As a growing trend in the world today, people aren 't treating each other with respect; instead, many of them throw aside all consideration for others ' well-being and do only what benefits them, resulting in a culture which views ethics as obsolete. This is not a new trend, however; there have been instances throughout history of this occurring. People have abandoned their consciences to pursue goals that only have a payoff for themselves. One early example of this way of living was given through literature. Centuries ago, Shakespeare exemplified what happens when people live by a pain or pleasure scale. In one of his great tragedies, Macbeth, the poet showed what happens when a person takes an opportunity to advance himself with no moral principles to govern his actions. Macbeth, seeing his chance at glory and power, murders the innocent King Duncan in order to claim his throne. Before Macbeth committed this crime, Shakespeare pointed out Macbeth 's strength of character and conscience. It was through these qualities that Macbeth became the thane of Glamis and, in part, of Cawdor. As the story …show more content…
More recent than his tragedy, we have the infamous example of Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust. Hitler had a significant amount of ambition, driving him to lead an invasion of much of Europe. Meanwhile, he gathered millions of people whom he considered to be members of “inferior races” and a hindrance to Germany into concentration camps to be killed or tortured through long, hard labor. The most well-known group was the Jewish population of German-occupied areas. Abandoning human morality, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party exterminated about six million Jews during World War II, just to advance their cause. Later, when Hitler found himself cornered, he evidently chose to end his own life rather than face judgment for the unethical acts he committed (30
Ethics is an important proponent when considering any decision. Knowing the difference between right and wrong is something everyone should know. However, the importance of ethics gets minimized when a decision that seems wrong actually has benefits. In the efforts of improving society, often ethics is violated. Sometimes in order for society to be better off as a whole, there has to be little sacrificing of ethical practices along the way to do so.
Ethics: The Big Questions , edit ed by James P. Sterba, 259 -275. Malden, Massachusets: Blackwel Publishers Ltd, 1998.
Macbeth rejects conformation to traditional gender roles in its portrayal of Lady Macbeth’s relationship with her husband, her morals and their effect on her actions, and her hunger for power. Her regard for Macbeth is one of low respect and beratement, an uncommon and most likely socially unacceptable attitude for a wife to have towards her spouse at the time. She often ignores morality and acts for the benefit of her husband, and subsequently herself. She is also very power-hungry and lets nothing stand in the way of her success. Lady Macbeth was a character which challenged expectations of women and feminism when it was written in the seventeenth century.
In the early 1600’s, William Shakespeare penned an Aristotelian tragedy ‘Macbeth’ which provides his audiences both then and now with many valuable insights and perceptions into human nature. Shakespeare achieves this by cleverly employing many dramatic devices and themes within the character of ‘Macbeth’. Macbeth is depicted as an anti-hero; a noble protagonist with a tragic flaw that leads to his downfall. This tragic flaw of Macbeth’s, heavily laden with the themes of ‘fate or free will’, and ‘ambition’, is brought out by Shakespeare in his writing to present us with a character whose actions and final demise are, if not laudable, very recognisable as human failings.
After being named Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth is wonders if he can believe the rest of the witches' prophecies, saying “Glamis and Thane of Cawdor/ The greatest is behind,” (1.3.125-126) in other words it’s just what they said, and the best part of what they predicted is coming! To that, Banquo remarks, "oftentimes, to win us to our harm, / the instruments of darkness tell us truths, / Win us with honest trifles, to betrays / In deepest consequence" (1.3.123-126). Banquo is much more cautious, and warns Macbeth to be calmer; that the witches are just trying to trick him. “To win us our harm” is achieved by manipulating Macbeth into doing small things that will all add up to dire consequences- in this case, equivocation.
In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth’s morality changes throughout the course of the play. He goes from being reluctant to kill an innocent man, to paying mercenaries to kill his best friend, just because his children and descendants will be kings, according to the prophecies. Macbeth’s morality changes through influences, such as his wife’s pressuring, the witches’ prophecy, and the fact that his plan worked for so long.
Analysis of Macbeth Macbeth is a character of powerful contradictions. He is a man who, for the sake of his ambition, is willing to murder his king and his best friend. At the same time, he has a conscience that is so strong that just the thought of his crimes torments him. In fact, even before he commits his crimes the thought of them makes him miserable. Is Macbeth a horrible monster or is he a sensitive man- a victim of witches and his own ambitions?
One of the most ambitious individuals of all of all time, Napoleon Bonaparte once stated, “Great ambition is the passion of great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principals which guide them”. Therefore, these words reveal an imperative reality about ambitious individuals which is that the quality of one’s ambition is heavily dependent on that individual’s morals. Thus, it can be acknowledged that if a person’s ambition goes unhindered by a sense of morality and compassion, it can transform into a vile force of annihilation, as it did in Shakespeare’s tragic play, Macbeth. On that account, if one’s ambition lacks compassion, it can morph into the ultimate vices of humanity- greed, envy, and insecurity, thus leading even the most promising individuals into the realms of damnation.
