Psychopaths In Macbeth

A psychopath provides an interesting take on morality, they understand ethics and have morals however, they choose society 's distinction between what is right and wrong at the time of their choosing and gravitate to their notion of principals. For the most part, the world is unlike these individuals, however it is fair to say that similar to psychopaths, individuals who stray from ethics even for morally good reasons, are considered to have distorted morals. In Shakespeare's iconic Macbeth and Shirley Jackson's lesser known "The Possibility of Evil", the protagonists' Macbeth and Miss. Strangeworth have good intentions when making decisions that involve others. However, both characters have skewed morals, which they allow to influence the

Strangeworth are the result of decisions they have made based on their morally distorted views. As illustrated in Macbeth, after Macbeth's morals have shifted (need stronger word) due to the pressure of his wife, his intent to satisfy pushes him to consider the irreversible task of murder. After the decision to kill is made and the death of the sleeping King Duncan, Macbeth returns to Lady Macbeth and says, "I have done the deed. Didst thou not hear a noise?" (Shakespeare 2.2.16). As a result of morally corrupt ideology, Macbeth's pure intent no longer justifies his unethical decision, however he is unaware of this. His intentions are wholesome and pure in his mind however, he disregards the moral shortcomings this objective may bring up and the intent to do well is lost. After the murder is complete, Macbeth's morals are warped and no longer mirror what is socially acceptable thus defining the killing as malicious. Likewise, after Miss. Strangeworth establishes her intent to do well and advance her community, she decides to send letters that include strong hateful words accompanied by malicious accusations such as, "Have you found out yet...or is the wife really always the last one to know? " and "Didn't you ever see an idiot child before..."(Jackson 4-5). The extent of her desire has no limits, she is eager to put forth any initiatives that are needed to change her community. It is evident that Miss. Strangeworth's decision of sending letters was influenced by her intent to do well however, it can be seen as a malicious and wicket act, however she is unaware of this. In conclusion, both the main characters of Macbeth and the "Possibility of Evil" base decisions on their skewed morals and this results in malicious actions; Macbeth with the intent to please his wife and distorted morals, commits the act of murder and Strangeworth with