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Macbeth Essay

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Macbeth Essay
2012
MacBeth 5 Paragraph Essay
A Tragic Tale of Ambition
A Play By: William Shakespeare
ENG-3UR

As Shakespeare 's tale of tragic ambition Macbeth progresses, Lady Macbeth undergoes a metamorphosis moving from a stable, loving wife, into a power hungry woman driven to madness by her own obsession for complete control. Although when the question who is ultimately responsible for
Duncan 's death is asked, many will point the finger at Lady Macbeth. While she played a role in manipulating and deceiving Macbeth into committing the first act of evil in the book, we are all given free will and with that it was ultimately his final decision to kill Duncan. In the beginning it started with Macbeth being given the title of 'Thane of Cawdor ' in Act 1 scene 2 when Duncan said " and with his former title greet Macbeth, what he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won" (Shakespeare, I,ii, 3,5). This was the first feeling of power that Macbeth had in the play. It did not change him in the way you would think it should have, he was humble and accepting of the new title but the moment the witches told him the prophecies is when I believe he subconsciously started to desire more power than he already had.

In Act 1 scene 2-3 when Macbeth meet the three witches and they gave him the prophecies; "All

hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!" then "All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!"

and finally "All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter" (Shakespeare, I, ii, 50-53)! After hearing this

Macbeth sent a letter explaining to his wife, Lady Macbeth about the three prophecies. When she read

that one of the prophecies had already came true and the next one was for Macbeth to be king she

wanted to kill the king and knew how she would do it. She could taste the power that she could

have, and it was the only idea driving her thoughts. As William Pitt once said "Unlimited power is apt to

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