How Is Macbeth Selfish

Throughout the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the main character, Macbeth, was very selfish. Macbeth and his friend Banquo went to see the three witches, and each had prophecies. Macbeth’s being king, and Banquo’s being his descendants would become king. However, when Macbeth killed the current king of Scotland, King Duncan, he would try and make sure that Banquo’s prophecy did not come true. During the play Macbeth, the main character Macbeth felt many emotions which made his reign as king a not good one such as anxiety, greed, and gulibilty.

Macbeth murders many to gain power. He causes the suffering of families and murders former friends. The violence starts with the murder of the king, Duncan, who’d trusted and honored Macbeth; Macbeth kills him to gain the position of king. Duncan’s death is the catalyst; Macbeth subsequently begins to use violence as a regular way to attain power. He murders his former friend, Banquo, refusing to accept that Banquo’s sons will be kings as prophesized by the witches. He says in regard to the prophecy, “Rather than so, come fate into the list, / And champion me to th' utterance.” Instead of accepting fate, he challenges the prophecy and orders Banquo’s death. His final homicide is the massacre of Lord Macduff’s family. When Macduff hears of the brutal slaughter, he cries, “That were most precious to me. Did heaven look on, / And would not take their

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Macbeth was king and had killed several people to get this far, even killing his friend to stay king. Macbeth was afraid that Banquo’s son was a threat to his throne. He went to the witches so that they could inform him on what was going to happen in the future. The Witches told him to be aware of Macduff, that no one born of a woman can harm him, and to not be weary until the forest comes to the palace. This makes Macbeth think he is invincible. This also makes him a bit arrogant since he does not comprehend how the forest can just come to the palace. Though he is still a bit weary of Macduff, this was his breaking point. This is when you see him fully loose his conscious. He decides without hesitation to kill everyone in Macduff’s castle without remorse. His thoughts were “from this moment the very firstlings of my heart shall be the firstlings of my hand. And even now, to crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and done: The castle of Macduff I will surprise; seize upon Fife, give to the edge o’ the sword his wife, babes, and all unfortunate souls that trace him in his line” (Shakespeare, Act IV Scene II) This is when Macbeth’s descent is fulfilled, but there is still another influence to this

In Shakespeare’s, The Tragedy of Macbeth, the main character Macbeth is an evil and selfish person who is only out for himself no matter who he hurts.

Selfishness can control one to not understand the real life consequences.Lady Macbeth influenced Macbeth to becoming a person he doesn’t want to be by only thinking about how the outcome will affect her. Before Macbeth becomes king, Lady Macbeth is the most influential person that expands Macbeth’s desire to become king by planning a murder. The influence of Lady Macbeth is shown briefly, later in the novel Lady Macbeth’s influence is gone and Macbeth is completely brain washed. He no longer needs help from Lady Macbeth and starts to become a different person. After Lady Macbeth wants to become less involved with Macbeth’s ideas, she realizes her damage and the effect of what she changed Macbeth to be. The author vaguely brings back the regret

As people become aware of his tyrannical actions, they begin to revolt against Macbeth. As he sees this as an opportunity to display his power and indestructability, Macbeth quickly defies his opponents, becoming heartless to the deaths of others and caring only about the maintenance of his title. Even as his wife dies, Macbeth brushes the news as an inconvenience and focuses on how to defeat his opponents. With the collection of titles and power, Macbeth believes himself to have power over everyone, and in turn, this causes him to become disconnected from both his people and those who serve to advise and protect him. As his military abandons him and some weakly fight against opposing forces, Macbeth is eventually killed by an opponent he had initially dismissed.

Macbeth The play is set into motion when Macbeth, a brave and loyal Scottish general, receives a prophecy from three witches. The trio of witches foresee that Macbeth will be thane of Cawdor and one day the king of Scotland. After hearing this Macbeth is no longer loyal to King Duncan, but to his own

“...it's true that some of the most terrible things in the works are done by people who think, genuinely think, that they're doing it for the best” (Terry Pratchett). In Shakespeare’s play, The Scottish Play, Macbeth is driven by selfish desires to take his fate into his own hands and go to extremes to obtain the title of King of Scotland. At the start of his pursuit for power his actions are planned and his first murder has real meaning behind it. Next, Macbeth targets the man who will father future kings. Finally, Macbeth becomes so paranoid and overcome with guilt that he has innocent women and children murdered. What starts as selfish ambition can quickly grow into an all consuming force, causing one to abandon one's honor, lose friends

