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Justice In Macbeth

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“[I] Shall Sleep No More”: How Self Respect Affects One’s Response to Justice in William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”
William Shakespeare’s psychological drama “The Tragedy of Macbeth” follows a highly respected soldier caught between his morality and his passion for power. As a result of Macbeth’s overconfidence and fatuitous expectations, he goes down a tragic path ultimately isolating himself from others and leading to his downfall. It is obvious that Macbeth’s mind starts degenerating after murdering King Duncan for his selfish interests. When Macbeth overtakes the throne he uses the crown as an impenetrable shield which eradicates all justice that blocks his path. As Macbeth gets comfortable on his blood covered throne, he does not realize …show more content…
Consequently, he feels as though life is meaningless because he has lost the ability to improve upon his great status. This mindset was drastically altered by the witch’s prophecy which gives Macbeth an egoistic perspective because of his prosperous future; as a result, he feels as if everything he does is correct, erasing the line between right and wrong and only following what he wants. Lady Macbeth acted as a catalyst to Macbeth’s degradation; subsequently after she hears the great news, she hastily orders Macbeth to take over the throne and belittles his manly hood because of Macbeth’s reluctance even swearing if the “spirits [could] unsex me” (Shakespeare 24) she would have acted instantly. Correspondingly, Macbeth’s psyche is engulfed with darkness, feeling as if he had to affirm his confidence by murdering King Duncan. Subsequently, Macbeth claims the crown only to hide behind it using it as a shield. An example of this would be when he uses his power to affirm his position on the throne; Macbeth was frightened by the fate “[Banquo’s] descendants will be kings” (No Fear Shakespeare Macbeth, line 68) as they will be destined to overthrow Macbeth to do so. Accordingly, the cynical Macbeth orders murderers to kill Banquo and his son to stop the lineage but, fails to kill Fleance. This frightens Macbeth because all his work will only be for the kings after himself. …show more content…
As a consequence of the poison, Macbeth sees the world through a different lens – a lens that interprets the world inferior to himself and only for his benefit, giving no thought about others and going as far as hiring murders to kill his friends and comrades out of fear to secure his position on the throne which subsequently, leads to his downfall. Macbeth has lost all his trusted companions and stands alone against the justice the people of Scotland deserve. The more Macbeth uses the crown for unjust things, the more rapidly his mind degenerates. For Macbeth being king is not enough, he wants to be king forever; consequently, he abuses his power making all of Scotland turn against

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