...“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely” (Lord Acton). Throughout history, it is prevalent that the more power one desires, the more corrupt they become. This is due to the fact that the wish to attain power eventually overtakes one’s ability to have a clear conscience. Corrupt rulers will do whatever it takes to remain in control. Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, utilizes psychoanalysis to portray how the Macbeths’ lust for power ultimately leads to their downfall. To begin, Macbeth’s thirst for power commences upon hearing the Witches’ prophecy. The Third Witch proclaims, “All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!” (1.3.51). Macbeth and his companion, Banquo, find this prophecy of being king absurd to the point of being funny. Yet Macbeth secretly...
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...play, “Macbeth,” Macbeth strips away his heroic traits when his ambition comes into play and slowly dehumanizes into a non-empathic monster which causes his marriage downfall. In the early stages of the play, Macbeth is the one in the relationship to fear failure and to lose his sense of morals while, in contrast, Lady Macbeth prays to be “unsexed” and to lose her sense of guilt. After they murder Duncan, their attitudes slowly start to change throughout the play and now Macbeth is one to obtain the power and replaces...
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...Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth has an extreme influence on her husband Macbeth. Due to Macbeth’s submissive personality, he is easily conceivable and will do whatever Lady Macbeth demands he does. If Macbeth did not have Lady Macbeth telling him what to do he would never rise to power and make the play have such an influential message. Lady Macbeth is more important to the deeper meaning of the play than Macbeth because she is influential, ruthless, and ambitious and even though she was not the one who put the most action into anything she was the one who convinced Macbeth to act on anything. First off, people gain most power...
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...Ambition – A Tragic Flaw Macbeth by William Shakespeare highlights the blinding powers of ambition demonstrated within its characters. Ambition has the potential to prompt a character to build determination and fulfill many achievements. On the other hand, ambition can also become a character’s leading tragic flaw. The main plot of the play displays the various acts Macbeth carries out in order to dismiss the threats between him and the throne. Although he implements the murder of King Duncan, Lady Macbeth is the intelligence behind his violent actions. Since she is the most influential individual in Macbeth’s life, Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband using belittlement and emotional blackmail in order to achieve her own ambition, to gain...
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...warrior role; however, the dismissal of gender specific characteristics in literature often contradicts the gender roles throughout the 1600s. For example, Macbeth includes several characters that fail to possess the qualities typically associated with their gender. The subversion of gender roles in Macbeth becomes particularly evident during the planning of Duncan’s murder and then in the overthrow of Macbeth. These two events highlight the sharp...
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... Evolution of Evil in Macbeth In Macbeth, the characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth undergo drastic changes as the play unfolds. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth regress from logical and human like people, into evil characters that would be found in a horror film. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth seem like two usual human beings, but after hearing about possibly becoming king and queen these characters turn to the dark side and resort to murdering the current king to take the thrown. Once the characters resort to murder, regret and guilt begin to consume their lives, resulting in death for both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Throughout the play Macbeth, the elements...
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...Macbeth and Gender John J. Armes, M.Ed. Ashford University June 4, 2018 Dominance; This theme occurs in so many of William Shakespeare’s plays because it is vital to the creation of conflict within a storyline. The Plot of Macbeth would have never advanced if the foresight given by the witches did not make Macbeth willing to take power away from Duncan and become king himself. Many of Shakespeare’s female characters have also been willing to obtain power; however, achieving power was not as easy as it was for men. Women were not put into leadership roles as easily as men were; they had to seek them out. Lady Macbeth from Macbeth is a the perfect example of a woman who took action to control her own life and the lives of those around...
