Greed Quotes In Macbeth

The Power of Guilt; Greed and Corruption

Karl Marx’s theory on power is: “power as to be held by a particular group in society at the expense of the rest of the society”. This idea has been supported for centuries, as similarly, Machiavellianism follows the footsteps in which fear is a much stronger power over others than contentness. Shakespeare’s Macbeth has a similar approach to how power is obtained and sustained. Macbeth uses fear and unethical choices to gain power over others. Similarly, his wife does the same as she manipulated him to believe that this power would solve his inner turmoil; however, this takes a toll on both as Shakespeare’s writing disproves that fear is the most sustainable source of power. Throughout the

Her ambition pushed Macbeth to gain more power in life and over his wife. At the beginning of the story, Lady Macbeth talks down constantly towards Macbeth; she calls him “a coward” and continuously spews hatred towards Macbeth’s masculinity. This sparks Macbeth’s killing spree, as Lady Macbeth’s final question clung to him: “Who dares receive it other, / as we shall make our griefs and clamor roar / upon his death”(I.vii. 89-91)? After feeling empowered and supported in killing Duncan, Macbeth’s personal and selfish need for power grows enormously, which in turn means taking Lady Macbeth’s power away in their relationship. In juxtaposition of attitude towards the guilt of killing later in the play, Macbeth is in conversation with Lady Macbeth as they discuss Banquo’s assassination. “In restless ecstasy. / Duncan is in his grave / … malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing / can touch him further”(III.ii.25-29), Macbeth feels no guilt about killing Duncan and is instead planning his next assassination in order to maintain his power. Macbeth’s distant relationship with guilt is the opposite of Lady Macbeth, and the lack of such a bond coerced Lady Macbeth into the perception that Macbeth is more powerful than her and thus strengthens her guilt and

Justification for her suicide and her being overwhelmed with guilt is how the COVID-19 pandemic affected all of us. Making decisions during the pandemic was incredibly hard for everyone; masking up, keeping our kids home from social activities and sports, taking away social activities, and overall segregating everyone from one another. These choices, although they did end up benefiting us in the long run, gave us a guilty feeling that never really left; we lost 3 years of our lives, and millions of people died due to those who didn’t. This immense guilt is put on everyone's shoulders, which is why the COVID-19 pandemic era years showed a large spike in suicide rates in the United States. Similarly, greed can be seen all around it, as it brings corruption with it. For example, those in political power have been exposed hundreds if not thousands of times through the past couple of years for money laundering, racism, sexism, hate crimes, tax evasion, and everything. That greed combined with our guilt has created an incredibly hard atmosphere to thrive in, similar to how Lady Macbeth felt after killing Duncan and wanting to gain power back in her