Power is addictive, and an individual’s desire for it often results in the betrayal of others.
In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, power has a similar effect on the protagonist, Macbeth, who turns on his country and closest allies in order to satisfy his insurmountable appetite for power.
More importantly, Macbeth betrays himself by sacrificing his virtues in exchange for power.
He either gives up or suppresses the virtues of loyalty, morality, and intuition in order to gain power.
In order to gain power, Macbeth must abandon his loyalty and betray those closest to him. In the events leading up to the arrival of Duncan, Macbeth is very hesitant and wary of killing Duncan. In this soliloquy, he understands his role as an ally and a host, and this
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As shown early in the play, Banquo was a strong ally, if not a close friend. Accordingly, this betrayal is vastly more meaningful because it marks Macbeth’s betrayal of both his political and personal loyalty. Macbeth doesn’t kill Banquo because he is a threat to his power (Banquo isn’t mentioned as a threat by the witches), but rather because he doesn’t want Banquo’s sons to be kings. The latter is personally motivated, as the reign of Banquo’s sons doesn’t obstruct or threaten his power. As a result, this betrayal emphasizes his absolute rejection of loyalty. Macbeth has betrayed his political loyalty by murdering Duncan and he now betrays his personal loyalty by killing Banquo. The betrayal of Banquo is another example of how power leads Macbeth to turn on his allies and betray his …show more content…
However before, the power that he believed would come from inheriting Duncan’s position led him to abandon his morality. Only once power is taken out of the equation can he see his faults and lack of morality. This same blinding effect that power has on Macbeth’s morality is also seen later in the play, when he murders Banquo. Under previous circumstances without power at stake, Macbeth and Banquo were close allies and friends. However, as soon as Macbeth perceives Banquo as a threat to his power, he doesn’t hesitate to betray his good friend. Macbeth’s betrayal of Banquo falls under the “morality” category because it is more an immoral action against a friend than a violation of a loyalty between an ally. Thus, yet again, Macbeth sacrifices a virtue with hopes of gaining or at least maintaining his
Macbeth's solution of killing his current problem finalizes his actions of immorality as well as his foil found in Banquo. Even after his death, Banquo is able to keep his integrity and use it to punish, or even remind, Macbeth of his moral supremacy. Banquo returns, as a ?horrible shadow,? to haunt Macbeth at a feast and successfully does so to the point of 'unreal mock'ry' (III.iv), certainly driving Macbeth?s darkness into a phase of decay, leading to further irrationality. This continued irrationality is the cause of yet another stockpile of dead bodies, revealing Macbeth?s inability to cope in his dark
Macbeth’s first attempt at manipulation was unsuccessful. “If you shall cleave to my consent, when ‘tis/ it shall make honor for you.” (II, i). Macbeth is trying to get Banquo to join him because he suspects Banquo may know about the murder of Duncan. Banquo is decent and doesn’t trust the witches’ prophecies so he chooses not to join Macbeth. Banquo shows his courage by standing up to Macbeth and doing what is right, not what is easy. Because Macbeth has failed to manipulate Banquo he decides to have him killed by two henchmen. In addition, he tells them to kill Banquo’s son,
He realizes that if he want to start his own dynasty, then he will have to have control of all the variables. Then Macbeth began to think, “For Banquo’s issues have I filed my mind;/ For them the gracious Duncan I have murdered” (Shakespeare 85). He realizes that he has set himself up to fail. He is cleared a path to the crown for Banquo’s kin. Macbeth goes on to state, “He chid the sisters/ When first they put the name of king upon me” (Shakespeare 85). This give the readers the thought that Banquo is jealous of the king. Macbeth, not wanting to risk his crown, calls for some outside murderers. As I stated earlier, Macbeth knew he must get rid of Banquo and his sons. He succeeds in having Banquo killed, but Banquo’s son, Fleance (the one person Macbeth needed to kill), escapes.
He's here in double trust: first as I his kinsman and his subject, strong both against the deed; then as his host, who should against his murderer shut the door, not bear the knife myself (39)...We will proceed no further in this business"(41). Yet, Macbeth's desire to become king overrides his feelings for Duncan as he continues to do such evil. Macbeth believes that he can only fix his wrongs with more wrongs, therefore he was, in fact, acting on his own volition. "Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill"(95).