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...blamed on only one. If one goes in, the other one will follow, whether it’s good or bad. In the play Macbeth, Macbeth is supported by his wife, Lady Macbeth to kill the king, Duncan and grab the royalty for themselves. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth have many similar and different characteristics. This couple ate both egotistical, see things from face-value, and very power-hungry. While they are both very manipulative, Macbeth is easier to manipulate. Lady Macbeth is eventually guilt-ridden, while guilt never affects Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is also fine with only killing Duncan, whereas Macbeth murders everyone who he feels will take his royalty from him. The witches tell Macbeth the first three prophecies; Thane of Glams, Thane of Cawdor, and The future King. He is confused at first, but then called the witches to come back, and tell him more, this is his ego growing. He wanted to know, “to be King stands not within the prospect of belief, no more than to be Cawdor”. When news came that the Thane of Cawdor is now Macbeth, fuels the fire, his ego starts to build even more. “Glams and Thane of Cawdor! The greatest is behind,” Macbeth says aside. Once he is king, to be sure he hangs on to his power, Macbeth visits the witches again for a second time, asks for prophecies. One of the four apparitions was that, “None of woman born shall harm Macbeth.” This apparition also contributes to Macbeth being egotistical, because it...
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...Lady Macbeth is a character in Shakespeare's Macbeth (c.1603–1607). She is the wife to the play's protagonist, Macbeth, a Scottish nobleman. After goading him into committing regicide, she becomes Queen of Scotland, but later suffers pangs of guilt for her part in the crime. She dies off-stage in the last act, an apparent suicide. According to some genealogists, Lady Macbeth and Duncan's wife were sisters or cousins, where Lady Macbeth had a stronger claim to the throne then Duncan's wife. It was this that incited her jealousy and hatred of Duncan. The character's origins lie of the accounts of Kings Duff and Duncan in Holinshed's Chronicles (1587), a history of Britain familiar to Shakespeare. Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth appears to be a composite of two separate and distinct personages in Holinshed's work: Donwald's nagging, murderous wife in the account of King Duff, and Macbeth's ambitious wife Gruoch of Scotland in the account of King Duncan. Lady Macbeth is a powerful presence in the play, most notably in the first two acts. Following the murder of King Duncan, however, her role in the plot diminishes. She becomes an uninvolved spectator to Macbeth's plotting, and a nervous hostess at a banquet dominated by her husband's hallucinations. Her fifth act sleepwalking scene is a turning point in the play, and her line, "Out, damned spot!," has become a phrase familiar to many speakers of the English language. The report of her death late in the fifth act provides the inspiration...
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...Not so Lady Macbeth Gender roles play a huge part in history as women have always been seen as soft, very primitive, and especially proper. Lady Macbeth challenges these gender roles to an extreme as her character is highlighted as a power thirsty and sinister woman who will do anything to get to the crown. In the traditional gender roles of Elizabethan society by being characterized by Shakespeare as a very sinister woman who will goes as afar as murder and treason to obtain her darkest desires. The Elizabethan times took place during Queen Elizabeth I’s reign on the English throne. During this time period, prosperity was extremely rapid, which resulted in gender roles being exemplified even more than before. Men were the obvious superior to women and treated them like objects. Women typically...
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...Power is something most people strive to get when they don’t have it. Power is what runs the world now and has for a long time. The problem with power is that it corrupts. John Emerich Acton once said, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Macbeth by William Shakespeare is the tragic story about the kind of destruction ambition and the struggle for power can cause. Even the noblest of people are corrupted by the idea of power and will do anything to achieve it. Symbolism, irony, foil, theme, and imagery are some of the literary elements and techniques Shakespeare uses to portray Macbeth, the protagonist, as a greedy tyrant willing to sacrifice all others to accomplish his goals. Shakespeare not only represents Macbeth as the protagonist, but also as an antagonist to himself and others in the play. The author characterizes Macbeth at first as an honorable man willing to fight for the freedom of his kingdom. Shakespeare foreshadows to the reader a developing change within Macbeth’s character after his encounter with the Weird Sisters. His convene with the witches arouses in Macbeth the idea of becoming king. The motivation for Macbeth to become king spurs from the prophecies told by the witches in the beginning acts of the play, which were evidently coming true as he gained the title “Thane of Cawdor” as the prophecy stated. Below the surface Macbeth is a melting pot of emotions, which engaged his character in the idea of becoming a supreme...
