The Delicate Balance Of Power In Shakespeare's Macbeth

It is said that with great power comes great responsibility, because power has the tendency to be abused and affect people negatively if not acquired and used in moderation. In Macbeth, Shakespeare explores the delicate balances of ambition and power, and how they relate to each other. These elements of society are contrasted as being corrupting, unquenchable forces of evil, or fundamental mechanisms for peace and order. Macbeth’s ravenous greed and its repercussions are vividly enhanced through the use of various expressive literary techniques.

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth do as they wish without restrictions to achieve their deepest desires. Macbeth, a respectable general, and before the action of the story, a good man, allows his ambition to

These two contrast with others in the play, such as Banquo, Duncan, and Macduff, who also want to be great leaders but refuse to allow ambition to come before honor. Macbeth describes Duncan as an honorary person with respectable values: “Besides, this Duncan . . . So clear in his great office . . . His virtues will plead like angels . . . Against the deep damnation of his taking-off...” (1.7.16-20). This excerpt epitomizes the literary technique of a simile. Effortlessly integrated, this comparison draws a parallel between two otherwise unrelated things, and doing so helps the reader understand the sentiment Shakespeare wishes to convey. Macbeth is an example of how pure ambition, freed from any moral or social conscience, ultimately takes over every other characteristic of a person. In Act I Scene V, Lady Macbeth speaks of Macbeth’s ambition: “Thou wouldst be great; Art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it” (1.5.18-20). Although this quote may seem simple, it has much deeper a much deeper meaning than it appears. Once again, Shakespeare incorporates multiple literary elements which clarify and supplement the story’s themes. The “illness” that Lady Macbeth speaks of represents both irony and foreshadowing; it becomes ironic and foreshadows when