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Hierarchy as a Flawed System
“If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me”(1.3.157-159). Hierarchy wasn’t always bad, but in the case of “Macbeth”, leads to the death of many, and all for the fabled position of power, king. However, in history, it has proven to not be all that bad at times; with many great leaders like Alexander the Great having led his Country through many advances in civilisation. Throughout Macbeth, 3 kings are sworn in; that is insane, the time period is no longer than a year, yet power was transferred 3 times. Imagine if we changed Prime Ministers every few months; they don’t even hold as much power as a king. Duncan, Malcolm, Macbeth, Macbeth’s wife, the Witches (The Supernatural) and other all influence and play a part in the
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Many things are affected in “Macbeth” because of hierarchy, a man’s wife and child are killed, and people descend into madness; if the system was something like a democracy, the whole situation would have …show more content…
During the play, Lady Macbeth starts off as the “cheerleader chick” for Macbeth, egging him on, and supporting him through their twisted ambitions and conflicts. “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be What thou art promised. Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness To catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great, Art not without ambition, but without The illness should attend it”(1.5.5-8) Macbeth has ambitions and dreams, and with the help of the witches (The Supernatural), ideas start to form. In conjunction with Lady Macbeth’s idea’s for her husband’s eminence, create a deadly psychotic force that causes the initial (and most of the other) murders. This quote from the second half of Act 1, shows how Lady Macbeth is more than insane enough for the both of them, as Macbeth can’t muster up the will, and stomach, to do what they both plan to do,
We are first introduced to Lady Macbeth at the beginning of Act 1, scene 5, through the letter that Macbeth sends her. This shows her to be his, ‘dearest partner of greatness’ and that he has no secrets from her. The witches’ prophecies intensify her ambitions for her husband, to be the King of Scotland. Lady Macbeth is the one who encourages him to kill the king and she not only encourages him, she makes all the plans herself. We see how clever she is and how she understands her husband well, she knows he has great ambitions, but she also knows that he is honourable and mentally weak:
In the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth is overly whelmed by the letter she receives about Macbeth. This pushes her to the extreme and causes her to react outrageously. " Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here…make thick my blood…take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers…come thick night." (I;v;40-50) All these images of darkness and horror reveal the true character of Lady Macbeth; she feels the need to become wicked. Her attitude is even more horrific when she calls on evil spirits to come and possess her, taking control of her actions. This sort of behavior causes the audience and reader to assume Lady Macbeth is a psychopath, and therefore would have reason to hold her responsible for having a major impact on her husband and driving him off, enlightening a twisted sinister and threatening dark side of him.
At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is a trusted soldier, who is honest and noble. Unfortunately, he meets three witches who tell him three prophecies; that he will become thane of Cawdor, that he will become king and that Banquo’s sons will become kings. These three prophecies slowly change his opinions on life and turn him into a greedy, dishonest, tyrant, full of ambition. Lady Macbeth’s thoughts change as well when she is told about the three prophecies that were told to Macbeth. In the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth is ambitious, controlling and domineering. She is the one who encourages him to kill the king, she not only encourages him, she makes all the plans herself, which shows her determination and persistence."Yet I do fear thy nature, it is too full o’th milk of human kindness. To catch the nearest way thou wouldst be great. Art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it." (Act 1, scene 5). Lady Macbeth is the force behind Macbeth’s sudden ambition and she tries to manipulate him into feeling guilty and unmanly for not following through with the murder, by using her husbands emotions, she manages to convince Macbeth to murder Duncan.
Lady Macbeth takes the role of the dominant partner in the beginning of the play, by acting as the real power behind the throne. For example, it is easily recognized that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are opposite in many ways (Scott 236). He is weak, indecisive, and takes on the traditional female role of the marriage; she is strong, decisive, and takes on the traditional male role. One place in the play where Macbeth’s character is shown is Act I, Scene 5, Lines 15-17. She says, “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be / What thou art promis’d : yet do I fear thy nature / Is too full o’ the milk of human kindness.” This is just after Lady Macbeth receives the letter from Macbeth. It is also important to notice that when Macbeth’s first thoughts of killing Duncan appear, he is scared. After he commits the murder, Macbeth says, “To know my deed, ‘twere best not know myself ” ( 2. 2. 72 ). Knowing that he has committed such a vile act makes him uncomfortable. It will be difficult to act innocent and deal with his guilt.