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...his demise.(Tragic Hero as Defined by Aristotle). Macbeth had many noble qualities as well as several tragic flaws. Macbeth's degeneration was caused by the prophecy of the witches, lady Macbeth's influence, and his own long time desire to be king. Macbeth's tragic flaws were his ambition and the way he was easily manipulated. The prophecies of the witches bring out Macbeth's ambitious nature. Macbeth was first established as being of great stature, the captain says “For brave Macbeth-well he deserves that name-/Disdaining fortune, with his brandished steel”( I.ii. lines16-17). However, after hearing of the prophecy his honorable nature fades. The witches prophecies give Macbeth a sense of security and confidence but prove to be harmful for Macbeth and his interpretation of the truths. In the article “Shakespeare's Macbeth” by Mitchell Kalpakgian she states, “the witches on the heath foretell what Macbeth will gain but never disclose what he will lose or the price he will pay for acting on the insinuations of the witches who only speak half truths.”(Kalpakgian, 2013). Although it is true that Macbeth will become king it is never explained how he will obtain kingship and what kind of life he will lead as King. The witches plant the seed of murdering Duncan in Macbeth's head, but if it were only the witches prophecies that influenced him he would have not committed the murder. Lady Macbeth influences and manipulates Macbeth. She is the driving force that encourages him to...
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...Lady Macbeth has just read the letter Macbeth sent her, now she has thoughts of killing the King herself. Lady Macbeth can’t kill the King because according to society women are supposed to be emotional, weep and faint as a reaction to death. So she calls to deadly spirits and wants them to “unsex” her which then would give her the power women don’t have; the power to be strong like men, more importantly, she wants the power to kill with no remorse. Lady Macbeth is speaking to Macbeth and has presented the perfect opportunity to kill to King. Lady Macbeth is saying that if she was told to kill a baby she nurtured she would’ve done it, and the way she explains she would’ve done it is in the most heartless way. When saying this she is calling Macbeth a coward because he won’t agree with killing the King, which for him should be a simple task considering the fact he is a man....
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...Ashley 1 Ryan Ashley Mr Grabham Eng4U 11, 11, 11 Division of Power between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, power is shared between the two main characters, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Even though during the time that the play takes place it is not correct for a woman to have equal, and even in some cases more power than a man, Lady Macbeth is pictured as having such. Her husband allows for equality in their relationship from the beginning scenes. This equality however becomes unbalanced due to different situations and actions than unfold within the play. The change of power is caused by both the power and follies of Macbeth and his wife. These follies and strengths include Lady Macbeth’s intelligence and planning, and her emotions, and for Macbeth, include his determination, and dependence on others. During the play, the balance of power constantly shifts back and forth between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. In the beginning of the play, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are considered to be equals in the relationship in the beginning scenes. This is shown in how Macbeth addresses her in his letter saying “This have I thought good to deliver thee, my dearest partner of greatness, that thou might’st not lose the dues of rejoicing,.” (I, V,). He calls her his dearest partner in greatness, which completely goes against what is normal at the time because it is showing equal status, rather than Lady Macbeth as being subservient to her husband. This has a great effect...
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...Power Hungry In “The Tragedy of Macbeth” By William Shakespeare, the theme displayed through characters is power hungry. Macbeth at the beginning of the story is speaking highly as if he wants to be in charge and be crowned King. Macbeth states “When those that gave the Thane of Cawdor to me promised me no less to them? (Shakespeare 309). The words spoken from Macbeth show Shakespeare’s theme of being power hungry. It shows that Macbeth wants to be a noble king and will do what it takes to get there. Additionally, in Act 1, Lady Macbeth joins Macbeth on trying to kill King Duncan. Lady Macbeth says “What cannot you and I perform upon Th’ unguarded Duncan?” (Shakespeare 317). Based on what’s going on and being said Shakespeare’s...
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