To understand the tragic events of Macbeth, one must be free of the 7 deadly sins: gluttony, sloth, lust, pride, greed, envy and wrath; so that their perception of the world and themselves has not been influenced. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the protagonist Macbeth’s deadly sins are hidden away from his eyes and change the course of his life. However Macbeth is given the opportunity to identify these flaws within himself. Macbeth achieves his goal of being king, but rules over an unstable country. A society and its ruler cannot be stable if control is pursued through greed wrath and pride, which work together to effectively increase in power and evilness.
As Macbeth pursues the crown, the audience and characters confuse Macbeth’s greed for ambition.
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Due to its great disguise, Macbeth allows this flaw to grow and take control over his actions and thoughts. Macbeth’s greed first appears following the delivery of the prophecies as he questions why it is he “yield to that suggestion/ Whose horrid image doth unfix [his] hair/ And make [his] seated heart knock at [his] ribs,/ Against the use of nature” (I.iii.138-141). Macbeth does not know whether the prophecies are good or bad and questions why he has thoughts about killing Duncan, whom he loves so greatly. His greed suggests for him to commit crimes that he himself would be too afraid to think of. He begins to question his thoughts and has “no spur/ To prick the sides of [his] intent, but only / Vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself/ And falls on th’other” (I.vii. 25 – 28). Macbeth realises that he has no reason to want to kill Duncan, only a desire for power greater than his intrinsic limits. This failure to identify this ambition as greed foreshadows his fate where greed will mark the end. It grows in strength and power until Macbeth chooses to act without thought declaring that “The very firstlings of my heart shall be/ The firstlings of my hand. And even now, / To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and done:/ The castle of Macduff I will surprise,” ( IV.i.153 – 157 ). Macbeth commits the deeds, that he previously was too scared to speak of, without hesitation. To remain in power, he cannot feel guilty for his actions. The horrific death of Macduff’s family represents the distress that Macbeth also puts on his corrupt nation. Greed takes control of Macbeth to the point where the audience can no longer determine if he is in control of himself. Macbeth was not able to identify his flaw and now has no means of stopping it. He will continue to act ignoring the consequences Macbeth will fall victim to himself as his greed fuels his wrath. The wrath that eliminates Macbeth’s guilt is hidden deeply within him.
It is not anger or murder, but an irrational and blind rage that lashes out uncontrolled. Macbeth’s wrathful actions remain hidden but are evident when the seemingly innocent warrior who was hesitant to kill the King completes the task horrifically. Duncan lay dead “His silver skin laced with his golden blood,/ And his gashed stabs looked like a breach in nature“( ). Macbeth is not who he seems to be, he hides his true desires; there is a fire within him that grows rapidly. Duncan’s body symbolizes the state of the country, unnatural and ‘each new day a gash added to her wounds’. Macbeth continues to be angered that “ For Banquo’s issue have I filed my mind;/ For them the gracious Duncan have I murdered;/ Put rancors in the vessel of my peace” \( ). Macbeth apprehends that he has killed his peace of mind only for Banquo to take his throne. Macebth feels ‘cabined, cribbed, and confined’, restricted by his guilt that seems to be for nothing. Macbeth wrathful intentions are more than his state of mind, but also the state of the kingdom he has neglected. Even after the death of Banquo, his good friend, the guilt is only momentary because wrath quickly takes its place. His epiphany fuels the fire that is already within him. With wrath shading guilt, there seems to be no possible way to halt the growth of wickedness and pride within …show more content…
Macbeth. Pride gives Macbeth a false sense of security and blinds him, he does not know what he is doing or what is going on.
Pride hides within status where it walks the thin line separating it from confidence. At first, he is prideful of his relationship with his wife, and his prophecies. He communicates to his “ dearest partner of greatness, that thou might’st not lose the dues of rejoicing, by being ignorant of what greatness is promised thee.” ( ) his greed is hidden as excitement. Macbeth’s pursuit for the crown driven by his greed in order to increase his own sense of pride. However, he later has an epiphany that “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” ( ). Macbeth realises that his life is an illusion and that he has been blinded by his pride. He uses a metaphor to conclude that life is short, like an actor that doesn’t have enough time on stage, and that in reality he is just an idiot who has created noise and destruction all for it to amount to nothing. He disrupted the kingdom, killed his friends and became paranoid only to be left to the company of pride, greed and wrath. In Macbeth’s remarkable last words “ “I will not yield,/ To kiss the ground before young Malcolm’s feet,/ And to be baited with the rabble’s curse./ Though Birnam Wood be come to Dunsinane,/ And thou opposed, being of no woman born,/ Yet I will
try the last” he manages to recover his pride as a man and a warrior and shows the audience that he had the strength within him to fight against his fatal flaws. He eliminates the shame and humiliation of his life, but there is no more evil that can fill him. He realises the poor tactics in his own pursuit for power. Macbeth lites a fire as he gains control of Scotland and burns down the country, but later realized that the fire inside of him is not physical and could not burn birnam wood as it rolled up the mountains. His greed, wrath and pride made ‘strong themselves by ill’ and got him a kingdom so corrupt he does not have power to control. His kingdom had been burned by his deadly sins which he failed to identify. His mind was full of scorpions that made him, the highest angel, fall. Without sight, guilt and control of himself, macbeth was not ‘ fit to govern, or even live.’
