Macbeth is a Shakespearean tragedy that teaches readers about ambition and greed which resulted in tragedy. The play features many interesting scenes, references to the unknown, and several interesting characters. In 1998, a film was made from Sam Raimi based on a book of the same name, called A Simple Plan. Although the plots are not the same, characters and setting are very similar. The main idea of A Simple Plan illustrates important similarities to Macbeth. The characters have similar feelings, and experience equal losses.
Lady Macbeth and Sarah have strong ambitions by creating plans to gain their objectives before their husbands can anticipate their plans. For example, during the scene where Lady Macbeth reads Macbeth’s letter, it says that the witches gave Macbeth the prophecy he would be king. Lady Macbeth does not hesitate any further to tell Macbeth to kill Duncan: “The Raven himself is hoarse / That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan / Under my battlements” This quote can be seen in Scene 1, Act 38-40. As she learns that Macbeth asks the “stars” to hide his desires, Lady Macbeth asks the spirits to give her strength by giving her manly cruelty
“Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of the direst cruelty. Act 1, Scene 40-43
She is clearly willing to do whatever is necessary to become queen.As soon as Macbeth notifies her that King Duncan will come to their castle that night, she tells him that tonight’s event will be all under her control.
“and you shall put
This night’s great business into my dispatch,
Which shall to all our nights and days to come
Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.” Act 1, Scene 5
The conversation shows that Lady...
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...cause they want the 40 million dollars safe. Hank’s greed was so strong, he didn’t hesitate in killing the old man Jacob failed to kill, because he would do anything to protect his 40 million dollars like Macbeth protecting his throne. Hank was able to manipulate his friend Jacob to killing his other friend, Lou and then killing Hank killing Jacob.
there is a strong resemblance between the Raimi film, A simple Plan, and Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The plot suggests important similarities to that of the play. The characters, while fewer of them, have similar feelings, and experience equal losses. The play features many of the unexpectables, references to the supernatural, interesting characters and is set in eerie Scotland. Macbeth is a Shakespearean tragedy that tells a tale of ambition and greed which resulted in Macbeth’s downfall, and is similar to A simple Plan.
Macbeth and “A Simple Plan” are both unique stories with different plots however; these two sources have a common topic of greed. In addition, the stories both portray the theme in similar situations. They both have a greedy family, murders and an ambition for power. To achieve this ambition, they show greediness when they are revealed to power, support cruel deeds and commit multiple murders of love ones.
It is a common stereotype that men are stronger than women. That is however, neither true in Macbeth nor “A Simple Plan”. Macbeth and “A Simple Plan” are similar in the aspect of manipulative women who forced their husbands to betray, lie, and murder.
Lady Macbeth shows more ambition then Macbeth does in terms of gaining power regarding kingship. When Macbeth finds out about the witches’ predictions and the first two coming true “Glamis, and thane of Cawdor: The greatest is behind” (1.3.124-125) meaning that he got a taste of power, making him thane of Glamis and thane of Cawdor making him more ambitious for the power to become king. Proving that he will do anything for power he decides that he is going to murder Duncan. When Lady Macbeth receives the letter from Macbeth learning about the witches’ predictions and that two of them came true already, she becomes very ambitious towards gaining power. She doesn’t believe that Macbeth will murder Duncan, so she makes a plan for the murder.
Macbeth's desire to become king is strongly supported by his wife, Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is a highly ambitious woman who, like her husband, is willing to do anything to obtain power. Shakespeare uses a series of imagery to vividly portray the desire for power in Lady Macbeth's soliloquy: “Come, you spirits/That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,/And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full/Of direst cruelty!” To achieve her ambition, Lady Macbeth urges Macbeth “to catch the nearest way.” This means she wants him to kill Duncan so that he can become king. However, she fears that Macbeth is “too full o' th' milk of human kindness” to “catch the nearest way.” When Macbeth is reluctant to kill Duncan, Lady Macbeth starts attacking his masculinity. “Then you were a man,” she said. Lady Macbeth also uses the power of emotional blackmail to manipulate Macbeth into killing Duncan.
When the play first opens we hear 3 strange witches standing in a field while it is thunder and lightening. They begin to chant spells and talk about their meeting with Macbeth as they vanish into thin air.
In Macbeth, Shakespeare illustrates Lady Macbeth’s lust for power to become queen in her soliloquy when she first learns of the witch’s prophecy. Lady Macbeth says, “The raven himself is hoarse/ That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan/Under my battlements. Come, you spirits/ That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, / And fill me from the crown
While speaking to herself, Lady Macbeth contemplates how she will convince Macbeth to agree to kill King Duncan. She urges Macbeth to hurry home so that she can “pour [her] spirits in [his] ear/And chastise with the valor of [her] tongue” (1.5.29-30). Lady Macbeth implies that her speech is honorable and just, and that she will be able to hold persuasive power over Macbeth and use it to their collective advantage in their rise to power. Her confidence in both the high caliber of her words and being able to convince Macbeth to follow through with her plan underscores her cruel ability to lure someone to murder another, as well as her bold resolve to successfully murder Duncan. Later, after a messenger arrives and tells Lady Macbeth that King Duncan will be arriving soon at the castle, she speaks of Duncan’s foreboding future; a “the fatal entrance…under [her] battlements” (Act, Page number, Line). The tone of finality in which Lady Macbeth describes the king’s arrival implies not only that Lady Macbeth already has full confidence that her deadly scheme will succeed,but also in the case that her strategic plan fails, she will persevere to ensure that Duncan does not leave her castle walls alive. Lastly, at the conclusion of her soliloquy, Lady Macbeth claims once she sees Macbeth that she “feel(s) now/The future in the instant” (1.6.64-65).
