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Macbeth's Argument Essay: The Only Crime

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No activity is truly mindless. Whether debated for a long or short period of time, every action is derived from a thought or notion. Therein the true crime lies in the thought process or motive of an action. A crime committed with the desire to improve or protect one’s own pride is selfish and often vain and derived from the desire to be accepted by others. Not every crime can be traced back to selfish intentions. To say “the only Crime is pride”, both a flawed statement and highly unlikely, is to exclude crimes sparked by any other variety of motivations. Often the desire to commit a crime can be driven by the proposition of the emotional gain, sometimes one as frivolous as pure amusement. Though it may be considered pure evil, some people …show more content…

As evil beings, almost everything they do can be looked at as a crime, or a wrong action. Their boss, Hecate, is worse, leading the Witches in their actions. Hecate’s evilness is emphasized when she says “And I, the mistress of your charms, the close contriver of all harms, was never called to bear my part, or show the glory of our art?” She is angry that she was unable to enjoy the tormenting of Macbeth. She goes on to say to the Witches “You bring your cauldrons, your spells, your charms, and everything else. I’m about to fly away. I’ll spend tonight working to make something horrible happen.” Hecate arranges further tormenting of Macbeth for sport. She makes plans to take time to cause some else confusion and pain for her own gain. Though Hecate’s crime is selfish, it is not to further her own life, but instead as a moment of entertainment. A crime of emotional gain is not one of pride. Another potential motive for crime occurs in a state of …show more content…

It is often easier to be both fearful and rational if there is a reasonable grasp of reality. In the case of Macbeth, he is more fearful of being discovered as the murder earlier in the play. As the play progresses, however, Macbeth shows less concern for life, his on and others, and more for power. Rather methodically, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth plan the death of Duncan in the hopes of claiming the crown and avoiding discovery. The original plan was for Lady Macbeth to get Duncan’s servants drunk. While they slept, Macbeth would murder Duncan with the servants’ daggers, framing them. This goes according to plan, until Macbeth strays and kills the servants. Though it was not necessary, Macbeth killed the servants to ensure they would not expose him if their memories resurfaced. He then conceals this most recent crime, claiming it was “the anger that drove me to kill them.” Macbeth attempts to make everyone believe he reacted out of grief and loyalty stating, “Who could refrain, that had a heart to love, and in that heart courage to make ’s love known?” This ploy is an attempt to make Macbeth’s actions appear to be an emotional response that occurred during a lapse in judgement. Macbeth murdered the servants in order to protect his life, and not his reputation. It is therefore a crime of rational fear,

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