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Theme Of Corruption In Macbeth

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"Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under't." ( Shakespeare I. v. 64-65). In the play Macbeth by Shakespeare a Scottish soldier named Macbeth who was told a prophecy by a trio of witches that he is to become King, driven by his wife who tells him to act like a perfect host but hide the real purpose he is here, and kill King Duncan. He takes the Throne himself, he then goes from a sane man to a paranoid and guilty one. In Macbeth Shakespeare uses the motif supernatural to develop the message of corruption to the innocent mind. Macbeth has just won the war and is taking a walk with his trusty companion Banquo. They come across three witches and they tell him “ All hail macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis/ All hail Macbeth! …show more content…

He believes that he has a chance to become king until, Duncan grant's his son prince of Chamberlin and this is where it really started to blossom in his mind. But he doesn’t kill the King until his wife pushes him to do it. After he kills the King he becomes paranoid and thinks that Banquo is on to him. So he hires three murders to kill him and his son Fleance. Banquo does get killed and Fleance runs off, but back at the dinner in Macbeth's eyes his friend isn’t dead yet. “ Prithee, see there! Be hold! Look! Lo how say you?/ Why, what care I. If thou canst nod, speak too./ If charnel-houses and our graves must send/ those that we bury back to our monuments”, (III.iv.70-74) Banquo’s ghost showed up to the dinner and Macbeth was the only one who could see him. He threw a fit and was creating chaos yelling foul things at the thin air. Macbeth's mind is so corrupted that he's imagining the ghost of the man he had killed. He is losing his sanity and giving in to the foulness of murder and evil. Macbeth needs to know will Banquo's sons become king so he seeks out the witches and receives more information than he bargained for “Be bloody and resolute: laugh to scorn/ The power of man; none for of woman born/ Shall

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Our fears in Banquo stick deep, and in his royalty of nature” (Act 3. Scene1. Lines 47-49. Page44). To Macbeth, becoming king is worthless unless his position as king is safe. He fears that Banquo’s murder will be revenged by his own murder, and it may reveal the hidden knowledge of his guilt.

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364 Words | 2 Pages

Banquo's Ghost In Lady Macbeth and Macbeth's speeches, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth use rhetorical appeal, logos, and multiple other literary devices to convince the dinner guests that they do not need to worry about Macbeth's behavior. They are using these rhetorical devices to persuade their "worthy friends" that Macbeth is fine because he has a hallucination condition. Throughout Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's speeches, they are using logos to help persuade the dinner guests. On line 90, in Act 3 Scene 4, Macbeth states that this is not a new thing, "I have a strange infirmity, which is nothing to those that know me." Logically, Macbeth is saying this because he is ensuring that it is not a big problem and that they should not

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580 Words | 3 Pages

Macbeth needs to follow through with this plan because Fleance and Banquo could get in the way of Macbeth becoming King. The three witches had also foretold Banquo’s descendants to become king. Macbeth sends men to follow through with this plan. They succeed to kill Banquo, but Fleance escapes. After being responsible for the deaths of two people, Duncan and Banquo, Macbeth is in a state where he feels the need to keep murdering people that could possibly get in his way of becoming king.

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He consciously makes the decision to kill King Duncan. He is also shown to know that his feelings and actions are with evil intent “Stars, hide your fires;/Let not light see my black and deep desires” (1.4.333-334). The fact that Macbeth is in control of his actions is proven by Banquo. Banquo also was told a prophecy by the three sisters “Lesser than Macbeth, and greater./Not so happy, yet much happier./Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none”. However, Banquo remained totally loyal to King Duncan never even slightly wavering at the opportunity of his children being royalty.

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1525 Words | 7 Pages

William Shakespeare is considered as one of the best play writers in history. One of his most well known plays is Macbeth where a Scottish general named Macbeth has a strong desire to be king which leads him to betray and murder his king, Duncan. He also kills the nobles who have been loyal to him in order to maintain his title as king. Throughout this play, Shakespeare uses the motif of ambition, guilt, and fate to characterize the characters, show the different themes present within the play, and how the motifs are still relevant today.

