Throughout History, greed has exhibited a capacity of good and evil. The story begins as a respected and loyal hero of Scotland during the middle ages takes a turn for the worse. Greed causes him to make sinister decisions, violence made him hated by the community, and hallucinations made him become sickened. “Macbeth and another of the king’s general’s, Banquo, encounters three witches, who greet Macbeth as thane of Glamis, thane of Cawdor, and future king”( Dominic, Catherine C., Ed “Shakespeare’s Characters for Students New York: Gale, 1997 Print). This is when the evil thoughts of greed nature begin within Macbeth. “All hail, Macbeth, that shalt to be king hereafter” (Shakespeare, William 1.2 62-64). The three witches predict Macbeth …show more content…
will be king and he believes them “Macbeth lets his ambition supersede his own judgment” (Dominic 252).
He mentions his reasons why he should not kill Duncan. “Macbeth teaches us not only that power corrupts, but also that knowledge corrupts: bad thoughts lead to bad deeds” (Curran 392). . Lady Macbeth acts as Macbeth superior while the murder of Duncan occurs. “After he is crowned, he is driven to protect what he has gained by ordering the deaths of anyone who he considers to be a threat” (Dominic 252). Lady Macbeth and the witches are all influential factors in the committing of Macbeth murdering Duncan. “Lady Macbeth appeals to her husband’s sense of manhood, and in effect, some maintain use seduction and humiliation to convince him to commit the murders” (Dominic 251). She questions Macbeth’s love for her; she questions Macbeth’s masculinity and criticizes his desire to be king. “While violence is an integral part of this warrior society, Macbeth’s use of it off the battlefield to further his personal ambition” (Dominic 252). Macbeth is an extremely violent man and you can see this throughout the play. A quote that exemplifies his violence, “I am in blood stepp’d in so far, that, should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o’ver”( Shakespeare, William 3.4 36-39). Macbeth is stating that there is nowhere left to
turn. He is forced to stand ground, since he has murdered Duncan. “Violence is the heart and soul of Macbeth” (Cohen 55). Violence begins to completely consume the thoughts and actions of Macbeth. “Macbeth is a complex study of evil and its corrupting influence on humanity” (Scott, Mark W., ed. Shakespeare for Students. Washington, D.C. 1992 Print). Bloodshed is rampant and acts of violence dominate the play. “Unsex me here, and fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full of direst cruelty! Make my thick blood, stop up th’access and passage to remorse” […] (Shakespeare, William 1.5 40-42). She wants nature to strip her of everything that makes her a woman so she could build the courage to murder. “The drama has arrived at a world without them, world entirely under the control of men of violence in which women have no natural place (Cohen 55). This cruel harsh world is no place for a woman. “Banquo’s ghost appears at Macbeth’s banquet scene and it’s only seen by Macbeth. It is commonly held that the ghost is a hallucination, conjured, from Macbeth’s guilt” (Dominic 254). Banquo’s ghost reminds him that he has murdered a former friend. Macbeth feels guilty for murdering his friend, but he will do anything to keep people out of his way of becoming king. “Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible to feeling as to sight? Or art thou but a dagger of the mind, a false creation, proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain? (Shakespeare, William 2.1 36-39). Macbeth does not believe that the floating dagger is real. The dagger is covered with blood facing the king’s chamber. It’s pretty clear that something bad is going to happen. “It catalyzes Macbeth’s consciousness of his own criminality and at the same time teeters playfully on the frontier between idea and object (Curran 393). Lady Macbeth also gives into the hallucinations and visions. “Out damned spot! Out, I say!”(Shakespeare, William 5.1 30-35). As though she sleepwalks, she believes her hands are covered with blood that cannot be washed away no matter how hard she tries. “Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?” (Shakespeare 30-35). When Lady Macbeth makes that statement it is quite obvious she feels guilty. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth slowly slip into madness, and the hallucinations and visions they see show us this.
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.
The aspect of greed shows itself as the heart of the many immoral acts committed by fictional characters and real people. From Adam and Eve’s betrayal to Macbeth’s collapse portrays what greed can produce as a result: destruction. Whether it destroys one’s health, it inherently portrays as a force to the path of corruption. The Pardoner, from The Canterbury Tales, defines greed’s purpose. This includes how greed pulls them to degeneration. No matter how subtle the fall, it still brings to distasteful events for the characters from The Importance of Being Earnest. Although the characters differ, their obsessions with their immoral acts decline their personalities. Thus, the authors portray the characters’ greed, as a pernicious force that drives
He doesn't want to commit these murders, but Lady Macbeth calls out his manliness. Lady Macbeth wants to be in power more than her husband and continues to push Macbeth until he will follow through with the prophecy. This is still Macbeth's fault because he never had to murder Duncan and start this time of horror. This is also the same time when Macbeth says "Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor Shall sleep no more.... ... middle of paper ...
The choices people make lead them to where they end up, which may be interpreted as the opposite of fate. However, when some people believe something is meant to be, they are determined not to stray from where they think they should end up, even if it means throwing away their principles and values in the process. Through Shakespeare's Tragedy of Macbeth, Macbeth’s original character and values are destroyed because of the influence from the witches' prophecies, Lady Macbeth's greed, and his own hidden ambition.