In the play, Macbeth was a man who had shown very little mercy to friends let alone his foes. After killing Duncan to become King, he had hired assassins to go and kill Banquo and his son so that he could secure his reign. Banquo was a close friend of Macbeth, they had gone to war together, lived together, fought together and without a second thought, Macbeth has put a death warrant on Banquo and his son’s head. Here Macbeth shows his newly developed uncompassionate character as he does not care about Banquo and their friendship. “ Rather than so, come fate into the list, And champion me that’ utterance.” Here we can see Macbeth speak about the prophecy and how he realises he let go of his morality but for “ Banquo’s seeds” Macbeth not only showed a lack of compassion towards his best friend but also to other characters such as
But, later on in the play we learn by the witched that Banquo's descendants will become King and that they will prosper. It says “Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none”, when Macbeth learns about this and hears about it he is scared and then eventually considers Banquo as a threat to him to become King. So Macbeth has to come up with a solution to this and eventually comes up with the solution that he must murder Banquo and his son Fleance. He gets two murders to go out and murder Banquo and his son while they are walking so that his promise of becoming king will not be in jeopardy. This is an ironic act of betrayal because Macbeth and Banquo have been friends for a long time and have done everything together. Banquo was not just his friend he was also the co-commander of the army and had some power in Scotland.
After everyone has found out that the king is dead Banquo suspects Macbeth of doing something to make the witches predictions that they ways saying to become true. At that time Macbeth is king so he turns on his best friend Banquo and has him and all of his family including Fleance killed because he was the only person there when the predictions of Macbeth becoming king and also the witches said that Banquos son Fleance would become king too. So this shows that that Macbeth is getting over protective of his crown to the throne so he will do anything to stop people becoming king. So he will kill he’s best friend and his family only because the three withes said that predictions of Macbeth becoming king. So Macbeth is going into a downward spiral towards great darkness and becoming ever more evil from every action he makes and does to protect the crown.
On first meeting the ‘weird sisters’ Banquo warned Macbeth that “oftentimes, to win us to our harm, / The instruments of darkness tell us truths, / Win us with honest trifles, to betray us / In deepest consequence.” This deception and betrayal by the witches towards
Macbeth show a lot of betrayal threw his friends like banquo. In the story Macbeth betrays banquo by hiring men to kill him. For example,” Our fears in Banquo, Stick deep, and in his royalty of nature, Reigns that which would be fear’d.”. This shows that Macbeth is obsessed with the prophecy of Banquo’s son being king and thinks nothing of murdering Banquo when he begins to get suspicious about king duncan. Friends and Family are ways you could betray someone especially if you are involved with a
In the play “Macbeth” written by William Shakespeare, Macbeth uses his power to kill anyone he dislikes, including his own friend Banquo. Macbeth abuses his power for his own gain, as he kills Banquo due to the witches
In the beginning of the play, MacBeth uses betrayal for personal gain, which is to become king. In act 1, scene 4, Macbeth shows loyalty to Duncan by saying “The service and the loyalty I owe, In doing it pays itselfs. ”(I.IV.21-22)
Macbeth is telling the two murderers to assassinate Banquo because Banquo is the “enemy” of Scotland. Since the witches say that Banquo's’ son will become the King of Scotland, Macbeth thinks that his position is at risk as long as Banquo is alive. Therefore, he decides to murder his own friend. At this point, Macbeth’s desire for power has already blinded him and he can no longer identify the right from wrong. He accepts murder as a valid, efficient way to approach his problems, and he continues with this method.
After killing King Duncan , Macbeth is starting to realize what it is that he has done, and becomes suspicious and paranoid of everyone around him by puting spy's in every castle and killing those who are any treat to him what so ever. Banquo is the only other person who knows of the meeting with the witches and he would assume that it was Macbeth who killed the King. The witches also said that Banquo would beget kings but he himself would never be king after Macbeth, and so Macbeth decides that Banquo is a threat to him. To get rid of the treat with banquo he decides to kill him and his son Fleance.
As in the play, Macbeth is a very selfish person most likely because he is like that. Later on, Banquo and Macduff start assuming that Macbeth was the one who killed people. When the play goes on, Macbeth kills Banquo because he didn’t want what the witches said to come true. Then Macbeth goes to a banquet and the next thing you know, Macbeth sees Banquo as a
As one may now conclude, power strongly corrupts Macbeth. Originally he is a virtuous man, defending his homeland from rebels, yet he slowly gets transformed by power into a ravaging terror, destroying everything in his way.