In play Macbeth, Shakespeare reveals that an individual’s great desire for power will lead him/her to perform consequential deeds that will scar his/her conscience and change the outcome of his/her life eternally. Macbeth is informed by three witches that he is going to become king and this initiates Macbeth’s thought of becoming powerful. Macbeth doesn’t act on his thoughts until he tells his wife, Lady Macbeth, that he could become king. Lady Macbeth is extremely power hungry and does all she can to convince Macbeth to be just as desirable as her. Together, they come up with a plan to murder King Duncan, so that Macbeth can become king like the witches foretold. Macbeth feels extremely guilty after he murders Duncan and feel as if the …show more content…
Macbeth needs to follow through with this plan because Fleance and Banquo could get in the way of Macbeth becoming King. The three witches had also foretold Banquo’s descendants to become king. Macbeth sends men to follow through with this plan. They succeed to kill Banquo, but Fleance escapes. After being responsible for the deaths of two people, Duncan and Banquo, Macbeth is in a state where he feels the need to keep murdering people that could possibly get in his way of becoming king. Macbeth exclaims his internal battle when planning for the death of Macduff: “I am in blood, Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more,” (3.4 141-143). When Macbeth says this he is expressing that he feels so far into this game of murder, and Shakespeare dramatically describes this as Macbeth figuratively, being in blood. Macbeth believes that he has “waded” so far into this blood that it would not make sense for him to stop, but to keep murdering anyone that could prevent him from becoming king. Macbeth and his men are not successful in killing Macduff, but do kill Macduff’s wife and son. Macbeth remains in a confident state, even as Macduff’s forces advance towards Macbeth’s estate. Macbeth doesn’t believe that he can be
In act III of William Shakespeare’s tragic play, Macbeth, Macbeth plans the murder of Banquo and his son, Fleance, outside the royal castle at Forres in order to end the prophecy of Banquo’s sons taking control of Macbeth’s newfound throne. Macbeth hired three murderers to do this deed, as he was not man enough to do it himself as Lady Macbeth had said time and time again, and was able to convince them to do this by making them believe that Banquo is their enemy. He reminded them, “that it was he [Banquo], in the times past, which held you so under fortune, which you thought had been our innocent self… Do you find your patience so predominant in your nature that you can let this go?” (Shakespeare 3.1.85)
In Macbeth, Macbeth follows King Duncan’s murder and betrayal with multiple dishonorable behaviours leading to his tragic ending. To illustrate, Macbeth kills his close companion, Banquo, soon after deceiving the king: “My lord, [Banquo’s] throat is cut. That I did for him” (3.4.18). The single act of betrayal causes Macbeth to believe that he can and must commit more immoral conducts in order to succeed. Macbeth becomes certain that he will face no coincidence for his actions after getting away with betraying his king.
Macbeth, three witches tell Macbeth that he will be King of Scotland which prompts Macbeth to devise a plan to kill the reigning King Duncan and claim the throne for himself. In act 1 scene 7, Macbeth hesitates with continuing the planned murder of Duncan, but Lady Macbeth successfully persuades him to carry it out. Shakespeare argues that ambition causes people to become greedy which leads them to commit evil acts. Lady Macbeth's determination to continue with the murder of King Duncan
Shakespeare has written numerous famous plays, MacBeth being one of his darkest plays, touching up on the topic of the thought that power sometimes leads to corruption, and how it can manipulate someone’s thoughts and actions, bringing them to do things they thought they never would. In MacBeth, there are many examples of MacBeth trying anything to gain power, even if the guilt will eat him alive. In the beginning, the Three Weird Sisters know of a prophecy allegedly saying that MacBeth will one day be King. After they tell MacBeth, he, over time, starts to obsess over becoming the highest positioned person in the hierarchy.
The play entitled Macbeth by William Shakespeare portrays Macbeth, a loyal and brave thane to the king. When a prophecy reveals he will become king, Macbeth is overcome with ambition and greed. Convinced of this prophecy and the encouragement from his wife, he is able to kill the king and take the throne. Although Macbeth was able to obtain the throne, he was was overwhelmed by power and guilt leading to internal conflict, which suggests that success is not desirable through cheating and corruption and ultimately cost more than its actually worth, Macbeth`s reckless pursuit of killing and becoming the king is representative of the power he has and what he is able to do with the power he's gained; therefore. His relentless ambition for king reveals the guilt behind power.
Macbeth feels regret and guilt after murdering King Duncan. He is beginning to understand the consequences of his actions and the disruption of the natural order that he has caused. Macbeth’s guilt shows that he still has some understanding of the natural order, but his ambition and desire for power are clouding his judgment. “I am in blood / Stepp’d in so far, that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o’er” (3.4.136-138).