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He reveals that he is not strong minded and is easily influenced by those around him. It is through Banquo that one can actually identify Macbeth with these traits. If it were not for Banquo’s calm and responsible reaction to the foretelling, it would be difficult to hold Macbeth on a basis on the appropriate way to respond to the situation. Banquo is not after sole success, and still considers himself successful even with his sons being heirs to the kingdom. With this genuine appreciation, we are able to view Macbeth as a greedy and irrational character.

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Being that Banquo seemed suspicious of Macbeth subsequently the night of the king 's death. Apprehensive of his throne Macbeth would do anything in his power to prevent even the slightest chance for anyone to take the throne from him.

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Where We Stand “Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough” ― Oprah Winfrey In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, a Thane returns from battle only to have his life dramatically altered by greed.

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Furthermore, the murder of Banquo led Macbeth to destruction. Later in the play, Macbeth was troubled by the Banquo’s ghost. Macbeth acts out of desperation to get rid of Banquo’s ghost (III, iv, 82-7). Here, it shows Macbeth’s destruction of mind, which is fuelled by his fear and guilt. Eventually, Macbeth’s

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Because Macbeth’s and Lady Macbeth’s decision to murder Duncan, Both face the guilt of the power they abused portrays on the shadows that reflect on them as well as the natural consequences they will face. During the first half of the play, Lady Macbeth expresses her unnatural feelings and this is demonstrated through the corruption of power when she want’s to hire people to kill Duncan because she thinks that Macbeth is too scared. At first, when Lady Macbeth hinted “Their drenchèd natures lies as in a death”(1.7.78). This demonstrates that Lady Macbeth is characterizing corruption of power due to the fact that she want's to kill Duncan, therefore she can be queen of cawdor while Macbeth is king.

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As tragic as Macbeth becomes through the play, his paranoia is also a factor that leads to his ultimate downfall, morally and physically. Macbeth, now a traitor after the assassination of the king, is paranoid of anybody who may threaten his position or how he attained it. After killing the king, Macbeth’s conscience is guilt-ridden and he is no longer able to sleep peacefully. His only worry is that someone may be plotting his murder, just as he strategized the death of the former King. If there was nothing stopping Macbeth from killing Duncan and committing treason, who is to say that no one else will make the same decision, killing Macbeth? After becoming king, his first suspect is Banquo, because Banquo voices his scepticism in regards

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This demonstrates that rather let Banquo be king, he is going to challenge and fight him for his crown. Banquo is the only person that knows about the prophecy and he is also suspicious of Macbeth killing Duncan. Instead of letting Banquo's’ son receiving the crown easily, Macbeth is going to challenge him for the crown. In order that Macbeth can be king, he has to kill Banquo and his son, so they don’t take crown from

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With this loss of morality comes an immense guilt that is depicted through a hallucination of Banquo, who Macbeth murdered earlier on in the book. “What man dare, i dare. / Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear, / The armed rhinoceros, or th’ Hyrcan tiger; / Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves / Shall never tremble… If trembling I inhabit then, protest me / The baby of a girl. / Hence, horrible shadow!” (3.4.121-125, 3.4.127-128).

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986 Words | 4 Pages

He chooses to do this even after the effect of the first murder he did. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth plan to have a dinner and invite Banquo to this dinner to kill him because they both are afraid that Banquo will be suspicious of King Duncan’s murder since Banquo was there when Macbeth received the prophecy that Macbeth would be king, they also try to kill Banquo’s son fleance so that no one related to Banquo will be the throne. He then regrets killing banquo because his ghost appears causing Macbeth’s paranoia to grow. Quotations: (Act. 3, Scene 4, pg.109 lines 162-172) Macbeth: I hear it by the way; but I will send.

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They told Macbeth that he was going to be king, and told Banquo that his children were going to be king. With the knowledge that there is a possibility to become king, along with the selfish human nature, noble Macbeth was easily swayed by this prophecy. At first, Macbeth’s conscience took care of his ambitions, he was afraid he would betray the king, because he knew that he was “his kinsman and his subject” (1.7.13). However as the three witches continue to encourage Macbeth with carefully chosen words, he eventually pushes his conscience away and committed crimes that were dishonourable. Macbeth, easily controlled by his ambitions, loses his noble and heroic title in fear of losing his power.

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