Examples Of Greed In Macbeth

While the name "Macbeth" means "son of life" in Gaelic, Shakespeare contradicts its meaning as he shows the gruesome consequences that Macbeth faces. Macbeth, a modern tragedy written by Shakespeare, cautions the audience of those consequences. He highlights the terrible choices driven by ambition that Macbeth makes, and in the process, warns the reader to stay away from those choices. Shakespeare's use of symbolism in Macbeth reveals greed's power to destroy one's mind and soul.

Through the symbolism of blood, Shakespeare emphasizes the corruption that greed has on the mind and soul. Greed corrupts the mind with guilt, as symbolized by blood in Act 2, scene 2. After murdering King Duncan, Macbeth cries out:

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 (2.2).
Macbeth questions how much cleansing he will need to do to rid him of the sin he has committed; a clear sign of guilt caused by the greedy murdering of King Duncan. Because of Macbeth's weakness, he gave into greed, causing a mental corruption of guilt. Through the symbolism of blood, Shakespeare reveals a guilty mind as a consequence of greed.
While blood symbolizes the mental effects of greed, it also symbolizes the spiritual corruption of greed. Before the murder of King Duncan, Macbeth had good intentions and an innocent soul. However, Lady Macbeth challenges his manhood and he finally caves in. After multiple murders and sins committed, Macbeth realizes, "I am in blood/ Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more,/ Returning were as tedious as go o’er" (3.4). Macbeth has taken life-giving blood from innocent people in order to reach his selfish desires, and Shakespeare uses this symbolism to emphasize how much of Macbeth's innocence is lost. This realization of a stained soul through the symbolization of blood aids Shakespeare in warning the audience of greed's power to corrupt innocent souls. Through the symbolization of blood, Shakespeare reveals the negative effects that greed has on mentality and spirituality.
Bad weather, or the light and the dark, symbolizes the inner conflict of soul and mind brought about by greed. Greed corrupts the innocence of the human heart, a spiritual part of the inner conflict, symbolized through bad weather in Macbeth. In Act 2, scene 4, when the Old Man and Ross are discussing strange events, they notice that the dark has taken over the night:
By th' clock ’tis day,
And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp.
Is ’t night’s predominance or the day’s shame
That darkness does the face of Earth entomb
When living light should kiss it?

(2.4).

Ross has noticed that the day has been taken over by dark, and compares this to evil being strong and good being weak. By comparing the light and dark to evil and good, Shakespeare highlights how the goodness in humanity slowly fades because of the selfish acts of Macbeth. This use of symbolism reveals a corruption of the human heart and innocence purely because of greed.

Greed can also bring about a mental disorder, as symbolized through bad weather.

The human mind has been made for joy and peace, yet when acts of greed have been committed, the mind resorts to pain and depression as a consequence. Light and dark symbolize the mental storms that result in greed, as shown in Act 1 Scene 2. After a bloody battle, the Captain of Duncan's army begins to feel discomfort and sadness as he says, "Shipwracking storms and direful thunder break,/So from that spring whence comfort seemed to come/Discomfort

swells.”
Here, the captain speaks of comfort being misplaced with discomfort, something that occurs when ambitious and selfish actions are taken, such as fighting a battle. Shakespeare uses bad weather here to symbolize the discomfort brought to the soul due to greed and unhealthy ambition. Through the symbolization of light and dark, Shakespeare reveals the inner conflict that greed can cast upon the soul and mind.
Hallucinations also symbolize the exploitation of the mind and soul.

Mental instability can also be brought about by greed and ambition, as shown through hallucinations in Act 2, scene 1. When Macbeth considers murdering Duncan, he sees a floating dagger that points him in the direction of the sleeping king's room, and questions the dagger to be real or just a “dagger of the mind, a false creation/ Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain” (2.1). This hallucination of the bloody dagger and Macbeth's uncertainty of what he really sees, symbolizes an instability of the mind. His thoughts of greed and ambition have led to this point of aberration. While hallucinations symbolize the instability of the mind, they also make evident that guilt can be another reoccurring spiritual consequence of greed, as shown in Act 3, scene 4 when Macbeth sees Banquo's ghost. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are holding a banquet after the secret murdering of Banquo, when Macbeth suddenly sees an apparition of Banquo's ghost, which turns out only to be a hallucination. After the strange behavior Macbeth has exhibited, LadyMacbeth asks, "What, quite unmann'd in folly?", hearing Macbeth reply, "If I stand here, I saw him" (3.4). This hallucination that Macbeth sees symbolizes the guilt stained on his soul because of the crime he committed out of greed. Shakespeare uses the symbolism of hallucinations to reveal the instability and guilt that acts of selfishness inflict upon the soul and

mind.
Throughout Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, the reoccurring symbolism of blood, hallucinations, and bad weather emphasize the theme on the consequences of greed. With these three symbols, Shakespeare reveals greed's corruptive power on the soul and mind, warning the audience to stay away from ambition and selfish ways.