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a famous play written by the English playwright William Shakespeare. The play was written in 1606 during the reign of James I. The play talks about how a military general, Macbeth, rises to power after killing King Duncan. The Story revolves around how Macbeth’s actions change after he heard the prophecies from the 3 witches. Greed becomes Macbeth’s guide after he listens to the witches, and since he wasn’t fully content with his given position, he is easily manipulated by his wife. The central question to this play is to what extent power (or the lack of power) affects individuals and/or relationships. And how do the decisions and actions of people reveal their personalities? .
This shows that he really didn't want to kill Duncan, but he did it in order to prove himself to Lady Macbeth, and to become the king. By the end he had no fear, and had killed not only Duncan but also many other people. He now had different views from which he had in the beginning of the play. Macbeth realizes that he is no longer afraid "no, nor more fearful. (Act V, scene vii, l 9). He is now considered a man, but he doesn't like the fact that he has killed all these people.
When making the decision to kill Duncan, Macbeth weighed his options heavily. He states that he does not want to kill Duncan because “we but teach/ Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return/ To plague th’ inventor” (1.7.7-10).
The tragedy Macbeth by William Shakespeare is based on a thane in whom is corrupted by greed and a negative ambition. The character Macbeth contradicts his moral responsibility in this play a great deal; many moral questions are brought forth to Macbeth. He questions himself and whether or not he should follow through with the evil deeds that he does. Macbeths ambition causes him to compromise his honour, he doesn’t take into consideration that he is being trusted and that every action that he takes will have a reaction. Macbeth attains his position as king unjustly. As is evident by the conclusion, justice prevails as usual and Macbeths demise is a result of his evil deeds.
The play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare illustrates how greed for power and wealth can result in the destruction of oneself as well as others. The play's central character, Macbeth is not happy as a high-ranking thane - leading him to assassinate Duncan to become King, while unknowingly dooming himself. Throughout the play many examples are evident of Macbeth's unquenchable thirst for power.
Furthermore, Macbeth cannot escape punishment if he fails. We see Lady Macbeth's persuasiveness producing a new courage in her husband, and that courage is manly enough to perform murder. Therefore, Macbeth has no reason for murdering Duncan except for his "vaulting ambition," his lust for power. Throughout the play we see Lady Macbeth's and Macbeth's conscience, or lack of, change places. Macbeth transformed from having a guilt-ridden conscience to having no conscience what so ever.
Duncan is the most unlikely character to be killed because of his personality, but his title as King of Scotland, causes for Macbeth to loathe Duncan. In the play there is very little interaction between Macbeth and Duncan, showing the little time in which Macbeth gets more power. Prior to the witches’ prophecies Macbeth is loyal to Duncan, and would never imagine killing him. After the one of the witches’ prophecies comes to be true, the thought of killing Duncan, Macbeth "yield[s] to that suggestion / whose horrid image doth unfix my hair / and make my seated heart knock at my ribs" (1.3.146-148). Partly because of Lady Macbeth’s suggestion his "vaulting ambition" is starting to take over, and he begins to take into consideration killing Duncan, to become king. Macbeth however, does not feel comfortable in killing Macbeth, giving himself reasons why not to kill Duncan: “First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, Strong both against the deed; then, as his host, Who should against his murderer shut the door, Not bear the knife myself,” (I, vii, 13-16) Lady Macbeth, convinces Macbeth, that killing Duncan is the right thing to do until right before he performs the murder. We learn from this murder that Macbeth truly had faith in the king and was very loyal, but knowing that one day he would become king, his ambition and the persuasion of Lady Macbeth, causes him to perform the act, that he will regret. This murder changes Macbeth as a person, however, and he soon feels little regret for killing King Duncan, but this act will soon aid in his downfall.
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 shows how greed and ambition can bring down a person as well as others and how the changes of power occur because of loyalty and betrayal. Macbeth is the play’s main unhappy character. The play tells of Macbeth's greedy thirst for power is a dangerous trait.
In Lady Macbeth‚s eyes if Macbeth did not kill Duncan than he would not be a man to her anymore, she believes that he would be denying all urges for greater wealth and prosperity that man should have. She is wondering why he is not taking the opportunity to be king when he can easily do so, in reality, we know why Macbeth is contemplating the murder of Macbeth, because he has morals, qualities that we consider manly today.
In Act 1, Scene 7 of this play, MacBeth begins a monologue. In this soliloquy, the character shows, as Shakespeare’s characters are known to, a human truth: he is conflicted with morals of killing his king; the mind’s battle between personal want and acting ethically. He states an ethical appeal to himself, saying, “First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, Strong both against the deed,” meaning that he should act as a dutiful subject and not slaughter his good king. MacBeth is aware that his only motivation to kill the king is his ambition, and that ambition drives people to disaster. At the end of MacBeth’s monologue, he had chosen not to kill King Duncan, and shares his decision with his wife Lady Macbeth once she enters.