Shawn M. Henry
Mrs. Berger

The play “Macbeth” by Shakespeare takes place mainly in Scotland, this is the place in which the late King Duncan ruled and he was killed by his former general Macbeth, over power to rise as king of Scotland. Macbeth however was never intending to kill the king, it all started when Macbeth and his good friend Banquo meet three strange women who they later found out to be witches, they told Macbeth of a prophesy that he will be given the title of Thane of Cawdor and soon after be crowned king of Scotland, and as for Banquo his children will become kings. Even though the two wish to hear more the three witches disappear and as predicted King Duncan proclaimed Macbeth Thane of Cawdor. Lady Macbeth hears the news of her husband becoming the Thane of Cawdor, when Macbeth reaches home he tells his wife of the prophesy of the three witches and this enables the wife to produce a plan in order to kill the king in their own home and make it look as if they were the witnesses to the crime rather than the doers of the crime by framing the kings guards and claiming it on the fact that they had too much to drink making Macbeth the King of Scotland and making Lady Macbeth Queen of Scotland. This however introduces the themes of the play which is corrupting power and destiny/ prophesies.
Lady Macbeth elaborates on corrupting power when she speaks to the doctor “I still have the smell of blood on my hand. All the perfumes of Arabia couldn’t make my little hand smell better. Oh, oh, oh!” (Shakespeare 183). Surprisingly Lady Macbeth cracks under the pressure of killing all the people that she did in order to get to the point of the power that she did such as killing MacDuff and Banquo, her mind buckles under the weight of her actions and her guilt of such corrupt actions kills her by making her commit suicide. Corrupting power also plays a role on another death in the play by having Macbeth plan to kill Macduff and his family after hearing a prophesy from the three witches, Macbeth proclaims “ I’ll raid Macduff’s castle, seize the town of Fife and kill his wife, his children, and anyone else unfortunate enough to stand in line for his inheritance. No more foolish talk. I will do this deed before I lose my sense of purpose. But no more spooky visions! - Where are the messengers? Come, bring me to them.” (Shakespeare pg. 145). Do to the fact that he wants to kill Macduff. Macbeth is sick with power; his will is to kill an innocent family and his kids to keep his throne. He has become so conceited and corrupt, that he only cares about himself now. This could decide his fate, whether he stays king or not for many years to come. He craves control so much that he is willing to put his life on the line.
Macbeth even kills his friend Banquo, who he seems to like and even respect but the evils of power got to him making him kill Banquo. The three witches tell Banquo “your descendants will be kings, even though you will not be one. So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!” (Shakespeare pg. 15). This is saying the witches are predicting that Banquo’s sons will be kings. Although Macbeth doesn’t think about killing Banquo right away it is in the back of his mind. Once he has the power of being king he wants more power, so he can’t fight the desire to murder Banquo. Macbeth also shows himself going mad with power when he speaks to himself, “Malcolm is now the prince of Cumberland! To become king myself, I’m either going to have to step over him or give up, because he in my way. Stars, hide your light so no one can see the terrible desires within me. I won’t let my eye look at what my hand is doing, but in the end I’m going to do that thing I’d be horrified to see.”(Shakespeare pg. 29). He’s not satisfied with just being the Thane. He kills King Duncan which scares off Malcolm, his son and Macbeth becomes king. This quote relates somewhat to the real world because when people are in positions of power they always want more and are not satisfied until they get it, and they are willing to do any means necessary terrible or not. Lastly corrupting power occurs in this play, when Lady Macbeth speaks to Macbeth on becoming king by tempting him to kill King Duncan “… Greet the king with welcoming expression in your eyes, your hands, and your words. You should look like an innocent flower, but be the snake that hides underneath that flower” (Shakespeare pg. 36). By saying this, she is encouraging him to kill people in order to become king. Macbeth has some fears about killing the king but Lady Macbeth questions his manliness by telling him that if he was a real man, he would kill him; showing that Lady Macbeth was first to become over run with the temptations of power.
Even though corrupting power is an outstanding theme in the play, there is another strong theme which is destiny/ prophesies. This theme first appears when the witches say “your descendants will be kings, even though you will not be one. So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo! Banquo and Macbeth, all hail!”(Shakespeare pg. 15). Prophecy inspires the action of the play. The witches predict that Macbeth will first become Thane of Glamis, then Thane of Cawdor, and finally King of Scotland. They also prophesy that Banquo will found a royal line. Macbeth and Banquo doubt the claims. Although Macbeth knows he will inherit as Thane of Glamis when the current one dies, he sees no possible way in which he could become Thane of Cawdor, much less King of Scotland. The witches do not stay to explain their prophecy giving a sense of illusion as if to say would it have still been a prophecy if it Macbeth were to not act upon certain opportunities that came within his reach, Then Ross informs Macbeth that he is now Thane of Cawdor, the present Thane having been found guilty of treason and under sentence of death. This then gives Macbeth a sense of hope to believe in the witches’ prophecy . “ If fate wants me to be king , perhaps fate will make it happen and I won’t have to do anything.”( Shakespeare pg. 23). Macbeth figures that if he waits out long enough King Duncan will die, but what he then figures out that if Banquo sons are going to be king then that means that he will either be dethroned or murdered so he comes up with a plan to kill Banquo and his son Felance. When Macbeth puts the hit out on Banquo, as he dies he says something interesting, “Oh this is treachery! Get out of here, good Felance run, and run, run ! Someday you can get revenge.- Oh you bastard!” Banquo last words show that he knows that Macbeth is behind the murder, by calling him a bastard, hence showing that Macbeth was poisoned by the prophecy told earlier on. In act 4 scene 1 he visits the witches again for reassurance that he is going to stay king. The second apparition then told him “ Be violent, bold, and firm. Laugh at the power of other men, because nobody born from a woman will ever harm Macbeth.” ( Shakespeare pg. 132). Macbeth takes this literally. After all, all men are born of woman, so if none can harm him, why not let Macduff live, despite the first prophecy? He is even more assured of his invincibility by the third apparition “ Be brave like a lion and proud. Don’t even worry about who hates you, who represents you, and who conspires against you. Macbeth will never be defeated until Birman Wood marches to fight you at Dunsinane Hill.” ( Shakespeare pg. 139). After this, the witches depart, and a messenger comes to say that Macduff has fled to England. The whole story is not told by the messenger whom in fact MacDuff fled to England to gain an army and came back to kill and dethrone Macbeth using tree branches as camouflage hence the apparition claiming that trees would rise up and attack Macbeth. Macduff’s army kills Macbeth, despite the witches prophesy due to the fact that Macduff was born out of a C- section not born the natural way.