Examples Of Greed In Macbeth

Desire can come from the purest part of one’s heart but it can turn deadly once achieved. Ambition is a very strong desire to do something that requires hard work and one’s own efforts. Greed, on the other hand, is intense and selfish desire especially for money or wealth. In the play Macbeth, Macbeth searches and tries to keep any power he can. He begins as an ambitious soldier but once he gains power he becomes very greedy. He wants to ensure that nothing will ever come in his way or his power again. Greed leads Macbeth down an unsteady path to his destruction. Macbeth’s transformation into power comes from his ambition and desire, but his insight into a life full of authority instills greed in order to secure his power which ultimately leads

to his final loss of everything.
Macbeth’s rise to power comes from his inner ambition and desire. Ambition is a strong desire to do something, requiring hard work and one’s own effort. Macbeth is first very wary of gaining the throne, “If chance will have me king, why chance may crown me, Without my stir” (I.iii.165-167) and he doesn’t want to purposely do anything to gain his power. Then he begins to have dark thoughts about the prophecy and killing King Duncan. Desire overpowers his thoughts, “Stars hide your fires! Let not light see my black and deep desires”(I.iv.58-59) as he fears “My thought , whose murder yet is but fantastical Shakes so my single state of man…”(I.iii.158-161). Ambition to become king is searing through Macbeth as his dark conscience pushes through. As Macbeth is trying to hide his thoughts about killing the king, Lady Macbeth tells him “Nor time nor place Did then adhere, and yet you would make both. They have made themselves, and that their fitness now Does unmake you” (I.vii.58-62). Calling Macbeth a coward fills Macbeth with ambition. He wants to prove to his wife that he is capable of killing King Duncan and he is a strong man. From the prophecy and cowardly thoughts to killing King Duncan, Macbeth’s desire and ambition to become king really shows through.
Once Macbeth has been crowned as the new king and has taken the throne, he becomes extremely greedy to secure his power. As the new king, Macbeth begins to worry “To be thus is nothing, But to be safely thus” (III.i.52-53) and thinks back to the prophecy “Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown And put a barren scepter in my gripe, Thence to be wrenched with an unlineal hand, no son of mine succeeding” (III.i.65-68). He first worries that his power means nothing until it is secured, and no one can ever touch him or hurt him. Wondering if all of his actions are worth it, these thoughts and worries push greed out of Macbeth. Greed seeps out of him to think of a way to secure all of his power; to make sure Banquo’s son does not take over the throne. Deciding to hire two murderers to kill Banquo and his son, he tells them to “And something from the palace (always thought That I require a cleanness), and with him, To leave no rubs nor botches in the work…” (III.i.147-149). Here his ambition has completely turned into greed. His selfish desire is to secure the throne for himself, even if it means killing his best friend and his best friend’s son. Ambition has also turned into greed in that Macbeth has hired two men kill for him; he is no longer willing to put in the work and effort it takes. Through his step into power and gain of the throne, Macbeth shows his greed and need to secure the throne for his own selfish desires.
As Macbeth’s need for validation and security of his throne grows, he eventually leads himself to his downfall, and to the loss of everything.

Afraid of Banquo’s prophecy coming true (his sons will be king), he journeys to see the witches again. Once he arrives, he demands “I conjure you by that which you profess...answer me To what I ask you” (IV.i.51,61-62). He is greedy to know the answer to his fate, and is selfish in his ways. In response to Macbeth the witches appear in 3 apparitions, all the while giving him a sense of overconfidence. The apparitions state “The pow’r of man, for none of woman born Shall harm Macbeth” (IV.i.91-92) and “Macbeth shall never vanquished be until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill Shall come against him” (IV.i.106-108). When Macbeth hears this great news he becomes extremely overconfident. This leads him to being very unprepared for when Macduff and Malcolm storm up great Dunsinane Hill covered in branches from Great Birnam Wood. He is thrown off his feet when Macduff tells him “Macduff was from his mother’s womb Untimely ripped” (V.viii.19-20), meaning he was not born of a woman. Finally Macbeth shows his complete transition into a mind of greed when told the news his wife is dead by suicide. Macbeth shows his greedy nature by replying “She should have died hereafter; There would have been a time for such word” (V.v.19-20). He explains that his wife should have died later when he would have time to mourn her. He does not care about her death, he only cares about his self centered needs. Throughout the last scene of the play, Macbeth has ultimately lost everything. He lost his wife, his power, his kingdom, and his

life.
Macbeth’s loss of everything that once mattered to him came from his once prevalent ambition and great desires that ultimately lead him down a path of destruction with his insistent
greed to secure his power. He put in the effort to kill King Duncan, and the guards to cover up his tracks. But once he became king all his ambition quickly turned into greed. He no longer wanted to do what was right for his family, kingdom, and those around him. He wanted to do everything in his power to secure his throne, and to make sure no one was ever able to overthrow him. Loss of his wife, power, and kingdom are the final results for greedy Macbeth. One can say

in society today that those who are ambitious are led to success. They work hard with the right intentions to do good in the world. But those led by greed go down a path of endless disappointments and hateful actions. It is the fine line between those two that can change the course of one’s life.