Power is a timeless force that has been around since man existed. The greed for power is one of the oldest and most ruthless of all desires. Power changes people; it takes over lives, and destroys them. Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Arthur Miller’s The Crucible are great examples of how power can consume people and completely transform them. Macbeth and The Crucible are set in different timelines, but they have the same message. Power can be used to rule as a malicious tyrant, or gain vengeance over an enemy. No matter the reason for abusing power, one thing is for sure, greed for power changes a person; it brings total chaos, and causes people to rebel against the power.
In Macbeth, the first person to turn to greed to gain power is Lady Macbeth. After Macbeth’s first meeting with the Weird Sisters, Macbeth receives the title of the Thane of Cawdor, which then plants a seed in Lady Macbeth’s head. She instantly begins to plot Duncan’s murder, but in order to follow through with this plan, she has to let go of her “mortal thoughts” (Shakespeare, I, v, 40) and be filled with the “direst cruelty” (Shakespeare, I, v, 42). By wishing to be “unsexed”, Lady Macbeth has accepted the fact that in order to kill Duncan, she has to let go of everything that makes her a woman, such as tenderness and love and as a replacement, she wants to be full of malice. Another character, Macbeth, is a very loyal subject Duncan at first, but following Duncan’s murder, Macbeth’s personality changes. Lady Macbeth suspects that Macbeth “is too full o’ the milk of human kindness” (Shakespeare, I, v, 16). Yet, Macbeth’s desire for power finally takes over his kind conscience; this greed for power appears as a bloody knife pointing to Duncan’s bed. When Macbeth s...
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...iii, 236). The “power” that Malcolm talks about could mean his army, or it could mean that the power of justice and good is ready to destroy Macbeth’s evil power. Soon the time comes when Macduff, decapitates Macbeth, thus signifying that Macbeth does not deserve to wear the king’s crown upon his head. In The Crucible, Abigail loses her power because of John Proctor. Proctor sacrifices himself and his good name to save his wife and to end Abigail’s power. In the courtroom, Proctor represents all those falsely accused of being witches and Abigail and the Court represent the witch-hunters. John Proctor finally confesses of having an affair with Abigail and that Abigail is framing Elizabeth because it is “a whore’s vengeance” (Miller, 98). With this confession, he believes, the Court will see through Abigail’s sham, and realize they have been wrong about the “witches”.
Consecutively, his greed impulses him to murderous intentions, “Let not light see my black and deep desires” (1.4. 57-58). Macbeth becomes jealous. The Prince of Cumberland, the king’s son, is in his way, which makes Macbeth think of desires so “black” that even light could be devoured, and or suggesting it will also frighten the audience. Shakespeare also uses this as foreshadowing to Macbeth’s fate and character. In addition, Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as the inciter for him to murder the king. Nevertheless, Macbeth is prone to greed, he would have committed murder over time anyhow. Judging by his lethal plans, Macbeth says his reason to kill him, “ I have no spur \ To prick the sides of my intent, but only \ Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself \ And falls on the other-” (1.7.25-28). In this scene, Macbeth expresses his honesty; he knows he has no “spur,” or any real motive to kill the king, the true purpose would be for his own power and “ambition.” In addition, Shakespeare uses a metaphor of a horse-rider representing Macbeth’s ambition, which would be an inexperienced rider, who would “vault” so forcefully, that he will fall on the other side. He realizes his greed for ambition would result in his destruction, including Lady Macbeth. After the bloodshed, they became insane, and both died an agonizing death. They were arrogant, and impatient for success and power that they even killed best friends and families for it. Therefore, the power to rule over another shows to serve as a guilty pleasure for individuals. Furthermore, this correlates to the story of The Wife of Bath Tale, where the women yearn for power, which was caused by oppression. Then in the story, the knight, who commits rape, was set to find women’s true desire to save him from a death sentence. He finally
An idea such as power establishes itself in most societies throughout the world. Power sets the basis for order and civilization, but it also causes chaos and collides with other human instincts such as greed and ambition. Power presents itself in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth in a confusing manner. Macbeth yearns to gain power and has the means to gain it, but the method of his gaining of power have been questioned by critics since its inscription in 1623. Macbeth, while tyrannical in gaining his power in the murdering of Duncan, sets the premise of the story and in this murder makes a name for himself on his leadership qualities. A man’s gain of power should not determine who they are as a ruler or even
Lady Macbeth shows more ambition then Macbeth does in terms of gaining power regarding kingship. When Macbeth finds out about the witches’ predictions and the first two coming true “Glamis, and thane of Cawdor: The greatest is behind” (1.3.124-125) meaning that he got a taste of power, making him thane of Glamis and thane of Cawdor making him more ambitious for the power to become king. Proving that he will do anything for power he decides that he is going to murder Duncan. When Lady Macbeth receives the letter from Macbeth learning about the witches’ predictions and that two of them came true already, she becomes very ambitious towards gaining power. She doesn’t believe that Macbeth will murder Duncan, so she makes a plan for the murder.
