Examples Of Greed In Macbeth

“Greed is a state of restlessness of the heart, and it consists mainly of craving for power and possessions. Possessions and power are sought for the fulfillment of desires.” Meher Baba, a nineteenth century Indian spiritualist, viewed greed, such as for power, wealth, and material needs, as a craving; a craving that would be caused by the heart which would in turn threaten to devour all that it was able to, until at last the weight brought about self destruction. Such a calamity is the theme of Macbeth, Shakespeare’s composition on the desire of power. Macbeth’s covetous actions towards the crown bring him power, yet the same desire becomes his own downfall as it manifests his guilty conscience furthering his descent into paranoia which acts as a driving factor to the play.

A hero acclaimed by many, Macbeth was renowned for his bravery and prowess upon the battlefield:

“For brave Macbeth (well he deserves that name),

Disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel,

Which smoked with bloody execution,

Like valor’s minion, carved out his passage.

(Act 1, Sc. 2)

Heralded as “disdaining fortune”, Shakespeare creates the image of Macbeth as a valiant warrior for his country.

It would seem that Macbeth is a man of virtue, that he upholds some form of honor to his king, for if not then why fight for him? However, there is a slip in his code, a slip in his character; upon meeting with the Weird Sisters and their prophetic words a change can be seen in Macbeth. Whether the Weird Sisters have turned Macbeth anew or magnified who he was even more, there is no reason to doubt that this is where Macbeth experiences dramatic changes. Once the first part of the prophecy comes true, Macbeth is no longer content with just a Thane of Cawdor, instead his eyes have set upon the crown itself. While the this snippet of the play is short, it is the trigger that would unleash a monster on Scotland. Now Macbeth questions his morality, wondering

if:
This supernatural soliciting
Cannot be ill, cannot be good. If ill,
Why hath it given me earnest of success,
Commencing in a truth? I am thane of Cawdor.
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,
Against the use of nature?
(Act 1, Sc. 3)

Although the phrases that the Weird Sisters had spoken were but words, Macbeth has taken them to heart, allowed them to pervert his desires and twist them or were these his desires all along. From here on out Macbeth begins to fall deeper and deeper into the abyss, with the thought of becoming king and staying king his one and only motivation for it all. Declaring that:
I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself
And falls on th' other.
(Act 1, Sc. 7)
Macbeth is admitting that the only reason he even considers murdering Duncan, his king, would be to fill his own personal self ambition. Such reasoning further proves that Macbeth has begun his long and sorrowful journey into a downward spiral with a brief moment of bliss at the start.
Macbeth, under the encouragement of his wife and ego, takes Duncan’s life. While the blade does indeed pierce Duncan’s chest, substantially killing him in the process, Macbeth’s killing of Duncan would be Shakespeare’s equivalent of a nail in the coffin; once Macbeth slew the good king Duncan for personal greed he became wrought with guilt; crying out that he heard:
a voice cry, “Sleep no more!
Macbeth does murder sleep”—the innocent sleep,
Sleep that knits up the raveled sleave of care,
The death of each day’s life, sore labor’s bath,
Balm of hurt minds,
(Act 2, Sc. 2)
The voiced that seemed to cry out to Macbeth, whether corporeal or imaginary, alludes to the fact of how Macbeth has started his journey down the rabbit hole; that Macbeth is no longer an ally of the innocent, but slayer of tranquility that comes with sleep, as Scotland will soon experience under Macbeth’s tyranny. However, how is it possible for the guilt rapt Macbeth to impact a nation if he can much less continue forward without the glancing at his bloodied hands? A panic stricken Macbeth almost in hysterics cries out:
What hands are here? Ha! They pluck out mine eyes.
Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.
(Act 2, Sc. 2)

Somehow, although Macbeth is clearly coming to the point of no return, he is able to continue on his ruinous path if only to the crutch of his wife. It is Lady Macbeth that enables Macbeth to become such a monster later on, by chastising him
Infirm of purpose!
Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead
Are but as pictures. 'Tis the eye of childhood
That fears a painted devil.
(Act 2, Sc.2)
By belittling Macbeth as a coward and comparing him as child, Lady Macbeth creates a complex inside Macbeth preventing him from showing such emotions; in turn he became what society deemed at the time as a strong man.
As time continued for Macbeth’s reign, his decline in mental stability becomes even more clear; now he is nothing more than a feral dog which lunges at those that draw to close. Due to the Weird Sisters’ prophecy also claiming that Banquo’s line shall be that of kings, Macbeth does the unthinkable; Macbeth decides that Banquo is a blight upon him that:
[Banquo’s] execution takes your enemy off,
Grapples you to the heart and love of us,
Who wear our health but sickly in his life,
Which in his death were perfect.
(Act 3, Sc. 1)
Going as far as to kill a close friend in order to secure his position, Macbeth spends more time convincing the murderers than needs to. His continued usage of “our” and “your” throughout the scene is mostly for his own personal justification as he is more than likely convincing himself what he is doing is for a just cause. However, Banquo’s murder has unexpected repercussions upon Macbeth, whether this is a hallucination created by Macbeth or an actual spirit, as he is confronted by the very man he killed. Screaming out in anger Macbeth demands that:
Or be alive again,
And dare me to the desert with thy sword.
If trembling I inhabit then, protest me
The baby of a girl. Hence, horrible shadow!
Unreal mockery, hence!
(Act 3, Sc.4)
Macbeth’s final tipping point has come and gone, his spirit has been tainted by the guilt the crown has brought upon him, no longer can he separate the natural from the unnatural. Blending such realms together Macbeth has begun to shut down. His world plummeting into a void, the death of his wife brings the forbidding reply, “She should have died hereafter./There would have been a time for such a word.” (Act 5, Sc. 5). Macbeth now believes:
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
(Act 5, Sc. 5)
This emotional detachment is completely different from the beginning of the play where Macbeth could never wash his hands from the blood. His constant murders and actions to secure the crown for himself has made him numb all, but those who will come to his crown; and in turn those very actions will send Macbeth to his own downfall.
Macbeth’s treacherous actions were the direct epicenter of the events of Macbeth; his pursuit of power caused Scotland to shake at the very roots as once he obtain the crown it only drove him further into madness and paranoia. Although Macbeth’s actions were to the extreme, Shakespeare’s portrayal of the human desire to obtain power is representative of the struggles that one may face in life, even though one may not commit regicide or murder. Such a tale can be applied to any situation, any time period, and any person. While Macbeth seems to be a monster bent on the protection of his own power, he represents mankind’s desire to keep what has been given to them.