Chaos In The Tragedy Of Macbeth By William Shakespeare

Many stories are created worldwide every day, and just as many are forgotten. After all, as time passes by, people, nations, and customs change which makes every story susceptible to becoming relics of the past. However, a select few of those stories become timeless for the lessons told inside of them are ones that will always apply to humans no matter if it is in the past, present, or future. One such story is William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth which follows the character of Macbeth as he slowly succumbs to his ambition and causes chaos to the world around him. In this story, Macbeth enacts a forceful takeover of Scotland by assassinating the beloved king that ruled before. In William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth, readers

After Macbeth’s takeover, chaos starts to descend upon Scotland as a result of the decisions he makes much like how the Taliban’s beliefs have caused them to turn Afghanistan into a nearly unlivable place for the people of the nation. In the story of Macbeth, Ross explains the situation of Scotland after his takeover by saying, “Alas poor country, / Almost afraid to know itself. It cannot / Be called our mother, but our grave, where nothing / But who knows nothing is once seen to smile; / Where sighs and groans and shrieks that rent the air / Where violent sorrows seems a modern ecstasy” (4.3.164-170). In this quote, readers can see that Macbeth’s way of ruling Scotland has caused it to become a nation of despair for its people. From this, it can be inferred that Macbeth has used his power extremely selfishly and only as a tool to fuel his own goals and motives. He doesn’t care about the people that he is supposed to be the King of and as a result, they suffer. Likewise, many nations today face

In the case of both Macbeth and many modern-day dictators, this is what happens and is the ultimate form of the amount of chaos and destruction that tyrants like these can bring to their nation. In Macbeth’s case, the Thanes that were loyal to King Duncan, as well as King Duncan’s son, Malcolm, go to war with Macbeth. Lennox explains the reason for war when he says, “Some holy angel / His message ere he come, that a swift blessing / May soon return to this our suffering country / Under a hand accursed” (3.6.45-49). In this quote, Lennox explains how he wants something to be able to come to fix the mess that Macbeth has made of Scotland. This allows readers to see why it is nearly impossible to avoid revolts in situations where the ruling party does not have the support of the people. When rulers such as Macbeth inevitably do things that make their people unhappy and angry, it will lead to their people wanting them out of power. Since dictators do not usually step down from power willingly, the most straightforward option to try next is to overthrow them by force. Consequently, this leads to rebellions and wars in the name of this cause. In modern times, this can be seen very clearly in the rebellions against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. According to Vox’s video “The collapse of Venezuela, explained, ” he has caused his nation of Venezuela to be