Macbeth's actions are so heavily defined by the one thing he desires most: an heir for his kingdom, for which he has sacrificed so much to attain (he murdered his King and a great many innocent others, destroyed his courtly reputation, gave his own life). By sacrificing all he did to attain power for his future child, Macbeth only succeeds in solidifying the claim of another mans (Duncan, later Banquo) children to the throne: "the Weird Sisters...have given the real future to Banquo." (Brooks 41) Banquo, unlike Macbeth, passively accepts the Witches' prophecy, whereas Macbeth actively conspires to "fulfill his destiny" which results in his own death and the end of his family…
In Act III, Macbeth becomes increasingly greedy for power leading him to fulfil ruthless actions. Even though he is already Thane of Cawdor and Glamis, his ambition, fueled by the harassment of Lady Macbeth over rules his conscience, and he is willing to do what it takes to keep the throne. In the beginning of the book, Macbeth starts with a rightful mind in which he has the ability to determine right from wrong. After the prophecy invades his life and after the unnatural events of Duncan’s murder, Macbeth’s mindset shifts to overwhelming selfishness. He plans to kill his best friend Banquo in order to destroy any chance of Banquo’s children inheriting his kingship.…
Macbeth is a very power greedy person. It is not necessarily his own doing that he is such a ruthless person. It all started (Macbeth being power greedy) with the Three Witches predictions: "All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Glamis!/ All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of/ Cawdor!/ All hail, Macbeth! That shalt be king hereafter." (1.3.50-54)<br><br>As soon as Macbeth learned of his future, he began to scheme on just exactly how he would fulfill these prophecies. That is when he decided that he would have to murder Duncan to fulfill the last prophecy. But that is when he had a change or heart. <br><br>The only problem with Macbeth deciding not to murder Duncan, is that all of a sudden Lady Macbeth became the power greedy one. This is when Lady Macbeth's scheming began. Although Macbeth had changed his mind and basically refused to murder Duncan, Lady Macbeth was able to eventually convince him to carry through with the plan. <br><br>Even though Macbeth was the one who executed the plan, Lady Macbeth was the mastermind behind the scheme. Her greed for power was the one major factor that possessed her to convince Macbeth of the plan and carry through with it. Macbeth murdered Duncan at Iverness, and became hysterical after doing so. As a result of Malcolm and Donalbain's suspicions resulting in their departure to England and Ireland Macbeth became king: this was the ultimate power that he and Lady Macbeth had as their goal (well, actually it was more of Lady Macbeth's goal), and now he eventually had received it. Nothing was going to take away this ultimate power from Macbeth, and he would do anything to keep it. Macbeth's ruthlessness results in him ordering three murderers to murder his best friend, Banquo. The power of being king has taken over Macbeth's life, and he is a victim of his own greed for power. He is a tyrant. Not only does Macbeth murder Banquo (not directly, of course), he also murders (actually he has people murder) Macbuffs family.…
What drove him to become so thirsty for power was none other than his wife. She planted evil plans in his head that changed him forever. Before this Macbeth would not even think of killing the king but after his wife questioned his manliness and threatened their love he was left with no choice but to consider the idea of killing the king. By killing King Duncan he not only gained the title of king of scotland but fulfilled the last prophecy given by the three weird sisters. He felt invincible he couldn’t stop the great power of becoming king from corrupting him. He had to do whatever was necessary to protect his power he saw Banquo as a threat. Going against all his beliefs he cowardly killed Banquo but killing Banquo is not enough.…
To illustrate, Macbeth kills the guards to try to maintain his appearence of innocence. After just killing Duncan in his sleep, Macbeth and his wife are anxious and paranoid. Macbeth wants to eradicate anyone that may know the truth about Duncan’s mysterious death; killing the guards was necessary to ensure Macbeth’s own security. However, Lady Macbeth had already framed the guards by placing the bloody knife by them. As a result, Macbeth’s action is not just act of protection, but an act of apparent loyalty in order to keep the crown. Next, Macbeth plots the murder of his friend Banquo. Banquo starts getting suspicious of Duncan’s death because it happened so incredibly close to when the witches told Macbeth he would be king. He starts to perceive that maybe Macbeth killed Duncan to get his position. Macbeth worries that Banquo would be suspicious because he is the only other person that knows of the prophecy. In addition to that, the witches also said Banquo’s children will be kings, making Macbeth doubt the safety of his reign. Macbeth is so eager to ensure his long rule that he order’s murderers to kill Banquo and his son Fleance. Now that he has the crown, he will never let it escape him. Furthermore, he also kills Banquo to maintain his kingship. After getting word of Macduff’s flee to England, Macbeth believes that he is a traitor. In order to…
