Greed In Shakespeare's Macbeth And The Real World

Greed is an intense and selfish desire for something such as power, wealth or food.’ We have all heard the stories of the stockbroker that stole millions of dollars of their client’s money for personal use, or men that were able to take down large public traded corporations by falsifying the books and pocketing large sums of money. Greed has always existed among people; there are stories that date back to the Ancient Roman Empire. There are movies and books written about greed, Wolf of Wall Street is a famous one based on a true story. The main character Jordan is a stockbroker that figured out how to beat Wall Streets rules and regulations. He would become one of the riches men to ever work on Wall Street. Why are people so greedy? Is greed

In Macbeth, Shakespeare explores the theme of moral decay produced by the temptation of power. When Macbeth hears the witches’ prophecy (1.3.45) he does not understand how he can become King of Scotland; the only way to attain the crown would be through committing the grave and unjustifiable sin of regicide. Despite this, Macbeth ignores his conscience (1.7.80) and when presented with the opportunity, aided by Lady Macbeth, he murders Duncan (2.1.62). Although he immediately regrets his actions and is filled with compunction (2.2.55, 2.2.63-65), Macbeth decides that there is no going back and “things bad begun make themselves strong by ill.” (3.2.55) Macbeth’s allows his inherent lust for power to completely outweigh his moral conscience.

William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a tragedy in which the main characters are obsessed by the desire for power. Macbeth’s aspiration for power blinds him to the ethical implications of his dreadful acts. The more that Shakespeare’s Macbeth represses his murderous feelings, the more he is haunted by them. By analyzing his hallucinations it is possible to trace his deteriorating mental state and the trajectory of his ultimate fall. Throughout the play Macbeth is never satisfied with himself. He feels the need to keep committing crime in order to keep what he wants most: his kingship. The harder Macbeth tries to change his fate the more he tends to run into his fate. His ambition and struggle for power was Macbeth’s tragic flaw in the play.

Greed is an all consuming emotion. It can drive even the noblest men to do great evil, it can become addicting as the power one seeks is granted, leading the individual to become a power. Greed is defined by a selfish desire to have power, wealth, status, recognition, etc. Greed is a driving force in Shakespeare's play, Macbeth. The main character, Macbeth the Thane of Cawdor, acts immorally,against his better judgment throughout the play. He briefly comes to regret his actions, however his hunger for power is too great and he falls back. In this play, when characters achieve what they desire they come to want more, their quest for power becomes so all consuming that they essentially lose their morality and come to do evil things such as

The novel Macbeth and the article ‘Uncontrolled Ambition Today: Figure Skaters’ both had characters using greed that changed them over the course of their life.

Throughout life, greed has always played a role in people’s actions whether they are aware of it or not. Greed is a very powerful thing that can affect someone in a negative way. No one realizes how much it affects them until something bad happens and it’s too late. People will do whatever it takes just to get their wants fulfilled. They don’t think about the outcome or care what happens just as long as they get what they want. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, greed corrupts Macbeth which then creates his downfall.

“Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction.” Macbeth, or The Scottish Tragedy, by William Shakespeare is a story about a once strong willed and loving defender of Scotland who loses his grasp on the man he built himself up to be. Macbeth, who once was the best Scotsman in the country is nowhere to be found, and he has now become a murderous tyrant, who will not give up until he finds satisfaction. Macbeth is already Thane of Glamis when the Weird sisters, a trio of witches, allude to the fact that Macbeth will one day be Thane of Cawdor and then King, without actually telling him how he will get there. Although Banquo, the thanes best friend, warns him not to do anything impure of heart in order to acquire these titles, the thane ignores him.

Power can change people for the good or for the bad. It can make one so greedy that they will do anything for it and won’t let anything stand in their way for power. The play Macbeth illustrates this well, it shows the impact and consequences that the greed for power has on some people. However, it also shows that there are still some who are not sucked in by the greed that power can bring.

Humans, by nature, are very dependent individuals. Greed engulfs any selflessness we have and leads us to do unforgivable things. We act out of love and seek acceptance, even if it means compromising our own values and ignoring our conscience. When our actions catch up to us, our fear drives us to find a sense of security. Macbeth allowed greed and his own insecurities to destroy his life, and let fear dominate his quest to find security.

William Shakespeare was clearly trying to warn us of the evils in the world when he wrote Macbeth. Unfortunately, being human requires the inevitable vulnerability towards evil temptations; that is just how we were made. Greed is one of humanity’s worst traits, and it infects so many people as it traverses across the world. Thousands of people are lured into the hands of ambition as well, as they do whatever it takes to obtain power and wealth. These epidemics are definitely not helped by the way the world is today. As the saying goes, “the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer”. This causes more and more people to do drastic things, including evil things in order to live good lives, however, these lives they live will never be good lives if they are filled with evil. For evil creates paranoia and heavy guilt upon a person’s conscience.

Blood, deceit, and greed are common occurrences in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The witches that Macbeth meets begin to set up his end. Lady Macbeth continues the trend by pushing him forward. Macbeth in the end is the only one that can decide his faith. The great and powerful Macbeth unholy end can be chalked up to the forces and the ones he holds close.

Macbeth is the essence of greed, he shows just how greed can ruin everything you have worked for. He starts as a simple man, with simple pleasures, but once he returns from war, against the traitorous Thane of Cawdor. He is told by witches he will soon be Thane of Cawdor and even King of norway. As he returns home he is knighted Thane of Cawdor, which reminds him of what those witches had said of him, and who he’ll become. At this moment you can tell greed has taken his mind and twisted he has started thinking of killing the almighty King so he himself shall be king making the prophecies true.

In William Shakespeare's play Macbeth, Macbeth's greed is what eventually killed him. His ambition combined with overwhelming power took him over and took his life. Macbeth is Thane of Glamis and of Cawdor, and the general of the army, but he still thirsts for more power. He attempted to wield the power of a king, but he was not suited for that kind of responsibility. He killed others out of paranoia. Due to his corrupt nature, he was killed. He was killed out of his greed to handle power he could not contain.

Erich Fromm, once said “Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction.”. Greed can change a person. It can make a person go mad, ruin relationship, and do illegal things because they never have enough. The murder of Duncan was driven by greed. Duncan’s murder wasn’t an accident or self defense but a carefully thought out plan to rise in power. Duncan had went over MacBeth’s house with a couple of guards and MacBeth made sure to get them completely drunk so they wouldn’t be awake that night. In the middle of the night MacBeth made sure that they were asleep and snuck into the guest room where Duncan was sleeping. MacBeth then pulled out a dagger and stabbed Duncan

In life, people have a tendency to ruin a good thing while it’s going. People become overwhelmed with the joy and fulfillment and begin to react irresponsible. For instance, a great thing such as winning can result into something horrible. Winning the lottery not only can bring happiness into someone’s life, but as well cause their life to be a complete nightmare. When a person goes from being considerably poor to having millions of dollars, it impacts their lives to a great extent by causing them to become unreasonable with their winnings, quit their jobs, or just lose touch with reality. Truth is winning unthinkable amounts of money causes unimaginable stress on lives of people not accustomed to it resulting in a positive event turning