Selfishness In Macbeth

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, to be corrupt is, “to become tainted or rotten [or] to become morally debased.” In the play, Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, Macbeth begins the play as the Thane of Glamis and a brave warrior in the battle. As he obtains the position of Thane of Cawdor, he beings to change for the worse. Macbeth changes over the course of the play because he believes that he is becoming more independent and stronger, but in reality, he is actually becoming weaker, more insane, and corrupt.

Macbeth is a strong character who, before the events of Macbeth, was a honorable and good guy because of his previous deeds of being great in battle and honorable outside of the battlefield. Up until he heard the prophecy from the witches he change his ways. Macbeth started to do anything necessary to get what he wants or thinks he needs. His wife during this time was able to manipulate him into becoming someone he normally is not. He has changed into a dishonorable, traitorous, deceiving, shell of a man who has killed his way into power.

Macbeth goes from being a loyal and honorable soldier to a murderer and traitor. At the beginning of act 1 we hear him being described as “valiant”, “brave” and “noble”. Duncan, the king is so impressed by his nobility and bravery that he proclaims Macbeth the “Thane of Cawdor” .Macbeth is pretty much respected everywhere he goes, but the decisions he made start to change the heads of the people that trusted him and respected him. Macbeth starts to listen to some witches who greeted him hailing him the “Thane of Cawdor”, and the “Thane of Glamis” and by saying “Macbeth shalt be King hereafter”.

In the play Macbeth changes a lot in the story, although there was a lot to influence him to change. In the play Macbeth used to respect his king and be very loyal to him. As the story goes on he meets different people who make him think different. His first encounter with the witches made him more ambitious but he struggled to kill the king. Lady Macbeth also played a big part in changing him by telling him many times that he was still a boy and will never be a man. She convinces him to kill the king and commit the first of his evil deeds. After killing the king he is very paranoid and gets hallucinations and can't sleep. His idea of becoming a man was insane and inhuman. He feels

Of the many plays written by William Shakespeare, Macbeth is considered by many to be his darkest work. This play displays the significant amount of events that Macbeth experiences throughout to obtain the crown by rushing his fate. He acts out of unrestricted ambition with no moral limitation. Macbeth struggles between the dominance of good and evil. His unrestricted actions lead to the transformation and downfall of once the brave solider we first meet to the ruthless murderer he becomes.

William Shakespeare's Macbeth is a play about Macbeth, a cruel and ruthless man who will do anything to gain power, and his wife Lady Macbeth, a disturbed woman with too much evil for her own good. Macbeth’s own ambition gets to him and ultimately leads to his demise. In many ways, Shakespeare's Macbeth is relevant in today's society. Explores mental health problems, greed for power and Leadership, and lastly guilt and its effects.

Macbeth by William Shakespeare, is possibly the most tragic of all tragedies ever written. The plot is simple, but there is nothing simple about the complex writing and the tools, such as blank verse or iambic pentameter which Shakespeare used to develop a story as renowned as this one. As the plot opened upon this story, we learn Macbeth was known at court to be brave and loyal. He was a soldier and a devoted general to the King of Scotland. The prophesy by the three witches changed him and caused a complication in the story where he battles evil “The supernatural cannot be ill, cannot be good:-if ill, Why hath it given me earnest of success…” (Shakespeare 860). After hearing the predictions for the future of his becoming king, he began to

William Shakespeare, regarded as the foremost dramatist of his time, wrote Macbeth. It is an amalgamation of witchcraft, allusion, and prophecies that depicts a seemingly unescapable fate of human beings in the world. It paints a black and horrid picture but it also implies the ideals of Renaissance humanism. Although imperfect, the embodiment of the characters has tremendous self awareness, freedom and, self-expression. Much like pervasive themes endemic to the Renaissance, the theme of the play revolves around the destruction of one’s humanity due to its insatiable appetite for prosperity. It shows the progression of corruption brought about by one’s rampant ambition. Shakespeare’s body of work echoes a strong response against the

Duncan undercovers Shakespeare’s theme of appearance versus reality perfectly and ironically. He speaks of how a person’s face can hide anything. Immediately after hearing the news that the thane of Cawdor has been assassinated for his disloyal behaviour, King Duncan ponders to himself, “There’s no art / To find the mind’s construction in the face: / He was a gentleman on whom I built An absolute trust” (1.4.13-16). He learns that no face can be fully trusted and that there is no way to read someone’s mind and predict their true intentions just from their face. This scene is a great example of dramatic irony as Duncan rewards Macbeth with the title of the new thane of Cawdor whom he absolutely trusts. Little does Duncan know that Macbeth later in the play escutes a plan to murder him in order to gain power, thereby proving Duncan’s words to be true. The passage also reveals Duncan’s persona. Duncan is a clean-hearted King who wishes the best for his kingdom but he lacks distrust and can be naive at times. He learns his lesson from the thane of Cawdor, but then is not very cautious when trusting Macbeth which proves his naivety. In addition, structures can be deceiving to one’s eye. They may look beautiful, glorious and mesmerizing from the outside, but old, and a dusty place on the inside much like Macbeth’s

Shakespeare initiates the dramatic premise of the play, through the awakening of Macbeth’s fermenting ambition, which is

Macbeth tells the story of a Scottish thane, who, after receiving prophecies from witches, murders the King he was once loyal to and ascends to the throne with the pressure of his wife, Lady Macbeth. Macbeth’s desire to maintain his imperial authority leads to countless deaths and murders to suppress potential challengers, but the witches soon return, with prophecies suggesting his imminent downfall. The story of Macbeth is one of guilt, corruption, greed and ambition, and one that challenges the way we look at life in the eleventh century.

William Shakespeare’s intelligent use of the English language is what brought him success throughout his lifetime, and what brings us to tears and laughter in the current world. Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s many renowned plays. The play fallows Macbeth as we witness the change in his character. “This tyrant, whose sole name blisters our tongues,/Was once thought honest.”(4.3.12-13). Macbeth was a great man who was respected by many but eventually let greed and desire rule his life. Through out this play Macbeth transforms from a war hero to an evil villain because of the three mischievous witches, his soulless wife, and his over powering ambition.

The opening of the play was filled with confusing but also tense moments. One technique used in the opening is sound which made the beginning very effective. In the opening of the play we could hear screams of pain and panic which gives us context from where MacBeth came

As humans we are attracted to tragedy in our everyday lives. For the horror, understanding and contemplation of human nature what else can offer a better summary than Shakespeare? In the play the Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare the story progresses through the vision of the protagonist, Macbeth. Throughout the story Macbeth aspires to obtain more power than his original position, as sergeant, provides. With many dastardly deeds he achieves the position of king, although he becomes a tyrant in the eyes of his people after they discover his wrongdoings. Readers experience the downfall of Macbeth’s morality at a slow but intriguing pace. Albeit, most would disagree that Macbeth was only a vessel of his own fate due to intervening characters throughout the play such as the witches and Lady Macbeth. When choosing who inspired this fate we have to acknowledge all actions which led to his own actions, therefore Macbeth’s demise was a response to every character portrayed throughout the play.

Macbeth is a powerful and emotionally intense play. As an audience, we see how a well-regarded and loyal soldier change to a murderous tyrant. Lady Macbeth continuously pressures Macbeth, when he fears he has gone too far, playing a major role in his downfall. It is his ambition, along with the influence of his wife and the strain in their relationship that cause him to decline. These contribute to Macbeth’s moral downfall.