is a good and a loyal person to everyone. When Angus and Ross appear to tell him that he is going to be the Thane of Cawdor, he states, “The thane of Cawdor lives. Why do you dress me In borrowed robes?” (Shakespeare I.iii.109-110). By asking about the previous Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth reveals that he is concerned about the previous Thane of Cawdor. This is important because he is worried about other people which made him a kind person. Another…

    • 788 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth Book Review

    • 476 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Shakespeare used the plot in Macbeth to convey the universal truth that power is corruptive. Throughout the play Macbeth is seen going through the stages of a soldier turning to a murderer. The reason behind the change was Macbeth learning of his prophecy of becoming a king. The idea of him being the most powerful in the land appealed to him in dangerous ways. That hunger for power led him to kill the active King Duncan, who has done much for him, and showed us that when mankind is capable of getting power they will stop at no means to get it.…

    • 476 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    English Lit

    • 360 Words
    • 2 Pages

    This tragic qualities of the play contribute to the story’s larger message by conveying to the audience or reader of the play in portraying the negative effects of becoming power hungry after murdering then a sadistic ruling of people through use of fear and executions, thus making more steps toward evil, murder, power, lust for control, loss of control, trust in no one, and fearing everyone. For Macbeth’s lust for more power he eventually loses control of reality, starts seeing ghosts, and his life by Macduff.…

    • 360 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth

    • 481 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the beginning of the play, Macbeth is portrayed as magnificent hero, and then he turns from good and moral to immoral. The three witches tells Macbeth that he will become a king “all hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter!”(1.3.53). Macbeth does not believe the three witches until the first prophecy thane of Cawdor comes true. Then Macbeth starts to think about the idea of becoming a king. He passes the idea to his wife by sending her a letter. Macbeth and his wife plans to kill King Duncan and make it look like the guards killed Duncan. In this section of the play power corrupts Macbeth, he goes from a good and loyal servant to a murderer and committing regicide. As well, when Macbeth becomes the king, he begins to fear when the three Witches tells him that Banquo descendants will be kings in the future. He is afraid that his friend might go against him. Macbeth talks to himself and says “Our fears in Banquo stick deep” (3.1.53). Macbeth thinks that the only reason this happened is because he was with him when he got his prophecy. Banquo is the only one who can bring Macbeth down and Macbeth doesn’t want that to happen. After all Macbeth has done a lot of things he did not want to do to become king, but now he has lost himself in power of greedy, he would do anything to save his king position. He plans to kill his best friend Banquo and his son Fleance. He kills his best friend because he…

    • 481 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics