Greed in our Leaders Throughout time, people have strived for success in an effort to have a fulfilling and meaningful life. It is this natural ambition that leads us to work hard in an effort to achieve our goals. However, there are those individuals who become excessive and let greed become their driving force. Greed is a big part of life and in the society that we live in today. So many people in this world die for and crave recognition, fame, money and especially power. In an article entitled “The Psychology of Greed,” the author, Neel Burton, who is a psychiatrist, states “the problem with greed is that it grounds us on one of the lower levels of Maslow’s pyramid of needs, and thereby prevents us from acceding to the top level of growth …show more content…
The deed ends with Banquo being killed while Fleance escapes. Macbeth is made aware of this at his coronation. Shortly thereafter he hallucinates that he sees Banquo's ghost. After having an outburst, he apologizes to his guest. As the coronation progresses Macbeth sees him a second time. While having an emotional meltdown he reveals to his guests that he killed Duncan. Lady Macbeth is beside herself and realizes their elaborate scheme is now known by everyone. She eventually loses her sanity and kills herself. Macbeth shows no sadness or remorse over the loss of his wife. Later in the play, Macbeth's life is ended by MacDuff who presents his head to …show more content…
However, he also began flexing his power with many human rights violations, including the executions of dozens of government officials, who remained on from his father’s regime. One of those put to death included his uncle, Jang Song-thaek, who played a key role during his father’s dictatorship. In 2013, Jang was put under arrest and executed for being a traitor to the new regime. Another family member put to death was Kim’s older half-brother Kim Jong-nam, who was poisoned at an airport. Kim Jong-nam vocally criticized Kim Jong-un’s
After the slaughter of his former comrade, Macbeth explains to his wife, “Strange things I have in head that will to hand/Which must be acted ere they may be scanned” (3.4.137-140). This assertion from Macbeth paves the path for his future misdeeds. Lady Macbeth is concerned by her husband’s announcement and responds with, “You lack the season of all natures, sleep” (3.4.141). Lady Macbeth believes that her husband has lost his sanity. She no longer supports Macbeth’s murderous plans, and resents his new impulsivity. Following this conversation, Macbeth continues to kill harmless people, such as Macduff’s wife and children. He implies that he will no longer think about his actions before completing them, which is a deranged approach to life. The change in Macbeth’s behavior reshapes Lady Macbeth’s personality. She realizes that “what’s done cannot be undone” (5.1.57). Lady Macbeth now recognizes the lasting impact of the murders on herself and her husband. Initially Lady Macbeth approves Duncan’s murder, as it leads to her queenship. Her sadism and zeal for power declines after Macbeth’s killing spree. Lady Macbeth’s newfound heart is the outcome of her husband’s wicked
The aspect of greed shows itself as the heart of the many immoral acts committed by fictional characters and real people. From Adam and Eve’s betrayal to Macbeth’s collapse portrays what greed can produce as a result: destruction. Whether it destroys one’s health, it inherently portrays as a force to the path of corruption. The Pardoner, from The Canterbury Tales, defines greed’s purpose. This includes how greed pulls them to degeneration. No matter how subtle the fall, it still brings to distasteful events for the characters from The Importance of Being Earnest. Although the characters differ, their obsessions with their immoral acts decline their personalities. Thus, the authors portray the characters’ greed, as a pernicious force that drives
A woman’s cry is heard, and Seyton appears to tell Macbeth that the queen is dead. Later when Malcolm and the English win the war, he says: “... Of this dead butcher and his fiend-like queen, / who, as 'tis thought, by self and violent hands / Took off her life, …” (5.9.36-38). The quote inclines that Lady Macbeth killed herself. Lady Macbeth seduces Macbeth to kill Duncan insisting that it is the only way for him to become king himself. Macbeth himself then continues on the killing spree by murdering Banquo and Macduff's family. Lady Macbeth blames herself for creating the monster Macbeth becomes and feels incredibly guilty leading to her committing suicide. Ironically, she is the one who kills herself out of guilt which is unexpected since she was such a strong character. In conclusion, feelings of paranoia and guilt lead characters in Macbeth to make destructive
The choices people make lead them to where they end up, which may be interpreted as the opposite of fate. However, when some people believe something is meant to be, they are determined not to stray from where they think they should end up, even if it means throwing away their principles and values in the process. Through Shakespeare's Tragedy of Macbeth, Macbeth’s original character and values are destroyed because of the influence from the witches' prophecies, Lady Macbeth's greed, and his own hidden ambition.
After being told that her husband could potentially be the next king, Lady Macbeth was quick to say that Macbeth should kill King Duncan. Lady Macbeth was the one that came up with the whole plan to kill Duncan and intoxicate the guards, that way it will look like they were the ones who did it. Macbeth killed Duncan, but after doing so he is extremely troubled and stressed out. He comes walking out from the room with the daggers in his hands. Lady Macbeth orders him to go put the daggers back, to which Macbeth refuses. Lady Macbeth grabs the daggers from his hands and goes back to the king’s room to leave the daggers (Act II, scene II). She then proceeds to tell Macbeth to return to bed and if woken up, pretend like they have been sleeping this whole time. Lady Macbeth, even though she should not be in this time period, is the emotionally strong one in her relationship with Macbeth. She keeps her fasade up and we only see her actual feelings a couple times. Despite that, Lady Macbeth is a dynamic character and change quite drastically throughout the play. Lady Macbeth becomes less white-hearted. However, due to the guilt after the murder and the stress from constantly looking after her husband, Lady Macbeth takes her own life (Act V, scene
The play The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare is about selfishness controlling our lives and reveals that selfishness can come to the point of controlling our lives that it blinds us to our own actions. One major example is in the dagger speech in Act 2 Scene 1. In his speech Macbeth sees a hallucination of a dagger floating in the air pointing to Duncan’s chamber. Here Macbeth is completely infatuated with the thought of being king himself. Not only is he thinking crazy thoughts, he is starting to see things that are a “sign” of exactly what he wants. Some other examples of Macbeth’s selfishness is when Macbeth says, ”If you shall cleave to my consent, when ’tis, It shall make honor for you” (2.1.24-25). Here Macbeth is trying to
Many people have different definitions of the two words, “greed” and “ambition”; some may say they are negative traits and some may say they are positive traits. Ambition is the burning desire and urge to aspire to complete your goals or succeed. Ambition can be a great thing if it is used to better a situation, but sometimes it is used negatively. Another word that can be a positive force or a negative force to acquire something is greed. Greed is something almost everyone has. It is the selfish desire to acquire more than one needs. Greed can also be a positive thing, but normally it is a defective trait, that brings out the worst in people. It results in the need for more and it increases, causing the person to never be satisfied. There
Due to the influence of ambition on both characters, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth both end up dead. Compared to the beginning to the end of the play Macbeth and his wife seemed to have switched who they were. No longer did any relationships exist between Macbeth and any other person at the end of the play. For the ambition and greed that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth acted upon, Malcolm summarizes the result of their behavior, “ Producing forth the cruel ministers Of this dead butcher and his fiendlike queen” (V.VIII.68-69).
...alk and vigorously washes her hands. Lady Macbeth keeps imagining that Duncan’s blood is still smeared all over her hands. Not being able to live with her conscious, she kills herself. Lady Macbeth realizes that her desire for power in the end had its consequences. In the end, Lady Macbeth was still a female that had emotions and could not handle the guilt she had put upon herself. Thinking that ending her life would be the easiest thing to to end all of the pain.
Lady Macbeth pressures Macbeth into murdering Duncan through emotional abuse, saying that he is a coward and not a man. This abuse causes Macbeth to feel emasculated and insecure, so he wants to prove himself to his wife. Furthermore, Lady Macbeth also uses Macbeth’s promise to her, making him feel guilty about not upholding their agreement. She wants him to feel as if he was breaking the vows of their marriage if he does not go through with the murder. Finally, by drugging the guards, Lady Macbeth convinces her husband that they have gone too far to turn back. She tells him that they would be destroyed if they failed so far into their plan. Although Lady Macbeth did not physically commit the murder, she manipulated Macbeth and convinced him that killing King Duncan was the right thing to
The play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare illustrates how greed for power and wealth can result in the destruction of oneself as well as others. The play's central character, Macbeth is not happy as a high-ranking thane - leading him to assassinate Duncan to become King, while unknowingly dooming himself. Throughout the play many examples are evident of Macbeth's unquenchable thirst for power.
After the death of King Duncan, Macbeth becomes the more controlling one, and Lady Macbeth’s guilt eventually becomes too much for her to handle which leads to her death. Lady Macbeth is in fact the one that performs the preparations for the murder of King Duncan, but still shows some signs of humanity by not committing the murder herself because he resembles "My father as he slept". After the murder has been committed, she also shows signs of being a strong person because she calms Macbeth down in order to keep him from going insane.
The intrinsic nature of greed is natural, it is a biological characteristic that is evident in both humans and animals, it is a part of our survival mechanism. To strive for a good and honorable life, naturally, one must want more. But man's unquenchable thirst for more has proven to result in some horrific and world changing events. The dissonance is a very thin and very blurred line between greed for survival and greed for ultimate self-satisfaction. This trait can be seen clearly in the three characters mentioned below.
However, Macbeth was pressured into murdering him, and would not have committed the act if his wife was not there. By the middle of the play, Macbeth starts hiring murderers to kill his enemies for him, showing that Macbeth is valuing life less and less. At the very end of the play, Lady Macbeth commits suicide, but Macbeth is not emotionally moved by this event; he continues to fight as though nothing was wrong.
William Shakespeare's Macbeth is not necessarily a play of fate, but rather a tragedy that occurred as a result of uncontrollable greed and malevolence by Macbeth and his wife. The weird sisters only make suggestions about Macbeth's road to kingship; they do not cast spells to make true all their predictions. These interpretations lead Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to kill Duncan and secure the title Thane of Clawdor. While in kingship Macbeth elects to kill Banquo and his son, Fleance, for Macbeth was fearful about losing his throne to Fleance. Senseless violence and inner rage cause the King of Scotland to murder Macduff's children and wife.