From the first brief encounter of the witches, to the last nightmarish visions that Macbeth has, many close friends and relatives have died because of his visions with the supernatural. The death of his wife in Act V, Scene IV is the death that sends him over the abyss and into mental instability. Lady Macbeth is like a joined appendage to Macbeth. They work as one, communicate as one, and when that appendage is lost, so is MACBETH's grip with reality. Lady Macbeth was the only person he could truly confide in. The supernatural also had another key factor to her death. In the first act of the play, she calls on the powers of the supernatural to make her strong. The following quote, "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! make thick my blood, stop up the access and passage to remorse… Come to my woman's breasts, and take my milk for gall…", is possibly the most important passage that leads to Lady Macbeth's death. She calls on the evil spirits to "unsex" her, and to replace her "milk" with "gall". It seems that she wants to be the most cruelest being in the world. The theme of the life cycle is amplified in this situation because of her request to the spirits. This event is the beginning of the end for Lady Macbeth's life. She is the one who insists Macbeth should kill the king and reign as the king of Scotland. It is her ideas and plans that lead herself and Macbeth into the pits of hell. She is not solely to blame for this catastrophe though.
An idea such as power establishes itself in most societies throughout the world. Power sets the basis for order and civilization, but it also causes chaos and collides with other human instincts such as greed and ambition. Power presents itself in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth in a confusing manner. Macbeth yearns to gain power and has the means to gain it, but the method of his gaining of power have been questioned by critics since its inscription in 1623. Macbeth, while tyrannical in gaining his power in the murdering of Duncan, sets the premise of the story and in this murder makes a name for himself on his leadership qualities. A man’s gain of power should not determine who they are as a ruler or even
Lady Macbeth is a very 'crazy' character. She is blood thirsty and she will do anything she possibly can to gain power even if it means forever being cursed. Lady Macbeth is the farmer who planted the seed in Macbeth's head to become murderous and after that you couldn't stop him. She enters around the fifth scene of act 1 and her first impression is to kill her husband's best friend.
Written by William Shakespeare in 1611, Macbeth is a tragic tale that dramatizes the acquisition of power by Macbeth, a Scottish Lord who becomes King, and documents the effects newfound power has on morality and values. A recurring theme that is demonstrated throughout the play is the idea that a change in status, a gain or loss of power, can have substantial effects on a personals moral standing. This ideology is see in the transition of Macbeth from a subservient lord to a ruthless king that abuses his limitless power. For instance, in the beginning of the play, Macbeth states: “ “We will proceed no further in this business.””(1.7.32), referring to carrying out the plot to murder King Duncan. While, at the the climax of the play, Macbeth’s exercise and power know no limits, as scene in Act 3, “ “For mine own good/ All causes shall give way. I am in blood/ Stepped in so far, that I wade no more,/ Returning were as tedious as go o'er.””(3.4.167-170). During this scene, Macbeth has proclaimed that he has come too far to fall back and will continue to abuse his power. Regarding the citations, Macbeth’s shift in morality can be lucidly seen through his transformation from a subordinate lord to a power hungry tyrant with limitless power. Previous to his coronation, Macbeth was an obedient servant to the King, by way of contrast, after Macbeth
Shakespeare’s writing of Macbeth captivated his audience and kept them on the edge of their seats. Macbeth is a classic tale of greed and corruption. The more power a person has the more corrupted they become. They had to have what they did and more, it was never enough. They would do whatever it took to get what they wanted even if it meant killing the King of Scotland, just so they could have it all. Corruption controls and destroys lives and will turn you into a person that others don’t want to be around. It changed the lives of the people of Scotland and corruption still changes lives today. When a person is in power too long and the decisions they make directly conflict with others they don’t feel responsible for their actions. The facts remain, whether you prefer the truth or the captivating fiction, both stories of Macbeth will be remembered for years to
