Similarities Between Macbeth And Joseph Stalin

Shakespeare's Macbeth was a man who did everything in his power to be king, he was not scared of the consequences caused by his actions to achieve his goal. He can be compared to the former Soviet Union leader, Joseph Stalin because both men were motivated by their ambition for power. They manipulated people and abused their power. These two men are similar in many ways and the only difference between them is separated by time.

Joseph Stalin had a tough life in his early years. His father was abusive towards him and his mother. People used to make fun of him because he had a deformed arm and because of these events in his life, he did not trust anyone, in fact when Stalin came to power he went to great lengths to exterminate anyone in his past,

In the play, Macbeth hungered for power. He was given the title ‘'Thane of Cawdor’ ’but felt it wasn't good enough. He wanted to be king and was willing to kill for it. His ambition clouded his judgment and that led him to kill King Duncan to get the throne. Macbeth could have been a good leader had he not let the power engulf him and his guilty conscious get to him. Similarly, Stalin was in a slight position of power, he was appointed the general secretary of the communist party but wanted more power. Before retiring the Soviet Union leader, Vladimir Lenin sent a letter requesting Stalin to be taken out of power, but Stalin got a hold of the letter and destroyed it. Shortly after he was made the leader. When both Macbeth and Stalin reached their goals, they didn't stop MANIPULATING people. Macbeth felt his close friend, Banquo was a threat and convinced two other men to murder him, because he was scared of what Banquo knew since he also heard the witches' prophecy. Stalin had a similar way of manipulation. If someone on his side went against him he would have them executed and remove all traces of them from photographs. Under Stalin’s rule, if a person arrived late to work three times he would have been sent to the ‘'The Gulag'' where many of his political opponents and victims were sent to be punished through hard labor. Macbeth also convinced everyone that King Duncan's murders were his own guards by planting ‘'Bloody daggers'' on them and covering them in blood. He killed the guards to make people believe he cared about Duncan and would never betray his trust. Stalin made propaganda posters claiming how good of a leader he was. Like Macbeth, Stalin made the mind of his followers believe he was the best