When in a relationship, one's quest for power, can result in an endless effort to satisfy this desire, producing a tragic outcome. In the tragedy of Macbeth, William Shakespeare explores how greed and ambition has an influence on one’s actions, leading to the occurrence of a tragedy. In the case of Macbeth, greed and ambition results in Macbeth becoming a highly manipulative, and dangerous individual. The dominant status Lady Macbeth owns, allows her to influence Macbeth into committing harmful acts. When Lady Macbeth’s dominant status begins to deteriorate, Macbeth begins to mature, gradually becoming the more dominant individual within their relationship. When Macbeth has “fully matured” he is able to make his own decisions, without the persuasion …show more content…
Macbeth is no longer an honest, innocent husband, as he was in the beginning. Macbeth has completed his transition from an honest and caring leader, into a cold, heartless individual, which is shown when he voices: “She should have died hereafter / There would have been a time for such a word.” (V.v.17-18) Macbeth is informed about his wife’s suicide, and shows absolutely no remorse, which shows how heartless he has become. Macbeth’s love for his wife deteriorated, alongside their relationship to the point where Macbeth does not even care about his wife’s death. Moving forward, Macbeth is not the only person who has undergone a major change. Lady Macbeth has also transitioned from a ruthless, power hungry individual, to someone riddled with guilt, which is shown when she states: “The thane of Fife has a wife. Where is she now?— / What, will these hands ne’er be clean?” (V.i.30-31) Lady Macbeth is referring to the horrible crimes which she has pushed her husband into committing. Lady Macbeth comes to realize her husband is not the loving person he was in the beginning. Moreover, she also realizes he has become cold and heartless, to the point where he cannot be stopped. Macbeth’s transition to dominance has now been completed, as he has become insensitive to human
Macbeth Essay The play Macbeth by Shakespeare is about the journey of a man named Macbeth doing whatever he can to get power. Throughout the play Macbeth does ruthless things just to get closer to becoming king. Macbeth starts out as a kind man who fought for his king and was loyal.
Both greed and power, if not controlled, can lead to destruction. Throughout William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, Shakespeare uses both characters Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to demonstrate how ambition can change one’s personal relationships. As in the beginning of Act 1, Scene 7 Macbeth and Lady Macbeth do not share the same ambition, and it is because of this that their relationship lacks love and affection however through the use of persuasion and other means, Lady Macbeth is able to get Macbeth to pursue her ambition. This not only changes their relationship drastically but it also changes Macbeth’s attitude towards ambition. Throughout the play, Shakespeare shows us through Macbeth, the possibility for ambition to eventually turn into greed and how the lust for power may corrupt us.
The play Macbeth by Shakespeare is a play about a couple who is power hungry. They receive some news from three witches about Macbeth being king, this drives the couple insane. Throughout the play peer pressure is shown by Lady Macbeth pushing Macbeth to his limits to fulfill the prophecies and earn the throwe. In the beginning of the play is where the first example of peer pressure is shown.
Blind Ambition and Greed The play “Macbeth”, by William Shakespeare illustrates many themes through the characters from the beginning to the end of the story. But the main central theme introduced is Ambition and Greed. As the play goes on we read how Macbeth permits his Ambition and Greed to dictate the outcomes and tragedy’s that occur to himself and others.
William Shakespeare wrote a play called Macbeth, where the main character Macbeth is trying to get the most power he possibly can and kill everyone in his way. Macbeth's actions are caused by strong and maybe small emotions that guide his actions. Emotions like anger, guilt, sadness, greed, and many more. Macbeth’s character is very simple, he is a man that is given a very good opportunity for power and he takes it and doesn’t want to give it up. Macbeth's actions were mostly controlled by greed, anger, and guilt.
With this in mind, if a man couldn’t do something a woman can, he was a disgrace; Lady Macbeth is taunting Macbeth with the gender gap, which makes him want to prove he’s more masculine and can keep it together. Even though, Lady Macbeth is viewed as a manipulative character, towards the end, she changes and shows signs of remorse/regret, which is not like her character. Lady Macbeth begins to feel remorseful because she has made an outright killing machine out of Macbeth. Lady Macbeth starts to ask herself “The thane of Fife had a wife. Where is she now?