From the very beggining of the play, Shakespeare introduces the way the government is structured. The way the government is organized in Macbeth is as follows: the king stands at the top of the pyramid, later comes the nobles, or as they are refered as in the play, thanes, and below them goes the rest of the people. Shakespeare, of course, concentrates on demonstating how much power each person has and how the King is the one with the most authority. However, as the play proceeds, it is discovered that the nobles in fact hold more power than the King actually does. The reason for this would be that nobles are wealthy men that own land and can support the country economically, what in fact the King cannot do on his own. This aslo would explain
Macbeth chooses the wrong path to accomplish his ambition. Killing Duncan is wrong and he knows it but can’t help himself. An example for dominance of power in addition to Macbeth can be presented in Brian De Palma’s movie Scarface. Al Pacino as Tony Montana creates excessive wealth from distributing cocaine because he thrives for power. As the movie progresses, the drugs make him crazy and he kills more and more people who die in violence followed by the main character. Similarly, Macbeth’s ambition for power becomes his weakness which finally brings tragedy to his character. He is a tragic hero because he can’t seem to help himself even though in the beginning he was good and was a hero in Scotland. Similarly to Dr. Mathur, Faith Nostbakken argues that “The witches do not completely determine Macbeth’s actions. If they did, Macbeth would simply be a victim rather than a tragic figure who suffers the consequences of his own choices. As he wades deeper and deeper into his own darkness, pulling the kingdom down with him, the weird sisters spur Macbeth to his own corruption…In the service of evil rather than good, they equivocate in their prophecies, encouraging destructive behavior.” (Understanding Macbeth
In the play, Macbeth by William Shakespeare has a strong theme of power. Macbeth is a king who is given three predictions from three witches, one of which is that he will become king. The one problem is he doesn’t know what he has to do in order to become king. His wife then decides that in order for him to become king, he must kill the current king. This one murder then leads to others in order to cover the original murder up. Once Macbeth becomes king, he doesn’t want anything to change, he wants to stay king until he dies. He then begins to kill again, but instead of killing to cover something, he is killing anyone who stands in his way of staying king. Macbeth’s fate is affected by the personality trait of bravery, his ability to be manipulated, and his determination.
One of the most important themes in Macbeth involves the witches' statement in Act 1, Scene1 that "fair is foul and foul is fair." (Act 1, Scene 1, Line 10) This phrase aptly describes the macabre status quo within the character Macbeth and without. When Macbeth and Banquo first see the weird sisters, Banquo is horrified by their hideous appearances. Conversely, Macbeth immediately began to converse with these universally known evil creatures. After hearing their prophecies, one can say that Macbeth considered the witches to be "fair" when in reality their intentions were quite "foul." Macbeth's possession of the titles of Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor and King of Scotland came by foul means. Macbeth became the Thane of Glamis by his father Sinel's death; he became Thane of Cawdor when the former namesake was executed for treason; and he was ordained King of Scotland after murdering the venerable Duncan. Thus, Macbeth has a rather ghastly way of advancing in life.
In Shakespeare’s tragic play Macbeth, Shakespeare creates the ruthless character Macbeth, who is willing to go beyond any measure in order to attain the power of being king, including murder, deceit, betrayal and overpowering the chain of being. Macbeth was first tempted by the idea of kingship when three witches presented him with their portent of Macbeth becoming the next King of Scotland. Ebullient, Macbeth, immediately informed his wife of the news and they both pondered the thought of having the power to rule all of Scotland. Lady Macbeth, a power seeker herself, promptly schemed a plan to kill King Duncan in order for her and her husband to rule, displaying her ready ambition for power. Macbeth’s thirst for power ate away at his conscience
One of the most profound theme in Act lll of Shakespeare's Macbeth is, Power. Poster three shows Power with a suit and tie .The symbol of the tie is a dagger with blood dripping down, representing the blood of the King and Banquo. The suit represents that everything that Macbeth is doing is just for business and all of it has to with him to becoming king. Macbeth has not only killed King Duncan, but has now hired hitmen to kill his best friend Banquo and his two sons,who was next in line for the throne. Duncan is in fear that there is still threats of the throne being taken away from him from Banquo's sons after they fled for safety from the hitmen. He talks to Lady Macbeth about how he feels and how he wants to deliver his plan, and to