Yet, Macbeth time and again interprets his guilt as a sign of cowardice and moves on to spill more blood to consolidate his hold over an ill-gotten throne. The torment and anguish inherent in these lines that are imbued with the seeds of guilt eventually metamorphose into a full blown sense of guilt and shame that continues to torment his soul. As the play progresses, the consequences of Macbeth’s deep seated guilt assume such gargantuan and vivid proportions that they actually get personified as the apparition of Banquo that materializes before Macbeth, as he sits amidst the most exalted of Scotland .... ... middle of paper ...
Shakespeare's Macbeth is a heroic tragedy that shows the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition for those who seek power for its own sake. These psychological effects can be seen in many characters, but are most clearly displayed in the main character Macbeth. Macbeth begins the play as a noble and stable character- a loyal husband, subject, and the Thane of Glamis. However, as Macbeth receives more power and becomes more ambitious, he loses his mental stability. Macbeth’s mind deteriorates from his strong ambition, his guilt of killing, and the paranoia that comes of power. You can also see Macbeth’s mind deteriorate by examining his visions, attitude toward fear and death, and how
He no longer is the innocent soldier he once way, he now has “unclean hands”. Lady Macbeth however, assumes his innocence. She claims she cannot murder Duncan herself because Duncan looks to much like her sleeping father. She is all words and no actions. Macbeth is devoid of any human emotions as the play goes on, and Lady Macbeth assumes the emotional role. Lady Macbeth begins to have dreams in which she cannot get the blood off her hands, and ultimately commits suicide from guilt of her actions. This breakdown of Lady Macbeth really highlights how inhuman the murder of Duncan has made Macbeth.
Macbeth begins on a bloody note: a battle rages from which Banquo and Macbeth survive bloodied, but heroes. They are the generals of Scotland; the country’s future is in their hands and in their blades. However, when one clutches once to such power, it is hard to let go. Macbeth cannot let go. Macbeth also ends on a bloody note: Macbeth’s head is cut off and presented to Malcolm, his replacement. Peace is restored through war; bloody injustice is righted finally with bloody justice. What falls between these two notes—the beginning and end of the tragedy—is a symphony of treachery, deceit, and murder. The images of nature gone awry spread all through the play—from the gardens that have turned to weeds to the horses that have turned to cannibalizing each other—for murder of one’s king is so unnatural that the entire landscape, all that is natural, is affected. Macbeth, by killing Duncan, is himself made an enemy of nature. Macbeth murders sleep, the ultimate embodiment of peace and nature, when he murders Duncan. However, the title character is not as evil as is first suggested; Macbeth is only led to his evil deeds by those who surround him. Macbeth’s only crime may be that he is weak minded and afraid. Macbeth was lured and cajoled into his mistakes by his wife and the weird sisters.
William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a tragedy in which the main characters are obsessed by the desire for power. Macbeth’s aspiration for power blinds him to the ethical implications of his dreadful acts. The more that Shakespeare’s Macbeth represses his murderous feelings, the more he is haunted by them. By analyzing his hallucinations it is possible to trace his deteriorating mental state and the trajectory of his ultimate fall. Throughout the play Macbeth is never satisfied with himself. He feels the need to keep committing crime in order to keep what he wants most: his kingship. The harder Macbeth tries to change his fate the more he tends to run into his fate. His ambition and struggle for power was Macbeth’s tragic flaw in the play. Macbeth’s rise to the throne was brought about by the same external forces that ensure his downfall.
William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a play centred around opposing forces trying to gain power in the succession for the throne of Scotland. Macbeth, in the beginning, is known to be a noble and strong willed man, who is ready to fight for his country. However, one may see that Macbeth has a darker side to him, he is power hungry and blood thirsty, and will not stop until he has secured his spot as King of Scotland. Though Macbeth may be a tyrant, he is very nave, gullible, and vulnerable.
Macbeth’s ambition to obtain power convinces him that it is his destiny to become King of Scotland, and that he should do anything to fulfill that destiny, even if it involves him committing tremendously immoral acts such as murder. After Macbeth realizes that the witches may actually speak the truth due to the second prophecy (Thane of Cawdor) becoming true, he begins to have an eerie and frightening thought of him killing his king and friend, Duncan, in order to ac...
