The “seduction” of power can change an individual drastically. An individual in a position of power often believes that they are better than the others around them. The entitlement an individual feels after obtaining power can be costly. William Shakespeare portrays the “seduction” of power in Macbeth, through Macbeth’s ambition to attain more power. Macbeth acts as his own adversary shown through his paranoia and insecurity that ultimately, led him to be a corrupted individual because of his greediness to obtain more power.
Macbeth’s source of insecurity was from his wife Lady Macbeth doubting his manhood. As shown when she used her seducing ways to get Macbeth to kill Duncan, “When you durst do it, then you were a man; / And be so much
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Macbeth stated in his soliloquy, “Our fears in Banquo stick deep, and in his royalty of nature/Reigns that which would be feared” (3.1.53-55). Macbeth abused the power he had because of his paranoia that others were after his position of power. Macbeth showed that he was willing to do anything even killing Banquo, whose intentions were to have Macbeth’s best interest. Macbeth saw Banquo as a threat because of the prophecy that his son’s will become king. Macbeth acted on his feelings instantly about Banquo and didn’t think it through clearly. Macbeth let his paranoia of losing his powers to get the best of him because he killed someone who was close to him and wanted what was best for him.
The position of power Macbeth gained as King of Scotland was overruled by the actual power of greed, selfishness, and relentlessness to maintain the power resulted in Macbeth to commit murderous crimes and become his own adversary. Carolyn Asp stated, “As Macbeth accepts a false masculinity that simultaneously fosters the illusion of his godlike power and diminishes his total human development, he is alienated from the very society that inculcates the stereotype.” Macbeth became his own worst enemy when he tried to prove his manliness to his wife by killing Duncan. As a result, Macbeth begins a tragic fall where he lets the seduction of power to take over his conscience. All of Macbeth’s thoughts involved what he was going to do next to maintain power and it always had
After he had attained his destiny, Macbeth felt that Banquo would become a serious threat. He did not like the fact that Banquo was destined to be a father to a whole line of kings. "Our fears in Banquo stick deep, and in his royalty of nature reigns that which would be feared...If `t be so, for Banquo's issue have I filed my mind; for them the gracious Duncan have I murdered..."(85). The path Macbeth chooses to take in order to stay at the throne was to have Banquo killed. But, Macbeth was never destined to kill anyone. Killing Duncan, Banquo and Macduff's whole household were all his decisions to attain his destiny.
Personal power has the ability to be essential to greatness, and at the same time is able to destroy a person’s nature. In the drama Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the main character, Macbeth, becomes corrupt through power that he gains. The play shows that even someone who starts out like Macbeth and does not crave power, will do terrible things to gain authority and power.
Insecurities, weaknesses and inadequacies. These are qualities that represent itself in the play of Macbeth. Fallacies and human nature are a vital part in the play, it shows how many character are formed and are dealt with. For the sake of better understanding of fallacies and human nature, we will solely focus on Macbeth. Some make these insecurities are very clear whereas some are more hidden and need to be deciphered of what the message behind the insecurities are. In MacBeth, by William Shakespeare, MacBeth not only possesses’ insecurities, weaknesses and inadequacies, he makes them very clear through the ways by which they motivate and fuel him and his actions. MacBeth’s actions are taken into play by his insecurities, which are described by how he was influenced by the three witches,
It is in human nature that the more power one desires the more corrupt actions one must do to attain it. In Shakespeare’s tragedy of Macbeth, a Scottish noble's craving for power leads him to do terrible deeds that leads to his demise. Shakespeare shows that power corrupts by using Macbeth who corrupts under the thought of have power over others. Macbeth becomes corrupt under the thought of becoming king and gaining almost complete control over the people that he rules. Macbeth wants the power badly enough to do horrible deeds such as commit regicide. Lady Macbeth becomes very ambitious and allows herself to become seduced to the
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
Macbeth fears Banquo’s descendents will take his kingship. He thinks that Banquo should be murdered to stop it from happening, “And though I could / With barefaced power sweep him from my sight / And bid my will avouch it” (3.1.134-136). In the quote, Macbeth is says that he would kill Banquo and offer his desire for Banquo’s death as sufficient justification for killing him (Shakespeare 88). Macbeth does not murder Banquo but cons murderers into committing the violence. Macbeth is not thinking clearly though because he would know that violence only breeds more violence. The murderers kill Banquo and further continue the
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.
In this world, one of the strongest human drives seems to be the desire for power. In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Thane Macbeth seeks to gain power over Scotland. Through Macbeth’s search for power, he must choose between what is morally right or his inner motives. Macbeth gains power over others through the murders of King Duncan, Banquo, and Macduff’s entire family along with his servants. After each murder, Macbeth becomes more confident in his search to gain power.
