Lady Macbeth Greed

At the beginning of the play when Lady Macbeth receives a letter from her husband, Macbeth, saying that the three witches have prophesied that Macbeth is in line to become king. She is immediately filled with greed and ambition. Lady MacBeth expresses her greed for Macbeth to become king and her ambition to make that happen as soon as possible, when she says, “Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here and fill me from the crown to the toe top - full of direst cruelty” (1.5.30-33). We see that Lady Macbeth has a lot of greed and ambition at this time in the story. Near the end of the play, Lady Macbeth is racked with guilt and she becomes insane: “Out, damned spot! Out, I say! - One, two. Why, then, tis’ time to do’t. Hell is murky! - Fie, my lord, fie! A soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, When none can call our power to account? Yet who

That is a step on which I must fall down, or else o’erleap, For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires. The eye wink at hand, yet let that be which the eye fears, when it is done, to see” (1.4.50-55). Macbeth becomes filled with greed for the throne and ambition to get it as soon as possible after hearing that Malcolm is potentially closer to the throne than him. At the end of the play, after taking the throne and having much defeat and difficulty in diminishing the war created by Malcolm and Macduff, Macbeth says to Macduff: “I’gin to be aweary of the sun, and wish th’estate o’th world were now undone. Ring the alarum bell! Blow wind! Come, wrack! At least we’ll die with harness on out back” (5.5.48-51) . Macbeth’s greed and ambition at the beginning of the play lead him to be cruel with his power and murder multiple innocent victims. Then the relatives of the victims created a war against him and this lead to his insanity and