William Shakespeare's Macbeth

William Shakespeare's Macbeth

In Act I, King Duncan is at the top of the chart of power, because he

has the most power being the king of Scotland, he is a good and kind

king, which holds legitimate and referent power. In Act I, Scene 2, he

announces his eldest son, Malcolm, as heir to the throne, after the

traitor, Macdonwald is captured.

During the battle to defeat the Thane of Cawdor, a traitor to

Scotland, we are introduced to Macbeth, a general in Duncan's army,

which holds the next highest power; he is the Thane of Glamis and also

Duncan's cousin. He is fighting along side his friend, another general

in Duncan's army, Banquo. After the fighting, the Weird Sisters decide

to pay Macbeth and Banquo a visit and tell them that Macbeth will soon

become the Thane of Cawdor, and then King. They also tell Banquo that

his sons will become king. Therefore, the Weird Sisters hold

information power over Macbeth and Banquo. Macbeth is confused and

also curious about their predictions.

The other noblemen of Scotland are Lennox, Angus, and Ross and King

Duncan also holds referent and legitimate power over them. Also Duncan

holds reward power over Macbeth, because when Macbeth has captured

Macdonwald, he rewarded Macbeth with Macdonwald's title as Thane of

Cawdor.

Although, at this time in history men had power over women, Lady

Macbeth and Macbeth are somewhat equal in power in different forms of

power. For, example Lady Macbeth holds expert power, because she can

manipulate Macbeth into doing her dirty deeds, and mock his power and

manliness and tempt him to prove to her he is strong. On the other

hand, Macbeth, being a man in that time holds legitimate power over

Lady Macbeth, because women were expected to stay home cook, clean,

and take care of the children. We can clearly see that Lady Macbeth

isn't one of these women; she is strong-willed and determined. The

more comments that she had made, the stronger she got. It made the

reader more horrified to listen to her true nature.