Power can change people in a way that is incomprehensible either for good or for evil. Power can make one so greedy that someone will do anything for it and won’t let anyone, or thing stand in their way. Macbeth by William Shakespeare portrays both the positive and negative uses on Power through the main characters. Macbeth’s greed of power allowed him to exercise abuse and ultimately he was corrupted and destroyed by power. Lady Macbeth used power in a positive way but her ultimate goal was domination of the Crown. Shakespeare uses dialogue and symbolism to allow his readers to engage with his mood and therefore the concepts of power.
Power is something one can find in all aspects of life. Whether in a relationship between two people or over an entire country, many people hold power in their lives. What is done with that power is up to the person who holds it and can be a strong reflection of their character. Too many people in positions of power become so wrapped up in wanting total control, that they lose sight of what is right and wrong. In the play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, power is demonstrated many ways through many different characters. Power and ambition greatly affects the choices people make everyday.
In The Tragedy of Macbeth, the most prevailing theme is the shift in power in the relationships of the central character. The main character of the play, Macbeth, experiences a shift in control of his relationships as he gains more power.
Both themes in the play have a connection to real life situations that are relevant to today’s society. All of us have moments in our lives in which we must choose between goodness and greed, and, when we choose poorly, our lives, our families and even our countries turn out to be just as fragile. It is in the blood of most people to desire more power but it is some that take it further into an obsession which leads to improper actions. Macbeth shows us what the lure of power can do, and how it can make a person blind to moral reason and common sense. The envy and desire to possess and people’s willingness to do anything to get it is something that relates to any setting. The main moral message is about naked, unchecked, almost brutal ambition, and the lengths that a person will pursue it to achieve ultimate power. A modern equivalence that can be drawn to this scene is Hitler during WWII. Hitler had a lot in common with Macbeth, including the steady history of betrayals and will willingness to commit unspeakable crimes against other human beings to advance his cause. Another characteristic of Macbeth is his paranoia which results from the predictions of the witches. Because
The theme of the book is the greed of Macbeth. He was a good valiant fighter at first. As soon as the witches gave him the three titles he started to become greedy. He wanted to become the next title given. A time he showed that he wanted was when the witches first told him he would be Thane of Cawdor and King Hereafter. There was a tone of greed when he replied “Stay, you imperfect speakers. Tell me more.”. It showed again when he said “You owe this strange intelligence or why Upon this blasted heath you stop our way With such prophetic greeting. Speak, I charge you. I think he was doing this out of greed for knowledge and to know if he could ever have power as the king does. He showed his greed most when he wanted to become king. He showed that doing anything to become king was more important to him. He still had a non greedy side telling him that the king has honored him enough, but his wife, Lady Macbeth was another person corrupted by greed. They killed the present king, Duncan, so that they can be king and queen themselves.
The tragedy, Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare details Macbeth’s expeditious rise and looming fall from power through his several wrongdoings and dark crimes across the play. Power as seen in Macbeth pushes the plot towards the downfall of the protagonist and often creates an image of struggle, whether it be portrayed internally or between characters. The juxtaposition of power and womanhood, uncommon for it’s time, used to emasculate Macbeth shows the peculiarity of his path to the throne, while he grapples with the results of his actions motivated by the hunger for power. Shakespeare uses the idea of status and recurring power struggles between characters in Macbeth to present a warning of the subsequent results of gaining power and shows the change of character Macbeth has through his acquiring of power.
Macbeth is a complex story and encapsulates several themes. Every theme plays a big role and has a very significant meaning to the plot and character development included in the play. The figurative language present in each of the themes forces you to think about what each theme means and how it effects the story. The most relevant and prominent themes in this play consist of ambition, guilt, things are not what they seem, and fate verses free will.
What is power? In the tragedy of Macbeth written by William Shakespeare there are many different takes on how power can be portrayed. In the beginning of the play the three witches give Macbeth three prophecies. To fulfill the three prophecies Macbeth kills the current king, King Duncan. At the end, Macbeth is tragedy slayed by Macduff because of his tragic flaw, ambition. Although some may say that Macbeth is the most powerful character in the play , Lady Macbeth is the most powerful character because she is power hungry, ambitious, and cunning.
Throughout the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, power is something that everyone craves, but for Macbeth, power makes him corrupt. Throughout the story Macbeth shows how terrible he becomes, when more opportunities of power are introduced to him. Some examples of that are, Macbeth kills Duncan to become the king of Scotland, appointing people to kill his best friend Banquo and his son to shatter the prophecy, and executing Macduff’s family because Macduff fled to England to liberate Scotland from Macbeth.
In the play Macbeth, power is something that everyone craves, but for Macbeth, power makes him corrupt. Throughout the story, Macbeth shows how terrible he becomes when more opportunities of power are introduced to him. Some examples of that are, Macbeth killing the Duncan to become the king of Scotland, appointing people to kill his best friend Banquo and his son to shatter the prophesy, and executing Macduff’s family because Macduff fled to England to liberate Scotland from Macbeth.
Throughout Shakespeare’s tragedy, Macbeth, it demonstrated that when power is influenced by personal ambition, it leads to downfall and characters start to realize power signifies nothing. Almost every character introduced into this play has used their ambition to try to gain power or has used their power to get where they are right now. Macbeth’s actions were guided by what the witches predicted for him, and when that word went around, Lady Macbeth was controlled by the thought of power too. The thoughts of power created conflicts throughout the book, starting with the murder of King Duncan, all the way to the murder of Macbeth. When actions are used to steal power, it leads to a destructive future.
Once Macbeth was given more power his ego grew rapidly and everything just went downhill from there. He became thane which then lead to being king, The more power he wanted lead to him becoming more greedy, it started to control him and ruined many other lives. This play shows that no matter how much someone has they still want more and are never pleased with what they
Power is nothing to be handled lightly. As the lessons of history have shown, power can be implemented for the benefit of the subjects or for the personal furthering of the ruler. In William Shakespeare’s tragedy, Macbeth, the main character is used as the antithesis of an exemplar for those in power over others. The perils of power are demonstrated by the actions of Macbeth through his rise to kingship, his time of ruling, and his fall.
In Macbeth, the witches seem to be confusing figures. They are portrayed as dark, eccentric, and strangely amusing creatures. It doesn’t show that they have that much importance early on, but after finishing the play and comprehending, we see that the witches have done a lot. We can deduce that the “weird sisters” specifically implant ideas in Macbeth’s head, which later influence him by giving him all types of information that eventually affect his way of handling guilt, and other emotions that put him on the edge of sanity. The witches know that Macbeth will be bad, it is not enounced why, but