He attempted to bury the past by killing more and more people to try to cover up that he was the one who killed Duncan. Once Banquo started getting suspicious of Macbeth, he decided to kill him. “But to be safely thus. Our fears in Banquo/ Stick deep, and in his royalty of nature/ Reigns that which would be fear’d. ‘Tis must he dares/ And, to that dauntless temper of his mind” (III.i.52-54). Macbeth fears Banquo because he was starting to realize that Macbeth was the one to kill Duncan, and because of this he decided to kill Banquo. Macbeth committed over nine murders throughout the play, all revolving around the fact that he let others manipulate him.
After the murder of Duncan, Macbeth is titled the King of Scotland. Having Macbeth murder Duncan to become King makes it seem to Macbeth that he can control his own fate. This only makes it worse for Macbeth, because it is now engraved in his mind that murder can change fate. Now that Duncan is taken care of, it is Banquo that Macbeth is worried about, for Macbeth is convinced that Banquo knows too much because he was the only other person with him when the witches prophesized his fate. It’s not only Banquo that Macbeth wants to murder, he also wants to change the prophecy of Banquo’s descendants becoming Kings by murdering them as well, as he states “To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings!;/ Rather than so, come fate into the list,;/ And champion me to th’ utterance.” (III, I, 70-73). This line directly shows that Macbeth now thinks he is in control, and that he can challenge fate by murdering the sons of Banquo to change what the witch’s prophesized for the descendants of Banquo to become kings.
At the beginning of the play Macbeth is seen as a courageous soldier who is loyal to the King but is corrupted from the witches prophecies and by his and Lady Macbeth’s ambition. Their marriage is of convenience for Lady Macbeth, but for Macbeth it is more than that. He loves his wife, and she takes advantage of that. She is continuously making him feel guilty, for being weak, and challenges his manhood, with these words "When you durst do it, then you were a man, and, to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man." (I,vi,50-52), which means, Be a man, and I will love you as one.
Lust for power is one of the most unfavourable and destructive qualities. It is this quality in Shakespeare’s Macbeth that destroys the lives of many innocent people and morphs Scotland into a corrupt and chaotic country. However, this lust is not present in every soul – Macduff, Thane of Fife, has a soul that does not lust for power. His soul is full of motivation, motivation to bring peace and order back to his lovely Scotland. However, Macduff “[loses] [any] hope” (IV.III.30) to overthrow Macbeth’s immoral reign, because there is no one, in Scotland, with the power to overthrow the king. Though this does not stop him; “[he] [flees] the land” (IV.II.1) to England, “[leaving] [behind] his wife … [and] babes” (IV.II.8), in hopes of finding someone full of verity, courage, and love to help him seize back Scotland.
His desire to stay in power overcomes him as he realizes that Banquo’s son may take his place. Shakespeare reveals Macbeth’s feelings about his best friend after becoming king in another soliloquy: “To be thus is nothing; but to be safely thus. Our fears in Banquo stick deep, and in his royalty of nature reigns that which would be fear’d…” (3.1.48-51). Macbeth’s fears of Banquo are expressed, and it all started because he heard that prophecy about Banquo. Macbeth does not see much point in becoming king if he in not “safely thus”. In order to preserve his power, he feels the need to sacrifice other people’s lives. The murderous path he has chosen will only lead him to death, as people will find out and kill him for it, contributing to the theme that death is inevitable. In conclusion, Macbeth’s desire to stay in power is what made him choose to take another life; however, if it was not for the witches, he would not have felt a need to carry out any of the deeds he has done.
Power and greed nurture an all-consuming and unrelenting desire to succeed, resulting in otherwise socially unacceptable behavior. In Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Lady Macbeth’s implacable desire to garner the crown results in an alteration of traditional gender roles and a progression of socially uncommon actions by women. Furthermore, Lady Macbeth does not adhere to the gender stereotypes in Shakespeare’s shortest and most violent play (Samuel, “Macbeth and Issues…”). In Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is portrayed as ambitious, deciding to kill King Duncan herself after Macbeth shows hesitation to gain the crown. In order to garner the courage to kill King Duncan, Lady Macbeth surrenders herself from her inherent femininity, instead fostering her inner masculinity. However, she is also deceptive and presents a feminine mien to prevent anyone from thinking that she is guilty of murder. By fostering her inner manhood Lady Macbeth has a large influence on others and her suggestions and encouragements have long lasting effects. Additionally, Hecate and the weird sisters warnings challenge Macbeth’s manhood, resulting in him refusing to listen to their warning. Lady Macbeth’s masculinity contributes to the significant impact of her commands. Lady Macbeth and Macduff’s wife use their power and influence to challenge the manhood of others and further incite action in the way they desire, these impacts oftentimes extending beyond their deaths. However, Lady Macbeth is ultimately unable
In William Shakespeare's play, “The Tragedy of Macbeth” the title character seeks to gain power over others. After receiving a prophecy that he will one day be king, Macbeth’s eagerness gets stronger as he decides to make his desire come true himself by killing the current title holder, Duncan, and becoming the new King of Scotland. The prevailing theme in this story is power and Macbeth's character holds true to it with the struggles he encounters throughout the play as he tries to gain and hold the power of carrying out the throne.