Macbeth, By William Shakespeare

Macbeth, an ironic tragedy of the 17th century, is perhaps one of the most appraised works by renowned playwright William Shakespeare. Such fame, though, can be justified through the play’s effective utilization of themes and their evocative subtext; however, Shakespeare particularly focusses on the theme of power and has done so with intent. Macbeth visualises power in two forms, being that of divine and supernatural. The play forms a representation that, alike with the socio-cultural beliefs of the Elizabethan era, divine power should not be tampered with. Otherwise, the consequences can be detrimental, as demonstrated by the painful ends of characters Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Both individuals use the process of illegitimate power to

Everyone has a quality that they do not like about themselves. Some people struggle to be social, others may be too controlling of people. The list goes on and on, but the point is that everybody has a particular quality that they must learn to control or else that particular quality can get out of hand. Of course, one could write a list of characters that have major flaws. There is no better example than William Shakespeare’s character, Macbeth, in The Tragedy of Macbeth. Anyone who has ever read it, could easily identify the fatal flaw that the character Macbeth possesses which is greed. Even though many readers can all agree that greed is Macbeth’s fatal flaw, the argument as to whether or not

As the play goes, Macbeth shows a character of free will. Although his destiny was pre-determined for him by the witches, he took action to believe and to make sure that his prophecies will come true. Macbeth is a strong character with many deep desires that include gaining power, and so throughout the play with the many crimes he had committed, there was no turning back for him. In all, his decisions help shape the future ahead of him.

The play, Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, presents many societal issues, such as the influence of superstition and the supernatural, as well as the continuous desire of the human race for progress and ambitious fulfilment. What a person chooses to do in order to fulfil those desires depends on the individuals themselves, and in the case of Macbeth, he turns to murder in order to advance his social and political standing. The audience’s perception of Macbeth changes throughout the play, beginning with feelings of admiration and approval of his deeds and character, and ending, with the play and as well as his life, as feelings of contempt and disgust at his treachery. This is achieved mainly through the progression of Macbeth’s character development, as well as through the dialogue of himself and other characters.

On the other end of the spectrum, Macbeth must deal with the moral uncertainty of the actions he does commit. When he goes to kill Duncan, the dagger appears, which he judges to be “A dagger of the mind, a false creation /Proceeding from the heat oppressèd brain” (II.i.38-39). It is something that has materialized because he has a humoral imbalance. This is the “psychic distress” Roychoudhury says, “threatens often to undo the protagonists” (218). Because his mind is not right, Macbeth goes down a path of self-destruction. Macbeth does not murder all of his possible enemies at once, it takes four separate murders until he is finished. This goes against Machiavelli’s prescription in The Prince: “Violence must be inflicts once and for all; people will then forget what it tastes like and so be less resentful” (32). Though the audience does not get a chance to see whether the people are resentful, Macbeth is resentful of himself. He has “terrible dreams / that shake us nightly” (III.ii.18-19), violent nightmares, because of his guilt from murdering Duncan. His own rumination contains the same idea: “If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well / It were done quickly” (I.vii.1-2). The repetition of the “w” sound evokes the madness behind Macbeth’s thoughts. This is not easy to get out when spoken. His words are more than his tongue can handle, he cannot manage to get everything done all at once. The state Macbeth usurped to obtain is in trouble by Machiavelli’s standards

We believe that to obtain a position of power we must acquire, or presently have traits of deception, force, and manipulation, although the people who think this are dead wrong. People with the greatest amount of power get authority through ambition, responsibility, and motivation. In the play Macbeth written by William Shakespeare, it shows a story about a fictional tragedy in which a strong scottish general named Macbeth receives news from witches that he will one day become king. The new king of Scotland would be him one day. He created a large amount of confidence and ambition out of this tale, that he comes to his goal by killing the king to take the throne of the now deceased, king Duncan. The power Macbeth obtains corrupts Macbeth and leads to him being a manipulative, overpowered leader. Macbeth has absolute power and goes against all laws of nature to get to that point of obtaining the position he eventually has through cheating god.

Since Macbeth believes that he must kill Duncan to achieve his goal of becoming king quickly, Macbeth subdues his feelings and thoughts to become more "masculine." From the start, Macbeth recognizes his need to separate his mind from his actions, because his mind overpowers his will to act. Macbeth has the capacity to perform the deeds necessary to achieve his goal; obviously, from the first description of him in the play describing his prowess on the battlefield, he can kill Duncan. However, he is unable to carry them out because he is too caught up in his imaginings. Therefore, instead of overthinking everything, he suppresses his thoughts and begins to act rashly. For instance, he kills Duncan 's guards spontaneously, and then plots the deaths of Macduff 's family, Banquo, and Fleance, without even consulting his wife. He expresses his need to carry out his actions without extended thought, saying, "Strange things I have in head, that will to hand, / Which must be acted ere they may be scanned" (3.4.141-2). This quote brings in elements of the meta-theatrical, since Macbeth 's plans "must be acted" by the player onstage. If they aren 't being performed onstage, then they are being read and "scanned," alluding to the analysis of the play through poetic scansion. Although we do not directly consider metrical elements in this paper, this line still refers to what we are currently doing—analyzing the play. Regardless of the medium through which we experience these lines, this

