Macbeth Essay William Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, tells the story of how a military commander named Macbeth becomes the king of medieval Scotland and tries to avoid the consequences of his actions so that he can keep his position. A prevailing theme in this play is the relationship between two societal conditions. A broad definition of one of these conditions, order, is that it is a state in which humans live peacefully together and in harmony with nature. The other condition, disorder, is a hectic state in which society is filled with perils and things are not the way they should be. Characters in the play believe that God decided who should be king and have heirs to the throne. They also believe that divine forces create a natural balance …show more content…
As the world falls deeper into a state of disorder, unlikely events become more prevalent in nature and people live under constant threat. Then, with another unnatural occurrence, society returns, for the most part, to a harmonious state of order. In the real world, there are several religions and philosophies that teach people ways to support the natural balance between the two societal conditions, and prevent disorder from becoming the more common one. Taoism encourages people to align themselves with wu wei by going with the flow of life and not trying too hard to get what they want. Taoists would say that Lady Macbeth should not have persisted in convincing her husband to kill Duncan, because if Macbeth was meant to be king, then he eventually, and naturally would. Practitioners of Confucianism also try to preserve order by fulfilling their responsibilities as a member of one or more of the 5 relationships; father and son, elder sibling and younger sibling, husband and wife, ruler and subject, and friend and friend. According to these guidelines, because the citizens of Scotland were loyal to Macbeth, he should have shown benevolence in return. In addition, since Banquo was a loyal friend for so many years, Macbeth should have returned the favor to prevent disorder from