He decides to write to his wife, Lady Macbeth, who holds this dark ambition inside of her. She tells Macbeth that he is a coward and that he must do whatever it takes to become king of Scotland. This dark ambition is first shown in act one scene four when Macbeth says, “This is a step on which I must fall down... which the eye fears, when it is done, to see.” Lady Macbeth plays an enormous part in Macbeth’s mental corruption. After murdering Duncan,
“There is a sufficiency in the world for man 's need but not for man 's greed.” This quote was spoken from a wise Indian activist, what he says is a correlation towards the rising greed aspect of the character Macbeth. This play Macbeth was about a soldier who became greedy with power. It is about Macbeth’s Tyrant display when he kills Duncan and orders Banquo to be killed and other violent acts.
Greed and guilt are two characteristics that can wreak havoc on the human mind and soul, and give someone what they deserve over time. Therefore, nothing seems more satisfying than when the villain or protagonist gets what they deserve for their bad deeds. In The Tragedy of Macbeth, William Shakespeare shows these traits, along with their affects, through the tragic hero of the play, Macbeth, and his wife, Lady Macbeth, also leaving the reader with the question: “Could this happen today?” After gaining the corrupt title Macbeth craves, being king is not as significant as he implies. Macbeth admits to his reign being spoiled saying, “To be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus”(Act III, Scene I, lines 50-51).
Ambition is among the most creative and the strongest driven forces in the state of human psychology, and the reason how or why things get done. It is also one of the most dangerous drive -- the drive to get the last slice of pizza, or the entire box to yourself. If one has no pride, no ambition, no sense of self-importance, he/ she is relatively immune to it. On the other hand, if a person has significant pride, a serious sense of self-importance, and is driving hard towards a set goal, he/she is then very vulnerable.
Many people make big mistakes while under bad influence in power. Some become corrupt, some cave into the pressure, and some just straight up ignore their problems and run away. Macbeth on one hand caved under pressure and killed a man's family in fear of losing the throne and on the other hand completely corrupted himself to become king. People are probably wondering what possibly could have caused him to go mad. The answer is clear.
“She should have died hereafter” (V, V, 17). From this text it screams of MacBeth losing all emotion, him saying this explains clearly he has lost feelings for his loved ones while at the beginning he was this compassionate character. Committing all these tyrannical murders MacBeth realises that all he has worked for and given up was for him. “For mine own good. All causes should give way I am in blood stepped in so far that should I wade no more returning were as tedious as go o’er” (III, IV, 141-144).
William Shakespeare, playwright of Macbeth, shows the importance that power and corruption can hold on a person’s humanity. In order to prove the true effect of personal gains, he uses the main character, Macbeth, to show how evil people are willing to become. Personal power has the ability to be essential to greatness, but at the same time is able to destroy a person’s true nature. Believe it or not, Macbeth once was a man of honor. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth was loyal to King Duncan, a strong military leader, and a respected husband.
At the beginning of William Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ the protagonist Macbeth is described as ‘brave’, ‘noble’ and ‘honourable’, however Lady Macbeth’s and Macbeths desire for power consumes them. Macbeth’s ambition overrides his conscience and transformed his greatest strength into his greatest weakness. Macbeth’s inability to resist temptations that led him to be greedy for power, Macbeth’s easily manipulative nature which allowed his mind to be swayed, Macbeth having no self control and his excessive pride was what allowed him to renew his previously honourable and celebrated title into one of an evil ‘tyrant’. Macbeth is led by the prophecies of the witches after they foretell he will become the Thane of Cawdor. Not only the witches, but also his wife easily manipulate Macbeth as she attacks his manhood in order to provoke him to act on his desires.
Ambition will often be perceived by people as a good and positive word. Saying things like he is ambitious to get to his goals. But ambition is also a very dark and powerful thing to feel and can cause people to become corrupt. This idea of ambition working as a disadvantage is prominent in the play Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare. Macbeth is a play about an ambitious man who wants to be in power and does anything to get there.