Macbeth’s ambition is made obvious from the start. It is the thing the witches use get him under their spell,’All hail thee Thane of Glamis….Thane of Cawdor…..king’. Macbeth is intrigued by this greeting. When he finds out from Duncan that he has become the thane of Cawdor he whispers to the audience,’Glamis, and the thane of Cawdor, the greatest is behind.’ Macbeth is sure that he will become king. However at this stage he thinks that he will acquire it legally as he sees murder as,’fantastical’(I,iii,139).
The main theme of Macbeth-the destruction wrought when ambition goes unchecked by moral constraints-finds its most powerful expression in the play's two main characters. Macbeth is a courageous Scottish general who is not naturally inclined to commit evil deeds, yet he deeply desires power and advancement. He kills Duncan against his better judgment and afterward stews in guilt and paranoia. Toward the end of the play he descends into a kind of frantic, boastful madness. Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, pursues her goals with greater determination, yet she is less capable of withstanding the repercussions of her immoral acts. One of Shakespeare's most forcefully drawn female characters, she spurs her husband mercilessly to kill Duncan and urges him to be strong in the murder's aftermath, but she is eventually driven to distraction by the effect of Macbeth's repeated bloodshed on her conscience. In each case, ambition helped, of course, by the malign prophecies of the witches is what drives the couple to ever more terrible atrocities. The problem, the play suggests, is that once one decides to use violence to further one?s quest for power, it is difficult to stop. There are always potential threats to the throne?Banquo, Fleance, Macduff?and it is always tempting to use violent means to dispose of them.
In conclusion, the human ambition for increased amount of power and influence causes the degradation of morality. This is proven through Macbeth’s new found untrustworthiness, his transformation into a deceitful tyrant and his loss of meaning for his life, and the lives of others. It is clear that power can transform all those who seek to gain and/or control it drastically.
At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is a trusted soldier, who is honest and noble. Unfortunately, he meets three witches who tell him three prophecies; that he will become thane of Cawdor, that he will become king and that Banquo’s sons will become kings. These three prophecies slowly change his opinions on life and turn him into a greedy, dishonest, tyrant, full of ambition. Lady Macbeth’s thoughts change as well when she is told about the three prophecies that were told to Macbeth. In the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth is ambitious, controlling and domineering. She is the one who encourages him to kill the king, she not only encourages him, she makes all the plans herself, which shows her determination and persistence."Yet I do fear thy nature, it is too full o’th milk of human kindness. To catch the nearest way thou wouldst be great. Art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it." (Act 1, scene 5). Lady Macbeth is the force behind Macbeth’s sudden ambition and she tries to manipulate him into feeling guilty and unmanly for not following through with the murder, by using her husbands emotions, she manages to convince Macbeth to murder Duncan.
The desire for power is prevalent in our day to day life from wanting control over little insignificant aspects to control over others. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is
Macbeth's desire to become king is strongly supported by his wife, Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is a highly ambitious woman who, like her husband, is willing to do anything to obtain power. Shakespeare uses a series of imagery to vividly portray the desire for power in Lady Macbeth's soliloquy: “Come, you spirits/That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,/And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full/Of direst cruelty!” To achieve her ambition, Lady Macbeth urges Macbeth “to catch the nearest way.” This means she wants him to kill Duncan so that he can become king. However, she fears that Macbeth is “too full o' th' milk of human kindness” to “catch the nearest way.” When Macbeth is reluctant to kill Duncan, Lady Macbeth starts attacking his masculinity. “Then you were a man,” she said. Lady Macbeth also uses the power of emotional blackmail to manipulate Macbeth into killing Duncan.
