Revenge Of The Sith And Macbeth Comparison

When Shakespeare wrote his popular play, Macbeth; who would have thought that it would still have an impact on our society today? However, it has been used as the foundation of many modern day works. A recognizable example of this is Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith directed by George Lucas. This movie mirrors the same basic plot line, therefore creating many parallels between characters. One such parallel exists between Macbeth and Anakin Skywalker, but it’s not just a copy and paste, there are some key differences. After analyzing this parallel, I came to the realization that knowing too much of your future can have disastrous consequences. When laid adjacent to one another, many resemblances stand out. For example, in Macbeth, we have

To begin with, Macbeth’s everlasting ambition did not appear until the prophecy from the Weird Sisters, that he would be thane of Cawdor, became true. Once he realized that the Sisters were right he began to scheme up ways to make their divination that he would be King of Scotland become reality also. However without the influence of his wife, he would have never acted upon these thoughts. In contrast, Anakin’s ambition is derived from another source, his unwillingness to lose his wife. It did not start with the need for more power, it only evolved to that after the Emperor turned him to the Dark side. In continuation, Lady Macbeth is the one who made Macbeth’s thoughts become actions. After persuading Macbeth to do the horrid dead of murdering King Duncan, she goes insane. The guilt of their actions are too much for her to bear leading to her suicide. The Emperor however has no guilt, he convinces Anakin to commits unthinkable acts, while whispering in his ear that it’s all to save his wife. He is so tainted in the Dark, that he does not even acknowledge the “light”