Macbeth's Greed Research Paper

In William Shakespeare's tragedy, Macbeth, Macbeth’s greed leads to his downfall; his death. In eleventh century Scotland, war, bloodshed, and cruelty were all common occurrences. Duncan, the elected King of Scotland, is bravely fighting a war at the play’s opening in 1040. Macbeth, the Thane of Glamis, is also fighting. Following the battle, Macbeth tirelessly works to become king and maintain his kingship. The greed he displays while committing those acts, as well as the greed he displays through his interpretation of the apparitions, cause his downfall. Macbeth’s greed negatively affects the kingdom of Scotland by being the catalyst of mass chaos and death throughout the land, which is only unraveled at Macbeth’s demise.
Macbeth listens
To illustrate, Macbeth kills the guards to try to maintain his appearence of innocence. After just killing Duncan in his sleep, Macbeth and his wife are anxious and paranoid. Macbeth wants to eradicate anyone that may know the truth about Duncan’s mysterious death; killing the guards was necessary to ensure Macbeth’s own security. However, Lady Macbeth had already framed the guards by placing the bloody knife by them. As a result, Macbeth’s action is not just act of protection, but an act of apparent loyalty in order to keep the crown. Next, Macbeth plots the murder of his friend Banquo. Banquo starts getting suspicious of Duncan’s death because it happened so incredibly close to when the witches told Macbeth he would be king. He starts to perceive that maybe Macbeth killed Duncan to get his position. Macbeth worries that Banquo would be suspicious because he is the only other person that knows of the prophecy. In addition to that, the witches also said Banquo’s children will be kings, making Macbeth doubt the safety of his reign. Macbeth is so eager to ensure his long rule that he order’s murderers to kill Banquo and his son Fleance. Now that he has the crown, he will never let it escape him. Furthermore, he also kills Banquo to maintain his kingship. After getting word of Macduff’s flee to England, Macbeth believes that he is a traitor. In order to
The greed he exhibits while trying to become king, preserving his crown, and viewing the apparitions all lead to his death. The effort he exerted to become and maintain the kingship are rendered insignificant because in the end, Duncan’s son, Malcolm, becomes king. Throughout history, the world has experienced tyrannical and oppressive leaders, much like Macbeth. Macbeth is an early, fictional, example of power controlling a person, leading to greedy, paranoid, and obsessive behaviors. The tragedy of Macbeth exemplifies the struggle between oppressive control and innocent