Envy In Macbeth

Envy, Greed, Lloth, Wrath, Lust, Gluttony and Pride. The seven deadly sins exist to explain the worst of humankind. They explain why the most vile actions occur, they give motive for all crimes that are commited. Macbeth by William Shakespeare depicts many faces of the deadly sins through all its characters. None of these characters are a bigger portrait of sin. all his sins eventually lead him to ruin and suffering in the story of this Scottish tragedy. Among all of his sins, his Envy, Greed and Pride lead him directly to his downfall. they all make him rush decisions and decide to ignore the natural way of his society. This tragic figure falls victim to his sins which, over the course of this story, force Macbeth to spin his own web of

Envy is the wanting of something another has, Envy can be used positively very easily. If someone has the work ethic to try and achieve what someone else has through hard work and discipline it becomes a motivational force. In Macbeth, the sin of envy is a negative trait that infects Macbeth once he speaks with the witches. his envy sits and feeds on the prophecy of becoming king. Once he is proclaimed Thane of Cawdor his envy begins to grow rapidly as he thinks about becoming king. His envy is partly what drives him to murder the current king Duncan disrupting the natural order. Once Macbeth is crowned king his envy begins to waver and change its mind. He grows envious of the way things were before as well as envying the dead. Speaking about his envy of the dead former king he remarks “Both the worlds suffer, ere we will eat our meal in fear, and sleep in the affliction of these terrible dreams that shake us nightly: Better be with the dead, whomwe too gain our peace, have sent to peace, than on the torture of the mind to lie in restless ecstasy” (3.2.18-24). Macbeth’s envy is shown through his words, then don't show only regret but put a spotlight on his own envy. By the end of the play the viewer realises that without Macbeths submissal to the envious aspects of himself he may not be such a tragic

In the journal article Macbeth’s suicide by Arthur Kirsch he remarks “All of Shakespeare’s great tragic figures are isolated in a universe esentially of their own imagination and thought, but in none of them is so inordinate and destructive an expression of egoism as it is in Macbeth”. Kirsch shows his understanding of the pride that Macbeth shows throughout the play and how it relates him to the rest of Shakespeare’s tragic figures. Macbeth’s pride and ego becomes very apparent after the last prophecy of the witches, once he finds that he cannot be killed by a man birthed by a woman he becomes very cocky, even when the Burnam woods are at Dunsinane. His pride boosted his ego to the point of delusion, he believed that he was invincible because of his prophecy, but he ignored the parts of the prophecy that could affect his pride. He knew that Burnam wood at Dunsinane was dangerous as he remarked earlier “I will not be afraid of death and bane til Burnam forest come to Dunsinane'' (5.3.68-69), but when he saw the army who disguised themselves with wood from the Burnam forest he still rushed into battle. He rushed partly because he realized that his previous pride and egotism brought him into a situation he wouldn't be able to escape, but his pride would have