In the play Macbeth, William Shakespeare does an excellent job describing his characters and their settings. Throughout the play Shakespeare connects several different situations to things that are happening with the characters. Shakespeare uses his characters to represent things, such as good and evil, and also to describe their surroundings at that time by adding details about the characters environmental settings in the act and scene. Macbeth, Macduff, Banquo, and King Duncan are the main characters in the play and Shakespeare uses them to get his good vs. evil point across even more.
In Shakespeare’s Macbeth many characters commit actions that they regret later. These characters try get away with their mischievous deeds, but it ultimately comes back to haunt them until they die. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth fail to cover up the murder of Duncan without people having suspicion of them killing him. While some characters seek to commit injustice other are determine to fight and bring justice and harmony. Characters in Macbeth define what they believe is justice by abiding by their set of morals, this is a mindset of what they think is right and wrong. The mindset and ambition of characters in Macbeth ultimately lead to their actions being justified or help justifying what is wrong. Justice in Macbeth is served on different levels depending on the character’s integrity and desire to do unmoral deeds. The characters in Macbeth are provoked to commit actions out either of personal desire or manipulation, animosity and revenge of one another. Macbeth’s inner desire to suddenly become king portraits how justice is served after he continues to murder, Macduff’s determination to bring proper order and justice without any personal gain shows how he is the true hero and an agent of justice, and Lady Macbeth’s guilt proves her injustice deeds which drives her to commit suicide.
There are times in life where we choose between right or wrong. It can come into effect on how other people judge you based on their views of what's right or what's wrong. In the play Macbeth, William Shakespeare displayed a darker and a wrong side of humankind. Three main characters, in particular, showed similar traits of greediness. Banquo, who appears to be noble fails to resist his desires; Lady Macbeth overrules herself with greed to a fate of anguish. And finally, Macbeth becomes engulfed with greed that leads to horrible deeds. Shakespeare emphasizes that desire for power and wealth can overrule morality in human nature.
Duncan is the most unlikely character to be killed because of his personality, but his title as King of Scotland, causes for Macbeth to loathe Duncan. In the play there is very little interaction between Macbeth and Duncan, showing the little time in which Macbeth gets more power. Prior to the witches’ prophecies Macbeth is loyal to Duncan, and would never imagine killing him. After the one of the witches’ prophecies comes to be true, the thought of killing Duncan, Macbeth "yield[s] to that suggestion / whose horrid image doth unfix my hair / and make my seated heart knock at my ribs" (1.3.146-148). Partly because of Lady Macbeth’s suggestion his "vaulting ambition" is starting to take over, and he begins to take into consideration killing Duncan, to become king. Macbeth however, does not feel comfortable in killing Macbeth, giving himself reasons why not to kill Duncan: “First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, Strong both against the deed; then, as his host, Who should against his murderer shut the door, Not bear the knife myself,” (I, vii, 13-16) Lady Macbeth, convinces Macbeth, that killing Duncan is the right thing to do until right before he performs the murder. We learn from this murder that Macbeth truly had faith in the king and was very loyal, but knowing that one day he would become king, his ambition and the persuasion of Lady Macbeth, causes him to perform the act, that he will regret. This murder changes Macbeth as a person, however, and he soon feels little regret for killing King Duncan, but this act will soon aid in his downfall.
In Shakespeare’s tragic play Macbeth, Shakespeare creates the ruthless character Macbeth, who is willing to go beyond any measure in order to attain the power of being king, including murder, deceit, betrayal and overpowering the chain of being. Macbeth was first tempted by the idea of kingship when three witches presented him with their portent of Macbeth becoming the next King of Scotland. Ebullient, Macbeth, immediately informed his wife of the news and they both pondered the thought of having the power to rule all of Scotland. Lady Macbeth, a power seeker herself, promptly schemed a plan to kill King Duncan in order for her and her husband to rule, displaying her ready ambition for power. Macbeth’s thirst for power ate away at his conscience
King Claudius is a great example of this because in the story his motives reflected out of enviness and anger. His environment caused him to act a certain way because he realized the only way to become as powerful as his brother was to kill him and remove all obstacles. This isn’t a goal that Claudius was born with, but over the years it was something that developed. With that being said, he killed his brother by pouring poison into his ear just to have that power he envied so much. He allowed his anger to accumulate and that’s what caused him to take advantage over the people in his environment.
Macbeth is a very complex character whom reflects man's thirst for power through the drastic changes of his personality; thus being one of the slightest reasons in which make this intriguing character, greatest of all Shakespearean’s well-known works.