The first time Lady Macbeth appears on stage, she is reading Macbeth’s letter, which shows her desire to become Queen of Scotland. Lady Macbeth reads, “This have I thought good to deliver thee, my dearest partner of greatness; that thou mightst not lose the dues of rejoicing, by being ignorant of what greatness is promised thee” (I.5.10-13). This portion of her husband’s letter shows she has trained him to report the important events that occur while he is away. At this moment, she decides that quick action will be the basis of her reasoning and planning. Her spur-of-the-moment orders will affect Macbeth so deeply that his character will be forever changed. Lady Macbeth intentionally tries to ignore consequence and concentrates on securing Macbeth’s future as king of Scotland. She looks to the quickest way as one that may lack rationality, but shortens their path to the throne.
Macbeth is a well known, famous story by William Shakespeare which is about the tragedy of ambition and how it destroys Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Both are forever damned to a state of fearful awareness, and insomnia as a result of murdering King Duncan. This sets off an unstoppable chain of events which ends in Macbeth himself being killed and Lady Macbeth committing suicide. In the play the lack of sleep becomes fatal, as a result of the murder they committed, and the awareness is terrifying because of the continuous agony of recurring nightmares of their deeds.
Macbeth a play written by William Shakespeare in the 17th century shows the unexpected happens when it is least expected. In the beginning of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is stronger and more ruthless then her husband Macbeth because her only interested in gaining power. She plans and executes a death with little remorse. Macbeth is soft, kind, loyal and initially has a conscience. Over time, Macbeth's character takes a turn for the worse. He goes from the scared man that he first was into an evil man. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth become the people that the reader least expects them to be. In the beginning of the play Lady Macbeth is much more ruthless but throughout the play this changes and Macbeth becomes even more ruthless then Lady Macbeth.
William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, first published in 1606, is an endearing tale outlining the dangers of unchecked ambition and moral betrayal. In the subsequent centuries after first being performed, Macbeths critics have been divided upon whether Macbeth himself was irrevocably evil, or if he was guided by the manipulation and actions of the women in the play to his ultimate demise. Although Lady Macbeth and the witches were influential with their provocations in the opening acts, it is ultimately Macbeth’s inherent immorality and his vaulting ambition, that result in the tragic downfall. It was Macbeth’s desire for power that abolished his loyalty and trustworthiness and led him down a path of murder. It is evident through his actions and words
William Shakespeare once stated, “Temptation is the fire that brings up the scum of the heart.”(William Shakespeare) Although slightly bleak, many works of art have this similar idea. Through this, similarities are found concerning aspects of each work. Differences occur in the protagonist’s own personal journey on the path of temptation. Undeniably, this parallel is found within William Shakespeare’s own infamous play, Macbeth and the two-time Oscar- winning film, A Simple Plan. Macbeth is fighting for the honor of kingship even though he is not liable to inherit the crown and only becomes acquainted with the idea through a prophecy of three witches. Hank Mitchell, the protagonist of the movie, is presented with 4.4 million dollars in an abandoned plane that he and his friends are first to find. The journeys of both Hank and Macbeth follow a similar plotline that deal with character changes, conflicts confronted and a tragic outcome which seem to root from the pull of temptation.
Macbeth rejects conformation to traditional gender roles in its portrayal of Lady Macbeth’s relationship with her husband, her morals and their effect on her actions, and her hunger for power. Her regard for Macbeth is one of low respect and beratement, an uncommon and most likely socially unacceptable attitude for a wife to have towards her spouse at the time. She often ignores morality and acts for the benefit of her husband, and subsequently herself. She is also very power-hungry and lets nothing stand in the way of her success. Lady Macbeth was a character which challenged expectations of women and feminism when it was written in the seventeenth century.
In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Lady Macbeth’s desire and ambition lead to her eventual downfall. When Lady Macbeth hears of Macbeth’s prophecy, she dreams of the glory and high-standing that awaits being queen. She cannot withhold her ambitions, and she is willing to manipulate fate to bring about Macbeth’s prophecy. She invokes evil spirits to be filled from head to toe with cruelty to do the evil actions necessary to make Macbeth king and to remove all remorse and pity for her action from her heart.
In conclusion, Macbeth directly focuses on the universal and powerful themes of ambition and insanity. These themes are considered most confronting for audiences due to their unanimous relevance. Throughout the play audiences are encouraged to see that ambition should only be achieved through ability or good fortune, otherwise it will be the cause of disaster; in this case the cost of ambition was life.