5-7). In this instance, Macbeth shows that he can feel guilt, and he exhibits this by demonstrating that he does not desire to end the life of a man whose family was already victimized at his hands. Guilt is the one thing throughout the entire play that stops Macbeth dead in his tracks and causes him to take a moment to consider his present and future courses of action. Although Macbeth was lead to commit murder by the witches’ manipulative predictions of the future, he is the one who ultimately makes the choices that prove that he is in control of his actions, even when his actions cause him to be filled with
Here lay Duncan, his silver skin laced with his golden blood, and his gashed stabs look'd like a breach in nature for ruin’s wasteful entrance; there the murderers, steeped in the colors of their trade, their daggers unmannerly breached with gore. (2.3.129-135) To avoid accusations, Macbeth frames Duncan’s guards for the murder. He lies by saying that he saw the guards kill Duncan and that he killed the guards because he was emotional after watching his king die. He manipulates others in order to clear his name.
Lady Macbeth is power hungry for the throne and she will do anything to achieve her goal. Her pleasure of having the thought of killing Duncan is revealed. These murderous thoughts that run through her mind shows how desperate she is to acquire power. Although it is the beginning of the play, her dark ambitions sets a dark tone for her character in the play. This coincidentally adds to the assurance of Macbeth’s prophecy which is that Macbeth will become king, but King Duncan is still alive.
Macbeth feels his destiny is to murder King Duncan and become the King of Scotland, which is why Macbeth promises Lady Macbeth achieve his destiny. Therefore, Macbeth’s ambition for power leads to the death of King Duncan. Moreover, Macbeth’s ambition for power triggers the massacre the ones who impede him from his pathway to the Scottish Throne. First, Macbeth has murderers kill Banquo to avoid obstructions in his plan to become the King of Scotland. Macbeth tells the three murderers hired: “…
In act four of Shakespeare's "Macbeth" Macbeth murders most of a noble man's family out of impulse and paranoia. He suspected said nobleman of plotting against him, and much like the murder of his friend Banquo, he killed him before he got the chance. But this murder is not like the ones before it, this one is much more sinister. The man Macbeth suspected, Maduff, was suspect because he refused to show up to any events that Macbeth attended, and when Macbeth went to ask the witches they warned him Macduff was to be cautioned. This time Macbeth decides right away that Macduff must go.
After achieving the title of the King of Scotland, Macbeth wants to secure his position as the king and desires to inherit the Scottish throne to his ancestors. His aim was showed in “To be thus is nothing, /But to be safely thus” (III, i, 52-3). This quote reveals that Macbeth not only wanted to become the king but also wants to secure his position as the King of Scotland for the welfare of his upcoming generation. This reveals Macbeth’s is implying the witches’ prophecies; as long Banquo’s sons live, Macbeth’s throne would not be able to inherit down to his ancestors. As the play progresses, Macbeth’s hires murderers to kill Banquo and his son, Fleance, as represented through, “Banquo, thy soul’s flight, /If
Macbeths guilty conscience makes him unable to play the ‘true’ role of a villain of the play. Macbeth begins to see ‘false creations’ before murdering Duncan; the image of a floating dagger taunts Macbeth’s senses. Macbeth is devoured in his anxiety he starts to hallucinate the crime before going through with it. Macbeth is unable to dispose thoughts of his guilt and doubt, which prevents him from being stuck at the point where it is too late to turn back, yet the fear of his nature prevents him from turning completely into a ruthless coldblooded
Through out the whole the play of Macbeth we see the deterioration of his mental state. Macbeth makes multiple wrong decisions that led to many consequences that eventually caught up to him after the end of Act V. Many of Macbeth’s character traits led to his mental deterioration, including his guilt, greed, ambitions, and false hopes. One of Macbeth’s tragic flaws is his blind ambition; this is a major cause of his mental deterioration. Throughout the play, Macbeth makes one bad decision after the other, mostly because he was hungry for power. Lady Macbeth convinced Macbeth to kill King Duncan so that he could become the new Thane of Cawdor, and later, King of Scotland.
They told Macbeth that he was going to be king, and told Banquo that his children were going to be king. With the knowledge that there is a possibility to become king, along with the selfish human nature, noble Macbeth was easily swayed by this prophecy. At first, Macbeth’s conscience took care of his ambitions, he was afraid he would betray the king, because he knew that he was “his kinsman and his subject” (1.7.13). However as the three witches continue to encourage Macbeth with carefully chosen words, he eventually pushes his conscience away and committed crimes that were dishonourable. Macbeth, easily controlled by his ambitions, loses his noble and heroic title in fear of losing his power.