Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Power in Shakespeare’s Macbeth
How is power explored in macbeth
Evidence of macbeth being a true villain
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Macbeth, a tragic hero, has authoritative status throughout the drama, but a flaw in his character eventually brings out his demise. As the play “Macbeth” begins, under King Duncan’s reign, the protagonist, Macbeth, is the Thane of Glamis, who then goes on to become the Thane of Cawdor, a hero who helps keep King Duncan’s reign powerful. With power, the crave for more power becomes accessible. Lady Macbeth, Macbeth’s wife, soon gets greedy with Macbeth’s power and wants to rule the land with Macbeth as king. Lady Macbeth drives the idea of power into her husband’s head, making him a notorious traitor. At the end of the play, Macbeth is a backstabber who killed King Duncan to gain control. After completing a bad actions, the only way to feel Because of his valor and loyalty, King Duncan felt inclined to say, “O valiant cousin! Worthy gentleman!” (1.2.26). In the beginning of the play when Macbeth was coming down from the battlefield and King Duncan received news about Macbeth’s bravery, the Sergeant said, “For brave Macbeth—well he deserves that name/ Disdaining fortune, with his brandish’d steel.../ carved out his passage/ Till he faced the slave…” (1.2.18-19.21-22). Duncan is honored to have Macbeth under his rule, he saw Macbeth as a son, as a friend. The two are cousins which would give Macbeth even a stronger reason to not kill Duncan. As the play progressed, Macbeth slowly started to decline, his mental state worsening with every turn of a page. King Duncan was a powerful king, always making the right choices. After his assassination by Macbeth, “His silver skin laced with his golden blood,/ and his gashed stabs looked like a breach in nature” (2.3.131-132). Duncan’s pure skin was covered with his rich blood. An honest man was murdered, which brought out the violent Macbeth to cause havoc in the To relate the manner,/ Were, on the quarry of these murdered deer/ To add the death of you”(4.3.??) Macbeth did not care about who the person was, but if there was someone standing in his way on his route to power, they would get killed. Macbeth had everyone in Fife brutally murdered, all because of his first warning by the Weird Sisters. Macbeth later states that he has nothing to fear of Macduff because he believes that Macduff was “of woman born,” Macbeth decides that brutally murdering Macduff’s entire family is a step in the right direction, on the path to power. Macbeth decided to feel that the Weird Sisters prophecies were worthwhile to listen to. However, Macbeth got the prophecies too wound up in his head to think about. “Macbeth's capacious mind, despite its moral degeneration, remains at center-stage, showing the horrific consequences of a truly heroic spirit embracing evil”
Duncan was taken from our lives far too soon. He had a few enemies, some of which wanted his place in the throne. He was viciously murdered purely for his position as King. His death signified the start of destruction and continuous acts of murder throughout Scotland. His death was guided by three witches who manipulated an honest soldier to commit a horrifying crime. Macbeth further exceeded this with his desire for power and it pushed him and his wife over the edge committing the ultimate crime. Duncan was a good and honest man who didn’t deserve to be disgraced in such a
Thirdly, feelings of paranoia and guilt cause Macbeth characters to make damaging choices. When Macbeth asks the witches to reveal the truth of their prophecies to him, they summon horrible apparitions, each of which offers a prediction to allay Macbeth’s fears. First, a floating head warns him to beware Macduff. Macbeth says that he has already guessed as much. Later when Lennox enters and tells Macbeth that Macduff has fled to England. Macbeth in reply says, “The castle of Macduff I will surprise; / Seize upon Fife; give to th'edge o'th'sword / His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls / That trace him in his line.” (4.1.149-152). As Macbeth descends to madness he becomes obsessed with eliminating any threats to his power. Macbeth orders the murderers to kill Macduff's family and eliminate any threat to him. Ironically, this is the moment that Macbeth seals his own fate, by murdering Macduff's family he ensures Macduff's retaliation against him, which ultimately leads
At this point in the play, Macbeth is afraid of losing his crown that he is willing to do anything to save it. He lost his moral values and rational judgment. Every actions does indeed have consequences. Macduff learns the truth that Macbeth killed Duncan and when Macduff is often absent from Macbeth’s sight he grows suspicious. Macbeth has also been told by the witches during his second visit to beware of Macduff. Upon hearing this, he decided to send people to kill Macduff and his family. Macduff fled the castle first leaving his family behind. During the time Lady Macduff voice her fear: "He loves us not; / He wants the natural touch: for the poor wren, / The most diminutive of birds, will fight, / Her young ones in her nest, against the owl" (4.2.11).
In the beginning of Macbeth, Macbeth was an honorable man with people who respected him. Duncan, receiving news about the battle, said “O valiant cousin, worthy gentleman!” (Act 1, scene 2, Line 26) which reveals that Duncan has a new respect
This shows that he really didn't want to kill Duncan, but he did it in order to prove himself to Lady Macbeth, and to become the king. By the end he had no fear, and had killed not only Duncan but also many other people. He now had different views from which he had in the beginning of the play. Macbeth realizes that he is no longer afraid "no, nor more fearful. (Act V, scene vii, l 9). He is now considered a man, but he doesn't like the fact that he has killed all these people.
Now Macbeth is in a complete delusion as he now believes to be himself invincible, yet is still paranoid enough to kill Macduff even though he doesn 't think he can be caused harm. Sending murderers to take care of Macduff, who kill Macduff 's wife and children when Macduff himself isn 't there.
