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.
It all started in the beginning of the play with the prophets, the three witches. Everything began when the witches prophesied that Macbeth would be thane of Glamis and Cawdor and future king of Scotland. The witches also tell Banquo that his descendants will be kings. Macbeth is already thane of Glamis and when the three witches tell him his fate, he's dumbfounded. The thane of Cawdor and the king of Scotland are alive so he figures it's impossible for the prophecy to be true. But,
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“The only thing motivating me is ambition, which makes people rush ahead of themselves toward disasters.” (Shakespeare, 41) Macbeth basically corrupted himself because he thought he was powerful and his ambition is what drove him to commit dreadful deeds, which supports the power corruption theme. His desire to be king, after the prophecy from the witches of course, led him to murder king Duncan and blame it on others in order for him to fulfill the role of being new king of Scotland. His greed led him to commit an unearthly sin and as the play progresses, his greed increase increases and he loses his sanity. “If you stick with me when the time comes there will be something in it for you.” (Shakespeare, 51) Macbeth tells Banquo this and this contributes to the theme because he's telling Banquo that if he sides with him then he'll have something in it for him. Macbeth is implying that he will go above and beyond to get what he wants and more and that Banquo should join him because there's more to