The character Macbeth in the story of Shakespeare’s Macbeth faces decisions that affect his morals. He begins as an innocent soul, dedicated to serve his kingdom and its king, Duncan. As time passes and opportunities present themselves combined with the deception of the evil witches, Macbeth begins his descent into madness. Macbeth’s innocence and loyalty are completely corrupted due to his over confidence, guilty conscience, and the inevitability of human nature. Macbeth looses sight of what is morally right to do in life because his logical choices are changed by these factors.
William Shakespeare's play Macbeth is a five-act drama that shows a clear example of how pride, greed, and power can alter a man's actions and personality. The taste of power blinds the story's main character, Macbeth. Sparked by Lady Macbeth, he becomes heartless and cruel as he kills anyone who is a threat to his power due to his paranoia of losing the throne. This fear ironically leads to his downfall and loss of the throne. The theme of the story is deceit and evil and how they affect a man's decisions.
Based on the text it states, “And, on thy blade and dudgeon, gouts of blood, Which was not so before. There’s no such thing. It is the bloody business which informs Thus to mine eyes. Now o’er the one-half world Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse…..I have done the deed.” This illustrates that Macbeth went through with the plan his wife cameup with. He killed King Duncan so he could become King. His ambition caused him to take part and do a bad action such as killing Duncan. The killing and wrong doings don't stop there however. Macbeth’s ambition pushes him to the limit. Macbeth then kills his close friend Banquo and attempted to kill Banquo’s son, based on fears that Banquo’s son will become king. Macbeth brings forth murderers and states, “ Know That it was he, in the times past, which held you So under fortune, which you thought had been Our innocent self…. So is he mine, and in such bloody distance That every minute of his being thrusts Against my near’st of life. And though I could With barefaced power sweep him from my sight.” Macbeth deceives the Murderers and tells them that Banquo is to blame for their misfortune. He then convinces them that Banquo is the enemy and he must be killed. Macbeth also tells them, “The moment on ’t, for ’t must be done tonight….Fleance, his son, that keeps
Macbeth, one of the darkest and most powerful plays written by Shakespeare, dramatizes the disastrous psychological effects that occur when evil is chosen to fulfill the ambition for power. Throughout the play, Macbeth’s character loses mental stability and becomes enthralled with the idea of being king. Empowered by the three witches, this situation consumes Macbeth’s consciousness until his mental state becomes deranged. This mental deterioration is evident in what he says and does as he evolves into a tyrannical ruler attempting to protect himself from enmity and suspicion. In an attempt to fulfill his ambition for power, Macbeth displays mental deterioration and becomes increasingly bloodthirsty.
Perhaps the most fundamental theme of Shakespeare’s Macbeth is the inherent corruptibility of even a seemingly good man when ambition turns to greed, and Macbeth himself exemplifies this concept throughout the play. While at the outset he is seen to be loyal to his king, generally considered trustworthy, and displaying numerous other laudable qualities, Macbeth ultimately succumbs to the influence of those around him and becomes unequivocally evil, setting aside all his previously held morals and coming to be driven only by his lust for power. This transition is brought about by a wide variety of factors and plays an integral role in the development of the plot. In his tragedy Macbeth, William Shakespeare employs
Macbeth’s blind ambition leads him to surrender to his dark desires that taunt him throughout the play. Macbeth is frequently tempted to result to the wrongful methods that seem to roam inside of him. In the beginning however Macbeth tends to ignore these desires and depends on chance. He declares “if chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, without my stir” (Shakespeare, act 1, scene 3, 143-144). This declaration by Macbeth shows his initial stand, which is reliant on fate and sin free. Yet as Macbeth’s character develops throughout the play, he moves farther from his dependence on chance and closer to his darker desires. Eventually his blind ambition to become king overp...
Macbeth further reinforces his evil nature as he acts surprised and outraged after Duncan’s death (II, iii, 107 – 109). Macbeth, instead of listening to his conscience, suppresses his guilt and continues with his ambition. This proves his vaulting ambition and how it has taken over Macbeth. Macbeth continues to murder Banquo and does so out of fear of losing the throne.
Macbeth, who at the beginning of his play’s plot is in a position of some honor and power, obtains position as king of Scotland through secretive foul play, spurred on by some external manipulation as well as personal ambition. “Macbeth’s ambition is unchecked by both moral and legal considerations-he will stop at nothing to get what he desires… Macbeth’s unbridled ambition is the root of the play’s evil because he is willing to throw the world into chaos in order to satisfy his personal desires.” (Thrasher, 92). His rebellion is heinous, but so long undiscovered. His ambition, though present in some degree from the beginning, metastasizes within him through the play as more obstacles to his retention of royal status crop up. “He begins well…but this...