Macbeth's Lust for Power in Shakespeare's Macbeth

She understands that Macbeth has a lust for the throne. However, she fears that her husband would have trouble when attempting to murder Duncan and covet the throne because she regards Macbeth as “full o’ the milk of human kindness”. Since Lady Macbeth knows that her husband would never be able to perform such a task, she decides to control the procedures of the murdering of Duncan. She demands that “direst cruelty” contaminate her. She congregates everything that is evil inside her body in order to perform the evil deed of murdering Duncan.

Macbeth knows that killing Duncan is morally wrong as demonstrated in (I, vii, 31-32) where he states, “…we will proceed no further in this business: he hath honour’d me of late”. Yet it is his vaulting ambition that gets the better of him as he shows signs of wanting to kill Duncan. Macbeth says, “The Prince of Cumberland! – That is a step on which I must fall down, or else o’erleap…Stars hide your fires! Let not light see my black and deep desires …” (I, v, 49 – 52).

Two characters that have flaws that are the causes of their downfall is Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. Lady Macbeth's flaw is that she makes her husband kill king Duncan; she feels guilty after she does this, so she commits sucide. Macbeth's flaw is what leads him to kill; his ambtion and selfishness leads to his death. Lady Macbeth's flaw is that she convinces Macbeth that he isn't a man unless he goes through with the murder of Duncan. She threatens his manhood by saying "when you durst do it, then you were a man; and to be more that what you were, you would be so much more the man" (act 1, scene VII, l 49-51).

Macbeth now convinced that he must prove his manliness by becoming king and he must make this happen by murdering Duncan. Although Lady Macbeth is portrayed as the villain, she has to have someone else to what she want which keeps her from doing the dirty work. After Macbeth kills Duncan, it seems that Lady Macbeth helps by finishing the murder by framing someone other than her husband. Macbeth is a tragic hero who causes suffering by committing murder and distress, exemplifying the negative effects of a bloodthirsty desire for power. Lady Macbeth torments her husband Macbeth in going through with the evil deed of murder which leads her to be the villain.

Macbeth Show how Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have to go against their own natures in order to kill Duncan. Each character in Macbeth has to either fight or give in to the evil. Because evil is contrary to human nature, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have to go against their own conscience in order to murder Duncan. When the witches predict that Macbeth will become Thane of Cawdor and later, King of Scotland, he is stunned to silence by their prophecies. When murder enters Macbeths mind he is frightened by his thoughts.

After the successful murder of Duncan, Macbeth entered a life of evil. Ambition was also clearly stated when he thought of killing his friend Banquo to protect the kingship. The witches’ predictions sent Macbeth into his own world where he could not be deterred from becoming king. Macbeth displays his cowardice by avoiding Lady Macbeth’s initial plan to murder King Duncan. By overcoming his personal matters to plot the death of the king, Macbeth only displays that women are manipulative, and often have their way with men.

Here's another / More potent than the first." The vaulting ambitions of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth lead to the death of King Duncan. For the sake of Macbeth's ambition, he is willing to murder his cousin, Duncan. Macbeth realizes that murdering his king is perfidious and blasphemous because every king is set on throne by God; he is driven by his undying aspiration to steal the throne and be king: "I have no spur / To prick the sides of my intent, but only / Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself / And falls on th' other." Lady Macbeth is also moved by her avarice to be alongside her husband on the throne.

The guilty mind that Macbeth is inhibited with eventually enacts his actions. The first action of killing is just the beginning of Macbeth’s vicious ways. Macbeth kills Duncan, however he is not willing to frame the guards, so Lady Macbeth is forced to go back to the room and frame the guards. She is frightened, but she felt if they want to... ... middle of paper ... ... In the beginning, when Macbeth questioned the killing of Duncan, he originally showed some sense of self-respect.

Through both of these cruel actions, Macbeth and his wife displayed that they are not concerned about the cost of the deed, but only final result that is achieved. This not only results in their downfall, but also has many harmful consequences to other characters. In Macbeth, Shakespeare suggests that driving ambition often causes one to ignore the means and focus only on the final goal; this causes one to participate in actions that have unfathomable consequences for both oneself and for others. Macbeth’s driving ambition to become king leads him to murder King Duncan. Once Macbeth learns of the witches’ prophesy that he will be King of Scotland, Macbeth immediately assumes that he must murder Duncan, the current king.

Macbeth decided to go through with his plan to kill Duncan, “I am settled, and bend up/Each corporal agent to this terrible feat/Away, and mock the time with fairest show/False face must hide what the false heart doth know” (1.7.92-96). Macbeth knew that it wasn’t right to kill his king; however, Macbeth’s ambition takes over the conscience in his mind. Macbe... ... middle of paper ... ...re power. Macbeth’s fall was his own fault because his lust for more power wasn’t going to stop and he was willing to kill anyone blocking or threatening his path. A position of power causes an individual to feel a sense of invisibility therefore; they think that they are above everyone else.