Ambition is often the driving force in one’s life. It can have an extremely dominant impact on not only yourself, but also many people in your surroundings. You have the ability to control if the outcomes either have a lasting negative or positive effect. When a goal requires determination and hard work to complete, personal morals often take a back seat to the aspiration of accomplishing the goal. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, it is clear that like many other great leaders, Macbeth exemplifies the necessary leadership virtue of ambition. Macbeth’s ambition does not just drive him to do great things. It in fact controls him. The playwright explores the idea of how an individual’s ambition can cause them to deceive others, make irrational

He has Macbeth stand his ground until the end and lose his fight after trying his best. We see glimpses of the Macbeth we saw in Act 1 – brave and valiant – in an altered scenario. In Scene 3, Macbeth says, “I’ll fight till from my bones my flesh be hack’d”. He wants to die as someone who, though hated, fought confidently and skilfully. Later, Macbeth states “At least we’ll die with harness on our back”. He thinks that if he dies like this, all is not lost and that, despite his reputation, he may still be admired for certain qualities. He refuses to be affected by his wife’s death either. He says, “She would have died hereafter”, pushing it to the back of his mind, focusing on the battle rather than Lady Macbeth’s demise. Lastly, before Macbeth is slain, he says, “Lay on Macduff, / And damn’d be him that first cries, ‘Hold, enough!”. He is eager to be strong to the end – attempting to keep the qualities that he was once respected

The Play “Macbeth” by William Shakespeare is shaped by supernatural forces with the use of the weird witches, the apparition of the ghost, and the floating dagger. These forces lead Macbeth to act in the way he did and add suspense to the play. The play opens with the three witches, and later on Macbeth and Banquo encounter them. They prophesized that Macbeth will be promoted to Thane of Cawdor, and then become King of Scotland. In addition to that, Banquo was told that his sons shall be kings, but never himself. Macbeth was skeptical about the prophesies, but until some of King Duncan’s men came to inform Macbeth that that he was to be named Thane of Cawdor due to the betrayal of the previous and condemned to death. Then Lady Macbeth

Macbeth develops into a pernicious king as the play advances, as he commits horrendous actions that result in his own wrecking. Nevertheless, he has differentiated himself during the battle against the treacherous Thane of Cawdor, and the King of Norway. He is the brave soldier who leads King 's Duncan force to victory through his strength and skill level. King Duncan addresses Macbeth as his "…valiant cousins (and) / (A) worthy gentleman" (I.ii.25). This shows, how the King recognizes Macbeth 's skill on the battlefield, and therefore rewards Macbeth with a higher title, the Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth displays these characteristics once again in Act IV, as he ignores the witches ' prophecies, don 's his armour and fights against a heavily armed army, which is a greater size than his own Scottish infantry. This performance displays that Macbeth still holds the attributes of bravery as he did initially. For the first time, he makes a decision by setting aside the prophecies. In the play, the townsfolk see their malicious

In the beginning of the play, the witches make three prophecies. First, that Macbeth will become the Thane of Cawdor. The second part of the prophecy is that Macbeth will become King. The third prophecy being that Banquo will be father to future kings. When Macbeth first hears the prophecy, Duncan holds the position as king. King duncan is also a very loved king by his people. Macbeth and Duncan even have a good relationship. Macbeth is Duncan’s greatest war hero and because of Macbeth’s great success in battle, Duncan rewards him by promoting him to the position of Thane of Cawdor. With this promotion, Macbeth realizes that the witches first prophecy was true. With this realization, Macbeth’s head begins to fill with thoughts of killing King Duncan to speed up the process so that he can become king. When he tells his wife of the prophecies and his promotion, she becomes extremely

Macbeth's feels that his destiny is to become King and rule with all the power that goes with kingship. The three witches on his way back to the kingdom, prophesied that he would rise to kingship. They said "All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis" (I, 3, 48), and then as the thane of Cawdor "All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Cawdor" (I, 3, 49). At this point in the play Macbeth had just become thane of Glamis, and the thane of Cawdor is still alive. Then, the witches greeted Macbeth as the King of Scotland saying "All hail, Macbeth! That shalt be King hereafter" (I, 3, 50). This is the point in the tragedy where Macbeth starts to think as a villain. If the witches had never greeted him as King on Scotland, then he would probably never have contemplated killing Duncan in the first place. At first, he believes that he will need to kill King Duncan. Though at the end of Act 1, Scene 3, he thinks that perhaps he doesn't need to do anything to become the king saying "If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me without my stir.", showing he is a man of honor and morals. Then, Lady Macbeth hears of the prophecy in his letters and decides immediately for him that King Duncan must die, showing Macbeth's doubt. An