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Macbeth Personal Response

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Submitted By sunawer
Words 617
Pages 3
Sunawer Aujla
Ms. Edmundson
ELA 10 Pre-AP
December 18, 2015
The Wrong Kind of Determination There is no divine will. There is no such thing as destiny. There is no such thing as fate. All of these ideas were birthed for the sole reason of defining the inexplicable. Today, these terms are thrown around to describe the outcome of a personal decision, and it needs to be understood that the decisions we make for ourselves, whether we think it little or large, create the path we follow in life. Individual Choices rooted in greed, overconfidence, and pure personal benefit, will result in a negative impact upon one’s life. In Macbeth, the protagonist identifies his goal relatively early in the play, that is, to become king. However, the way in which he decides to do so, is what leads to his inevitable downfall. His strong lust for this power leads him to the decision that the only way to become king, is to atrociously murder the current king. This king, King Duncan, had already named his son Malcolm as rightful heir, but after the murder, he flees from Scotland. This is a common occurrence, portrayed in the modern day Disney film, The Lion King. Scar, in the role of Macbeth, aims to take the Pride Lands from Mufasa, parallel to King Duncan. After murdering Mufasa, Scar convinces Simba that if he stays, everyone will hate him for killing his father. In Macbeth, after Malcolm leaves Scotland, many people accuse him of murdering his father to take the throne. Furthermore, Scar’s personal decision and planning into how to obtain leadership, is similar to that of Macbeth in that they both decide to murder the predecessor, a personal decision that eventually leads to both of their downfalls. An individual’s choice determines a lifetime of consequences, whether it be positive or negative. Although Macbeth did in fact achieve his goal and became King, he faces negative consequences of instability, which he himself acknowledges that, “To be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus” (III, i, 49-50). Unfortunately for the citizens of Scotland, their new king finds safety in murder. After his first murder, a kind of comfort establishes in Macbeth that he will not get exposed for his wrongful actions, so he makes the personal decision to murder everyone who may challenge him. These decisions only build more doubt in his honour, yet he is persistent in believing he is invincible. At the end of the play, Macduff and Malcolm, along with other nobles and the English force, revolt against Macbeth. Macbeth stubbornly denies the fact that he could be defeated, parallel to the plot of The Lion King once again. Simba, the rightful heir, returns to the Pride Lands to take over, but Scar still sees him as weak. Scar is defeated and order is restored, just as it is when Malcolm claims the throne. When Macbeth was making his decisions, he was blinded by his greed, overconfidence, and personal benefit, completely ignoring the sanity of the idea and how this would impact his life in the future. Macbeth’s hamartia was his determination, as his process in achieving his goals was unjust. He did not continue to pursue the characteristics of a King, as his choices were not in the best interest of his country, but what he thought was in the best interest of himself. He developed into a self-centred character, whose decisions accelerated to numerous negative consequences, not only impacting an entire country, but to his demise. One must be mindful when making decisions, and must consider the basis of their decisions as well as the impact their decision will have if installed.

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