Everyone wants power. Even the most humble among us can be caught cutting in the line at Starbucks, cheating on a test, or using a tiny white lie on a resume to set ourselves apart. We all want to stand out and feel superior to the average Joe. Shakespeare’s Macbeth shows how fast a person can change as a result of the desire for power.
The Shakesperian play Macbeth is about drive and misfortune. There are different messages and themes in the story of Macbeth which depicts how it could affect an individual’s life. During the course of the story, we as the reader are capable of recognizing how easy it is for ambition to transform into greed. As the story progresses, we are able to view how the build up of the story leads to Macbeth’s eventual downfall. The events in Macbeth demonstrate the theme of how power corrupts and leads to greed and fear of losing the power.
The Deterioration of Macbeth In most of Shakespeare's works, there is always a certain theme. Romeo and Juliet’s theme was love and tragedy. Hamlet’s theme was the mystery of death. And the theme for Macbeth is power corruption, which I will elaborate on. In Macbeth, there are many times in which power corrupts Macbeth and he loses every bit of morality that he has.
A leader: someone who holds the power to influence people and situations into opportunities for success. However, it is that same power that can cause uprising and corruption. Within William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, this idea is expressed. Throughout the play, Shakespeare writes about a King who has lost his humanity, three witches messing with fate, and a Prince, who was once in hiding, finally winning back his title. All of these embody the relationship of leader and follower; showing the consequences of misdeeds, and the successes gained from stability.
(A5,S5,L17) Macbeth has lost touch with his normal emotions because he is so preoccupied with his own ambition and remorse. The depth of his damaged mentality is revealed by his lack of empathy and indifference to his wife's passing. It's a tragic example of how shame and power may invade a person's body. Macbeth has ended up with a completely disturbed mind and now, as a result, throws away everything he cares about to only put himself on top and get rid of others and people in his way. Overall, Macbeth’s journey through the play goes from starting as a noble warrior to a disturbed mind.
Macbeth's guilt haunts him throughout the play, ultimately leading to his downfall. It is a warning that the pursuit of power at any cost can lead to disastrous consequences, not just for an individual but for an entire
It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.” (Mac. 5.5.24-28) This declaration is Macbeth’s recognition that his life will come to an end. He has wasted his time pursuing power and glory while hurting others, seeing himself as a “poor player” whose efforts were ultimately for nothing.
Throughout life, following a moral compass is crucial and should control ambition, no matter what golden opportunities arise. Reality might have moments where ambition seems the better choice, but ceaseless ambition causes harm. Shakespeare’s Macbeth alludes to the question: as long as the final goal is achieved, should morality matter?
Unfortunately, society often perceives women as weak and inferior. They are frequently treated as ignorant and objectified. This issue is evident in William Shakespeare's play, Macbeth. Despite being the most powerful female character in any of Shakespeare's plays and the Queen of Scotland, Lady Macbeth's power is vastly different from Macbeth's power. Macbeth's power is political as he is a king and holds authority over the churches.
Greed for power leads corrupt leaders to pursue power through ruthless and violent ways, putting their countries in an unstable state. Macbeth commits murders and violent acts to earn his absolute power, but his corrupt mindset of yearning power leads to instability in the Scotland. After hearing from the witches, Macbeth admits that, “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical/ Shakes so my single state of man/ That function is smother'd in surmise /and nothing is but what is not.”
Initially plagued by guilt and uncertainty over his abominable acts, his conscience gradually erodes as he seeks to consolidate and maintain his ill-gained power. The death of Lady Macbeth represents the final severing of his moral tether and fuels his ruthless pursuit of control, leading him to ultimately confront the very prophecies that initially sparked his ambition. As the tragic hero succumbs to the overwhelming forces that surround him – both supernatural and human – the play concludes in a poignant testament to the corrupting influence of unchecked ambition and the destructive potential of power untethered from
A man, goaded by his wife, murders time and again to satisfy his hunger for power, slowly driving himself into insanity through his ambition. Ambition, both a blessing and a curse, lead Macbeth to a series of betrayals and murders of and by those closest to him. Conspiring with his wife in Act 1, Lady Macbeth had convinced Macbeth that by killing Duncan, King of Scotland, he could become the next King. He and Lady Macbeth planned the whole thing; who they would frame, how they would get past the guards, which one of them should be the one to do it, and how would they hide the knives once the deed had been accomplished. At the last second, Macbeth appeared to have a change of heart, but then his wife taunted him, insulting his manhood.
In Shakespeare’s tragedy, Macbeth, the soliloquy in Act 2.1 marks a pivotal point where the reader can closely analyze the gradual erosion of Macbeth’s character. The soliloquy provides a clear insight into the internal conflict faced by Macbeth. It becomes more and more evident throughout the play that hunger for power knows no bounds, and in its insatiable quest, it devours the valiancy and humanity that once dwelled in Macbeth. Shakespeare uses several literary devices throughout this passage in order to show the development of Macbeth’s character, and more importantly highlight the theme that unchecked ambition has the power to corrupt a human being.
What drives apparently good men to become ruthless, ambitious, jealous and greedy? We see an example of this in the play “Macbeth” performed at Pop Up Globe, directed by Tom Mallaburn, was written originally by the well-known author, William Shakespeare. Macbeth is based upon a big tragedy, where the two main characters, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, inevitably were forced to do evil things due to their ambition; taste the sweetness of victory and then downfall again. Although the play was written by an English author, Shakespeare smartly sets his story based upon the idea of ambition, a concept that relates to all of us, no matter where we are from. We have to admit that in our minds, the concept of power and ambition is linked to men.
The play also illustrates the inner turmoil one can face and what it looks like to be eaten alive by guilt. As the audience watches Macbeth make increasingly corrupt decisions, their loyalties are slowly forced to shift. This change in Macbeth shows how humanity is capable of both good and
