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Macbeths love for power
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Throughout the play, Macbeth’s character has changed immensely since his spirit became envious of others and he came to the solution of violence. His desire for power has caused many problems in his heart. These problems resulted in a change of his character. All the jealousy that has come over Macbeth has caused him to murder more than three innocent people that did not deserve to be murdered. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth’s goodness and honorable character show because of how guilty he feels. The first murder Macbeth commits is King Duncan. King Duncan had just appointed Macbeth the Thane of Cawdor. Sadly this was not enough for Macbeth, he wanted more power especially after the witches prophesied to him. Lady On this last prophecy the witches tell Macbeth they say to beware of Macduff. Macbeth knows at this point that Macduff has already fled to England. Knowing this Macbeth still sticks to his treacherous plan of killing his family. So once again he hires murderers to go and kill Lady Macduff and Macduff's son. After every single killing Macbeth has grown less and less guilty. It is almost like he has no conscience anymore. He acts as if he has no soul anymore either. Although this scenario and Banquo's scenario are very different because he does not have to do the killing himself, but Macbeth’s character has still evolved and grown brutal from the beginning to the end of the play. All the jealousy that has come over Macbeth has caused him to murder more than three innocent people that did not deserve to be murdered. Macbeth has grown from a good hearted person to a brutally terrible man who seems like he has no heart. By the end of the play Macbeth’s answer for everything that did not go his way was killing. His desire for power and wanting for more and more made him go insane. Jealousy and hatred were in his heart after he killed Duncan and after that it just kept getting worse. Hatred does not just go away when it is so deep into the person’s
In the play Macbeth, Macbeth and Banquo are good friends, and even after hearing the prophecy told by the Three Witches, they only laugh and joke about their individual prophecies. It is only after Macbeth kills Duncan that the thought of having to kill Banquo in order to secure his place and his bloodline on the throne ever crosses his mind. After killing Duncan, Macbeth was initially struck by grief and remorse, but when it came to killing Banquo, Macbeth had shown no real signs of guilt for it (there is even speculation that the third, secret hitman was actually Macbeth himself!). After killing Banquo, Macbeth had visions of Banquo as a ghost, but no real signs of grief as he had with Duncan. He seems more troubled over the fact that the murderers he had hired hadn’t been able to kill Banquo’s son, Fleance.
Macbeth is captured by his wild ambition at the opening of the play when he and Banqou meet the three witches. The witches tell Macbeth that he is the Thane of Cawdor, and later will be king. They tell Banquo that his sons will be kings. Instantly Macbeth started to fantasize how he is going to be king. He understood that in order for him to become king he has to kill Duncan. “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical”(Act 1 Sc. 3, p.23). He was pondering about the assassination until the moment that he could no longer control his emotions. “To prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which overleaps itself and falls on the other-“(Act 1 Sc. 7, p.41). Because of his “vaulting ambition” he killed Duncan.
Later in the play Banquo starts to have a bad feeling about Macbeth. "Thou hast it now: King, Cowdor, Glamis, all,/ as the weird women promised, and I fear/ thou play'dst most foully for `t." III i 1-3, this is a quote from Banquo explaining how he feels about Macbeth's predictions coming true. Macbeth realizes this about Banquo and he starts to have feelings about killing Banquo. This isn't the only reason he feels this way, the witches had also made predictions for Banquo. "Thou shall get kings, though thou be none." I iii 67, Macbeth doesn't want any of Banquo's family to rule Scotland; he wants his own family to continue to rule. Macbeth hires two murderers to kill Banquo and his on Fleance. The murderers end up killing Banquo, but Fleance gets away.
Macbeth is swaying between the forces of good and evil. He wants to stop killing but he also wants to become king and in his mind the only way to do that is to kill whoever is in his path, saying “I am in blood/ Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more,/ Returning were as tedious as go o'er.” (3.4.168-170). Macbeth is already deep into this situation and if he were to turn back now, it would cause him greater hardship than relief. Macbeth has been dealing with this inner conflict ever since he was told by the weird sisters that he is fated to become king. This conflict ties everything together, between fate versus free will and sane or insane. Macbeth started the play as being a glorified war hero, however as time moved on he transformed into a bloodthirsty tyrant. Macbeth has gone through so much that he has shifted into a guilty man haunted by nightmares and hallucinations but will not stop until he gets what he came for. Macbeth has gone so far into the void of guilt that his name has now fell into infamy, as shown by quote by Young Siward saying “The devil himself could not pronounce a title/ More hateful to mine ear.” (5.7.10-11). Macbeth had already grown a name for himself while he kept his innocence, however with all the killings macbeth has made, he has done nothing but shame his name. Macbeth name to others is more hateful and there is nothing that Siward would rather do than to end Macbeth’s life, thus ending all the guilt and evil inside
Macbeth is a brave general who fights for his country Scotland, defeating the King of Norway. He is loyal to his king Duncan, but Macbeth has ambition to take over the kingdom for himself. He has lots of doubts of if he is doing the right thing, but still murders Duncan and then Banquo who is another general who fought with Macbeth. These murders and guilt about his treason are leading Macbeth to become insane. This essay shows that although Macbeth’s strong desire for power is influenced by the three witches in the play and also the planning and ambition of his wife Lady Macbeth, in the end he is responsible for his self-destruction.