Macbeth is seen as a “valiant cousin, worthy gentleman” (I, ii, 24). He is a brave warrior who is well respected in his community, until the witches prophesied to him that he would one day be king (I, iii, 50). Macbeth interprets that he must act to fulfill the prophecy. He sends a letter to lady Macbeth asking what to do. She suggests that he should kill Duncan. Macbeth follows the plan and kills Duncan (II, ii, 15). Directly following the murder Macbeth can no longer say amen (II, iii, 31-33). Macbeth also hears a voice in his head say, “sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep”(II, ii, 35, 36). For the rest of the play Macbeth suffers from insomnia. When Macbeth pretends to be surprised by Duncan’s death he says, “ Had I but died an hour before this chance, I had lived a blessed time, for, from this instant, there’s nothing serious in mortality. (II, iii, 92-95) he is saying that if he had died before he murdered Duncan he would have lived a great life, but now that he’s committed murder, life is just a game and nothing is important anymore. These are suicidal thoughts and show how his grip on reality has greatly slipped.
Macbeth learns that MacDuff knows too much and that he is in danger because MacDuff may reveal that Macbeth murdered Duncan and placed the blame on the guards. When Macbeth realizes this, he calls two murderers to “give to the edge o’ the sword / His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls / That trace him in his line” (4.1.151-153). He orders that MacDuff’s family be assassinated even though MacDuff was the one that knew the truth about Duncan’s death. Macbeth did not want MacDuff to have any lineage or family ties remaining in case the first apparition came true, and MacDuff’s family would end up royal. Lady MacDuff is killed in her castle and before she dies, she clarifies, “I have done no harm. But I remember now / I am in this earthly world, where to do harm / Is often laudable, to do good sometime / Accounted dangerous folly” (4.2.70-73). She has not done anything bad to anyone, but she is still killed due to her marriage to MacDuff. Her title of Lady MacDuff led to her death being demanded by Macbeth. In contempt of her lack of wrongdoing, the murderers stole her life away from her she was associated with a
Macbeth meets with the witches once again to see if there are anymore prophecies that await him. The witches assure him that they have more predictions for him; “Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! Beware Macduff; Beware the thane of Fife” and “Macbeth shall never be vanquish’d be until Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill shall come against him” (Shakespeare.4.1) . The witches are telling Macbeth the only thing he has to fear is Macduff and that he will forever stay King until the tree of Dunsinane hill come out of the ground and march for him. Macbeth sees these witches to ease his mind about the current events and guilt that he feels. He also meets with them because his evil ambitions are taking over making him do anything to keep his power. He also wants to make sure that Macduff won’t be an issue so he decides to kill Macduffs family to keep him out of his way; “ What you egg!.... Young fry of treachery!” and “He ha kill’d me, mother: Run away I pray you” (Shakespeare.4.2). Macbeth killed Macduffs rather than Macduff himself because it will keep Macduff quiet about his suspicions. Macbeth’s evil mind begins to control him and his guilt and remorse that he feel when he kills he gets rid of by killing more and
Macbeth’s ambition to obtain power convinces him that it is his destiny to become King of Scotland, and that he should do anything to fulfill that destiny, even if it involves him committing tremendously immoral acts such as murder. After Macbeth realizes that the witches may actually speak the truth due to the second prophecy (Thane of Cawdor) becoming true, he begins to have an eerie and frightening thought of him killing his king and friend, Duncan, in order to ac...
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.
The tragedy of Macbeth opens up with him returning home from a victorious military battle, displaying his honor and excellence. This is, also the first time he is presented with the opportunity for power. His success covered him with glory in defense of the crown. Macbeth is busily basking in his own glory and soaking up credit when Duncan basically steals his spotlight from right over his head, proclaiming Malcolm, Duncan's son, as the heir-apparent. This action also belittles Macbeth's achievement, since the procession of the throne is not necessarily dictated by bloodlines. Duncan is basically announcing that Macbeth, while noble, is inferior to his son Malcolm. This is where Duncan provokes Macbeth to hate him and also points out what Macbeth must do to become King. Duncan even tempts Macbeth, by pronouncing him as the Thane of Cawdor. This gives Macbeth a taste of power and he begins to have a desire for more. This desire or ambition is his fatal flaw. Shakespeare, by using Macbeth as a guide, shows that even the honorable men can fall into the hands of evil just like everyone else. No one is safe from his or her own ambitions of power and success. It is clear that Macbeth ends up a far more brutal and simple...
When the witches told Macbeth that no man born of a woman could harm him, he would not be defeated until the forest came to his castle, and that his only threat was Macduff, Macbeth felt very secure about his kingship. Little did Macbeth know, that all of these foretellings would bring about his demise. Macduff was born out of a dead woman, so he was the only one who could hurt Macbeth. When Malcolm's army attacked Macbeth's castle, they camouflaged themselves with trees, thus giving the appearance of the forest coming to the castle. Finally, Macduff was the only thing that Macbeth had to worry about, because he was not born of a woman, and could kill Macbeth. Macbeth completely disregarded the Witches' prophecies because he thought of them as rubbish. Had the three witches told Macbeth the real truth that they ticked him out of believing, Macbeth would not have gotten so cocky as a result of his security.
“The witches predict that Macduff may harm Macbeth. The prediction becomes the catalyst again and makes Macbeth decide to murder Macduff’s family in order to make sure his own safety. Apparently he’s determination is continuously becoming stronger. He no longer struggles with moral justice and this is when Macbeth’s ambition reaches a climax” (Blind ambition kills).
... claims that Macduff cannot hurt him. He decided to do something before considering the consequences of his actions. Therefore, Macbeth orders the murder of Macduff and his family in order to eliminate the threat of Macduff. The prophetic information that Macbeth got from the apparitions lead to his actions in the play later, which finally push him to death at the end.