Macbeth

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Macbeth is one of the greatest tragedies of all time. It begins with a prophecy of three Witches. An overanxious nobleman named Macbeth and his wife let greed and envy consume them and end up killing the king. The murder places Macbeth on the throne, which fulfills the earlier prophecy. The play takes a tragic turn and Macbeth is killed, but only after he and his wife both go mad.
Although some people may think Macbeth's plot is aged and unimportant, it still explains a large part of life in today's society. Greed, envy, and hate are all too familiar in the struggle for power even today. The problem with having power is that sometimes the person with the power is not the best person to be in that power. This point is very evident in the characters of Lady Macbeth, the Witches, and Macbeth.
Lady Macbeth is the perfect example of the powers of greed, envy, and hate. Lady Macbeth, like a lot of women today, wants her husband to be manly and prominent. Most women use their influence over their husbands in a subdued fashion. Lady Macbeth is very forward and aggressive about her power over Macbeth, which makes her begin to hate her own husband. Because of this, Macbeth is ashamed of himself and will do anything his wife asks of him. Lady Macbeth's spousal abuse is brought about by her envy of the King's social status and the fact that her husband is not the king. This is a very typical situation in a lot of relationships. Some women tend to abuse their power over their husbands to gain a higher social status or to simply get what they want out of the relationship. Although the abuse is not usually as extreme as
Macbeth's case, where murder takes place, it is still very common. The higher social status is also where her greed interferes. Even though she and Macbeth are some of the highest nobles in Scotland, Lady Macbeth is still not satisfied. Even in today's society greed in relationships plays a very major part, mostly in materialistic items such as social status and money.
The three Witches in the play hold the ultimate power over Macbeth. The Witches are seen as the devil, tempting and leading Macbeth into bad situations. If the Witches had never given Macbeth the idea that he would be king, then he never would have killed Duncan or began his steady decline.

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