Macbeth: The Corrupting Power of Ambition

The more power one desires, the more corrupt actions one takes to fulfill those desires. In William Shakespeare’s tragic play, “Macbeth” the main character, Macbeth, becomes hungry for power which ultimately leads him to his tragic death. This is shown through the use of foreshadowing and apostrophe to prove Shakespeare’s theme that the gaining of more power leads to more corrupt influences. It is evident that there is no positive outcome from the craving of power and the act of doing morally or ethically corrupt activities in order to achieve a higher place in society. Throughout the play, Shakespeare, uses foreshadowing to hint that something important will be occurring later on in the play. Macbeth’s cravings for power and his corrupt actions were first foretold by the witches predictions about Macbeth becoming king. The three weird witches exclaimed, “all hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!” (1.3.53), however they never told him all the horrible deeds he would partake in to achieve the title of becoming king. Shakespeare's use of foreshadowing allows the readers to know what things Macbeth will achieve, but Shakespeare does not tell the readers about the corrupt actions Macbeth will take. In Susan Snyder’s essay she talks about the change in Macbeth's character and how he was before the

Shakespeare is very successful with conveying this theme throughout the story by using literary devices like foreshadowing and apostrophe to show the big picture of how much Macbeth changes.. Through the use of literary devices and characterization, the readers were able to depict how Macbeth changes as the book goes on and clearly understand Shakespeare's massage of the play. The displaying of power in this play allowed the readers to understand exactly how much the increase in power caused Macbeth to go