Macbeth is a play written by Shakespeare where the main character Macbeth makes his way from battle and comes across three witches that call him upon his future before it actually takes place. Later in the play Macbeth notices certain changes that start to come true just like the witches told him and tries to take advantage of what he was told and chases his ambition to be the new king. He achieves his goal to be crowned the new king by tragic events that will take place in the play and with the help of Lady Macbeth. Macbeth seizes power and will do his best to fulfil his goals by doing what he can to maintain his position by the help of supernatural elements in the play. The three supernatural elements used in the play Macbeth that

The want for power can be recognized in everyday life. The feeling of power can cause many problems which are made evident in the one of Shakespeare’s plays, Macbeth. In Macbeth, the main character receives word from witches that he will become king. When his decision to take over the thrown himself occurs, he murders the previous King and is then taken over by guilt. Moral lessons, conflict, and fate are used to show the detrimental effects of the desire for power.

This quote means that the one who has complete authority is extremely likely to abuse his position. 'Absolute power' refers to complete, unchallengeable power where the holder has no external compulsions and is answerable to none about his actions. It builds on the idea that every human being has the potential to become a 'benevolent dictator' given the right situation. Power, or simply the desire for power, can cause people to act in unintelligible ways. Many examples can be seen throughout history of leaders who have been perverted with power. For example, leaders like Hitler and Napoleon have all committed disgraceful actions during their rule in the hopes of attaining the 'Absolute power'. All through the play Macbeth, the desire for 'Absolute power' is the central compelling force for Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. They are dominated with a great yearning for gaining the ultimate power by becoming the King and Queen, and are willing to achieve it by whatever means necessary. Power corrupts their thoughts, behaviours and actions. They become greedy and selfish. As a result of this, they suffer the tragic fate of their own doings. Example of this corruption is first seen when Lady Macbeth decides that she will murder Duncan after reading her husband's letter about the witches prophecies. She refuses to see the difference between right and wrong as she is blinded by the desire

Macbeth, his journey begins as a noble soldier. Whose sole purpose is to protect king and country. However we will see him go from this noble hero to a very power crazed, prideful murder.

Hubris is a Greek word that means overwhelming pride, as stated by the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Thus, a person that is hubristic is one that is arrogant and has lot of pride and self-confidence. Holy teachings from the Christian church condemn hubris and emphasize that hubristic behaviors lead to eminent and disastrous downfalls. Various examples of teachings of anti-hubristic behavior can be found on the bible such as “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (Proverbs 3:34) and “Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished” (Proverbs 16:5). Consequently, Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus and Shakespeare’s Macbeth are two stories that clearly depict the hubristic behavior that is condemned by the Christian church since both focus on human pride and thirst for power. Macbeth portrays more hubristic behavior than Doctor Faustus, although Doctor Faustus initially seems to be more hubristic than Macbeth.

In most Shakespearian tragedies, the hero possesses a character trait which under normal circumstances would be a virtue, but which under the special circumstances of the play proves to be a fatal flaw. Macbeth consists of several situations where the hero portrays many such qualities that drive him to commit wrong actions. Macbeth’s desires convinced him to ignore the impact of his actions. In addition, his doubtfulness controlled his consciousness and finally his blindness affected his aptitude to seek reality. An analysis of Macbeth’s actions and behaviour reveals that Macbeth should be justified as a tragic hero validating the belief that he possesses several fatal flaws which eventually resulted in his downfall.

In Macbeth, Shakespeare first builds Macbeth’s character as a courageous and capable warrior through the wounded captain’s account of his valor on the battlefield. However, this perspective is complicated as a result of Macbeth’s interaction with the three witches, in which the notion that his physical courage is accompanied with an insatiable yet empty ambition and a tendency to self-doubt becomes known. These three attributes: bravery, ambition, and self-doubt, struggle for mastery of Macbeth throughout the play. As the story progresses, Macbeth’s ambition spurs him into regrettable action in which self-doubt and guilt cause him to undergo intense inner conflict between right and wrong, causing a domino effect which evidently leads to more malicious actions and the death of his wife. Macbeth may be classified as irrevocably evil, but his weak character separates him from Shakespeare’s great villains—Richard III in Richard III, Edmund in King Lear, Iago in Othello—who are all strong enough to conquer guilt and self-doubt. Macbeth, despite the great warrior he is, is ill equipped for the psychic consequences of his actions. In Act 5, Scene 5, Shakespeare uses Macbeth to demonstrate the dreadful effects that empty ambition can have on a man who lacks strength of character, using a temporal tone to highlight the futility of life and answering the question: can a lust for power lead to loss of humanity?

Macbeth is a tragedy written in the 17th century that shows what the desire for power can do to a man. Macbeth is expressed as being the villain. But, Macbeth is in fact a tragic hero, doomed by fate from the beginning into the madness he put himself in. If it not been for meeting the witches and persuasion of his wife, the play would have had a very different ending.