Macbeth did not have to kill all of the innocent people he had murdered. Instead, he could have turned himself in and said he killed the king. Like most people he didn’t want to die, so he decided to keep this as a secret and tried to live life as best as he could. In order for this to stay a secret he needed to murder a few people. He first had murderers go out and kill Banquo and Fleance. The murderers were able to kill Banquo, but Fleance escaped. Macbeth felt better that Banquo was dead since Banquo knew about the witches rules in order for Macbeth to become king. Therefore, Banquo would assume that Macbeth murdered the king. Now, there would be no assumption from Banquo that Macbeth killed Duncan. Macbeth wanted Fleance to be dead, since the witches said that Banquo’s sons will become the next kings after Macbeth, but Macbeth wanted his family to be the royal family forever. The next person that gets murdered by Macbeth is: Macduff’s family. Macbeth had people hired to kill Macduff’s family. This led Macduff and ten thousand soldiers from England to defeat Macbeth and ultimately kill the villain. All of the murders and the stress that people had to go through because of Macbeth made him a
It was because of these killings and his overbearing attitude that caused him to be overthrown and killed himself. Macbeth, at the beginning of the play, seems to be a very noble person. He is characterized as being very loyal and honorable. He fights in the battle against Norway which proves his loyalty, then he is appointed Thane of Cawdor which proves that he is honorable in the eyes of royalty.... ...
Soon after he achieves the title Thane of Cawdor as predicted by the three witches; whom drive Macbeth’s ambition to murder King Duncan- due to the fulfilment of the witches’ first prophecy, Macbeth is foolish enough to commit to treason and murder King Duncan. The first change of Macbeth’s personality happens during Act II, Scene 2, where he starts to become overwhelmed with ambition and self-doubt; "To know my deed, 'twere best not know myself" (II.ii)
The first of the four characters is Duncan. Since Macbeth interacts with Duncan only a minimal amount before Duncan's death, Macbeth's attitude towards him changes very rapidly. Before Macbeth hears the witches' first prophecy, he is very loyal to Duncan, and would never even consider lifting a finger against him. When the thought of murdering Duncan occurs to Macbeth immediately after learning that he has been named Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth cannot believe he might "yield to that suggestion / Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair / And make my seated heart knock at my ribs" (I.iii.133-35). In scene 5 of act 1, however, his "vaulting ambition"(I.vii.28) is starting to take over, but partly because of his wife's influence. He agrees that they must "catch the nearest way" (I.v.17), and kill Duncan that night. On the other hand, as the time for murder draws near, he begins giving himself reasons not to murder Duncan:
To ensure that the prophecy holds true, Macbeth, aided by his cunning and cruel wife, devises a plot to murder the current king, King Duncan, and seize the throne. This plot forces Macbeth on a tragic course of murder and cruelty that leads to his eventual death. On the surface, it would appear that Macbeth, based on his actions alone, should be viewed as an evil or immoral character, very much the antagonist of the story. Yet, the audience is meant to identify with and even sympathize with Macbeth in the same manner as they would a protagonist. It is only upon examining the character development of the anti-hero Macbeth as a whole that the audience is able to fully comprehend the complexity of his character and the underlying themes of the play.
Macbeth yearned to be the most powerful and this ambition drove him to the assassination of his king. He had many self-debates, prior to the murder, whether to unleash his “expedition of violence”(Act II Scene iii line 126) upon the king. Often Macbeth told himself to “let not light see [his] black and deep desires”(Act I Scene iv line 58), for they were beginning to truly cloud his mind. The temptation ended up being too immense to deny for Macbeth; “if the assassination/ Could trammel up the consequence, and catch, / With his surcease, success”(Act I Scene vii line 2) then Macbeth would have what he so desired. Macbeth knew that he was “[King Duncan’s] kinsman and his subject, / Strong both against the deed: then, as his host, / Who should against his murderer shut the door, / Not bear the knife [himself]”(Act I Scene vii line 13). Yet as the time grew near for which the murder was to take place, Macbeth did not fail in pursuing his plan. Wi...
Macbeth started off as a loyal, humble, and honest individual. As the plot progressed, and the witches came into play, Macbeth started to morph into a character that would not hesitate to murder someone as prestigious as a King or someone as kind as his closest friend. We witnessed a complete change of heart from Macbeth, as his greed and lust to become King changed his attitude and outlook on life. All these atrocious actions by Macbeth come back to haunt him, as he becomes the one being betrayed, and justice is served to Scotland.
When Macbeth and Banquo came across the witches they not only prophesised that Macbeth would be king, but also that Banquo’s descendants ‘shalt be kings,’ meaning that Macbeth’s children will not hold the throne. With this knowledge, Macbeth arranges the murder of his loyal friend Banquo and son. Macbeth was not manipulated in any way to enact this murder, he was so driven by pride to secure his line that he turned to slaughter his friend. Macbeth, after hearing the witch’s prophecy ‘beware [of] Macduff’ and later that Macduff has joined Malcom, sends his murderers after Macduff and his family. Through this action it tells us that Macbeth becoming so consumed with keeping his power that he has now progressed to killing children. This can also lead us to believe that Macbeth’s mental state has been affected as he has lost some of his morals. The witches and Lady Macbeth might have shaped his evil path for him, but in the end it was Macbeth’s decision to embark on that path of
Macbeth, the main character in the tragedy of Macbeth, undergoes a series of character changes throughout the play. His transformation occurs in three major stages. First comes his attitude at the beginning of Macbeth where it is very positive and powerful. Subsequently he endures a change with the murder of king Duncan that reduces him from his moral and good status. Finally, he becomes wicked in his ways and develops into a tyrant and a butcher. This series of changes are evident as one reads the tragic play of Macbeth.
Through his ambition, he kills Duncan against his better judgment due to being influenced by others. Macbeth never actually wanted to kill Duncan and that's shown through the amount of guilt he depicts. Moreover, the other character's death is justified through the fact that once one uses violence to achieve power, it is difficult to stop. Once Macbeth got swayed into killing King Duncan, there was no way to put a stop to him.