“When you first do it, then you were a man, And to be more than what you were, you would, be so much more the man” (I. VII, 54-56). After struggling with the thought of killing Duncan, Macbeth is reprimanded by Lady Macbeth for his lack of courage. She informs him that killing the king will make him a man, insinuating that he isn’t a man if he doesn’t go through with the murder. This develops Lady Macbeth as a merciless, nasty, and selfish woman. She will say, or do anything to get what she desires, even if it means harming others.
The play begins with Macbeth being a benevolent person. Later in the play Macbeth began to kill when he was in battles and I believe this is where his inner turmoil began. King Duncan awarded Macbeth the title of Thane of Cawdor due to his loyalty and killing a high level conspirator to Scotland. The three witches who predicted Macbeth would be king gave him a lot more ambition to make this prediction come true. With this prediction hanging on his heart and the want to be more than he currently was, Macbeth realized that the completion of the prophecy may require scheme and murder on his part. Macbeth was still faithful and wanted to share everything with his wife.
William Shakespeare’s Macbeth demonstrates the ultimate downfall of a tragic hero manipulated by evil. The forces of evil, namely witches, initiate Macbeth’s downfall, seducing him with the concept of power, firing up his ambition to become king. However, despite their obvious involvement, Macbeth delves deeper into the darker side of his nature on his own, seeking evil and wading further into his imagined river of blood. His downfall was brought about by the instruments of darkness – they planted the idea of Macbeth’s rising power in his head and their influence saw him fall from a noble man to a tyrant of a ruler but regardless of this it was his own conscious choice that ultimately led to his fall from grace.
Seeking for greater power, Macbeth murders Duncan who is the king at that time, which caused a great pain for the kingdom. Duncan is a great king, but just not a so good human reader. He has never been aware of Macbeth. He never have a thought that Macbeth might be a danger, who is willing to kill him for the throne. On the other hand, Macbeth does not accept to be just a general for the rest of his life. He wants a greater power, higher position than he is having at the time. Because of the suggests from the trio witches: “ All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!/ All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!”(1.2.49-50), Macbeth has the thinking about killing the king to take his throne. By calling Macbeth the Thane of Cawdor, they give Macbeth the thought that being a king is his fate. On the night Macbeth is planning to murder Duncan, the Old Man see many strange events: “And Duncan’s horses (a thing most strange and certain),/ Beauteous and swift, the minions of their race, /Turned wild in nature, broke their stalls, flung out/ Contending ‘gainst obedience, as they would/ Make war with mankind” (2.4.14-18). It creates a scary feeling in the kingdom, and means something bad will happen to the kingdom.
Lady Macbeth is the first to strategize a way to kill Duncan. As a character foil to Macbeth she juxtaposes their possession of guilt and ruthlessness, which creates irony and excitement to the play. Originally, she is very power hungry and wants to utilize her husband’s position in status to become queen. Macbeth objects to the plan to kill Duncan because he believes Duncan is Macbeth’s kinsman, host, and an overall virtuous ruler (Act. 1 Scene. 7) and thus feels very guilty for taking advantage of Duncan’s trusting quality towards the Macbeth family. She refers to Macbeth as weak and rebukes his manhood (Act 1. Scene 7.) . As the play progresses, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth have a character role reversal of their possession of guilt and ruthlessness. The character foil is extant, however Macbeth’s ruthlessness overcomes his guilt, and Lady Macbeth’s guilt vanquishes her drive for power. In addition to an alteration in character foils, Shakespeare introduces situational irony because now Lady Macbeth succumbs to the weakness Macbeth once possessed and Macbeth is the one who is formidable and ambitious. Macbeth’s ability to transcend his guilt exemplifies his struggle for power and reinforces the theme of evil ambition because Macbeth is able to secure the throne and power only by mass
To become powerful, is to become corrupt, and The Tragedy of Macbeth is a prime example. In William Shakespeare's tragic tale, a young nobleman soon becomes corrupt when he is given the opportunity to become king. His need for power and safety drives him to corruption, ultimately killing off anyone who stands in his path: innocent or not. Throughout the play, many characters portray the impact power has on a relationship: Lady Macbeth and Macbeth, Banquo and Macbeth, Macduff and Macbeth and many more. While all these characters were affected by power in the play, Banquo and Macbeth's relationship best demonstrates the effect of power.