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Abuse Of Power In Macbeth

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Power has the ability to devour morality. In the play "The Tragedy of Macbeth", the author, Shakespeare, places the characters in certain types of situations that allow greed to cloud their judgement. The prophecy holds the most power to influence the actions of others because it plants the idea of how the future will be in everyone's heads. Macbeth makes his decisions based on what he thinks is going to happen, without any concrete proof that it will actually come true. Words have a way of getting under people's skin and burrowing in their bones. There's no telling what someone will do when they receive life changing news. In Macbeth's case, he uses this prophecy to mindlessly justify the murders of King Duncan, Banquo, Macduff's family, and countless others. All the while, he strives to become king and attempts to stay that way by disregarding everyone around him. It …show more content…

Macbeth has the desire to get rid of all the opponents that stand in his way so he can ensure he stays on the throne. During the first meeting with the Weird Sisters, they tell Banquo, "Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none" (I. iii. 67). Macbeth knows that Banquo's children will someday become kings -so says the prophecy- and it pushes Macbeth to eliminate Banquo. If the witches hadn't said anything about Banquo, he probably would have lived because Macbeth wouldn't have seen him as a threat. Macbeth admits, "That every minute of his being thrusts/ Against my near'st of life" (III. i. 116-17). Banquo's existence threatens Macbeth's life and his position of being king. The prophecy's words urge him to plan out how to murder Banquo and his son, Fleance. Ultimately, the murderers successfully kill Banquo but his son manages to get away. And yet Banquo’s dying last words to Fleance was a declaration to avenge him, for Banquo knew that the greed for power had already corrupted

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Macbeth accepting that the prophecy could be true shows that he is slowly falling into the hands of the twisted sisters, and was one of his first actions that lead to his character change. Macbeth killed the king in order to gain power. While holding

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Instead of attending the feast, Banquo tells Macbeth that he is going for a ride. According to the three witches’ prophecy, Banquo’s decedents will inherit the throne. Macbeth is afraid of Banquo and knows Banquo is suspicious, so he puts a strategy together to get rid of him. Immediately after hearing the weird sister’s prediction, he believed a weight would lifted off his shoulders if he were to hire hitmen to murder his best friend, Banquo and his son, Fleance. After the first prediction the witches gave Macbeth came true, he figured killing Banquo would increase his chances.

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Throughout Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, it becomes apparent that both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have been led into their own undoing by their own self-justified actions rather than by leaving everything up to fate. For Macbeth, the most self-evident example of his destruction is by interfering with the Weird Sister's prophecy by hiring murderers to exterminate Banquo and his son Fleance. Even after killing Duncan and receiving the title of the King, he is still not satisfied as he realizes that all of his efforts would benefit Banquo and his sons without them even having to do anything. Rather than standing by and letting them benefit off of his endeavors, he decides to disrupt the fate of Banquo: "To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings!

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