Macbeth, after hearing the prophecies the three witches gave him, becomes conflicted within himself, ‘If chance shall have me King, why, chance may crown me, without my stir’. Ultimately, Macbeth chooses ambition over morality, but not without pressure from his wife ‘Are you a man?’ and severe inner turmoil ‘My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical’. To contrast the devious character of Macbeth, Shakespeare included Banquo, a fellow noblemen and Macbeth’s closest friend, to act as Macbeths foil. He immediately chooses morality over ambition without question and forewarns Macbeth of the Weird Sisters and their ability to twist the truth: ‘instruments of darkness tell us truths, win us with honest trifles, to betray’s in deepest consequence’. Banquo’s undying allegiance to King Duncan demonstrations the difference between Macbeth and Banquo, and how the upkeep of morals keep us in check. After choosing power, Macbeth’s suspicion of Banquo and his role in the prophecy leads to Banquo’s murder. After killing his friend, Macbeth is plagued with guilt, and hallucinations become recurrent for both Macbeth; ‘our graves must send those we bury back’ and his wife; ‘will these hands ne’er be clean?’ This shows that ambition can lead to immoral acts when overcome by desire.…
Throughout Act I in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the character Macbeth struggles with the Weird Sisters’ prophecy predicting his Scottish kingship. Macbeth believes the only way for him to rise to power is through murder. After contemplating whether or not to kill Duncan, the current king, Macbeth ultimately decides to follow through in order to gain status and power. As an audience member, I do not feel sympathy for Macbeth as he independently and consciously betrays his morals and noble duties.…
Macbeth had done a lot to become king. He murdered his cousin, King Duncan and anyone else who he thought would reveal the truth that he was true murderer. He also went against his ethics. Two of the people Macbeth ordered to be murdered were his honorable friend Banqou, and Banquo’s son Fleance. Macbeth murdered Banquo for two reasons. The first reason was his fear of Banquo’s nobleness. In Macbeth’s soliloquy he states, “There’s something noble about him (Banquo) that makes me fear him. He’s willing to take risks, and his mind never stops working. He has the wisdom to act bravely but also safely. I’m not afraid of anyone but him…” Macbeth is worried that Banquo will reveal that Macbeth killed King Duncan since Banquo suspected Macbeth. Another reason was because Banqou was told by three evil witches that, “Thou shalt get kings, thought thou be none” so Macbeth figured that he should have Banqou murdered to stop Banquo…
In the play Macbeth, Macbeth receives a prophecy from three witches that tell him that he will one day become king. Macbeth then sets out to make the prophecy a reality by committing regicide and taking the king’s life, then becoming king himself. After he becomes king, he begins to go mad with guilt and paranoia from what he has done, yet he still commits more murders in order to keep his throne. The country is thrown into chaos after the death of the king, and Macbeth does little to nothing to keep his country in order due to his own personal issues, which causes a rebellion, led…
After the three witches, or weïrd sisters, tell Macbeth about his future of becoming king, he became fixated on the sense of his head being adorned with the crown. While it was not his intended idea to kill the king, he does so in order to satisfy his desire to have the crown on his head. While Macbeth may have felt guilty of his deed, his ambition led him to slay the lives of more innocent people in order to keep his objective from failing. In fact, Macbeth’s aspiration to rule without the pressure or the questioning of others gave him the motivation to murder his best friend, Banquo. Macbeth states, “Whose loves I may not drop, but wail his fall Who I myself struck down. And thence it is, That I to your assistance do make love, Masking the business from the common eye For sundry weighty reasons” (Act 3, scene 1 Pg. 89 Shakespeare). Macbeth was so determined to remove any threats to his reign that he became daring enough to hire someone to murder his friend and his family. Macbeth’s ambition took control of the situation, and because Macbeth needed to satisfy his ruthless desire, he preformed the immoral act of murder. As Napoleon Bonaparte once stated, ambition can be used for good or bad acts, depending on the values that are influencing these motivations. Macbeth, seeing the only way to become king was commit murder, was motivated and so determined to take the…
Macbeth’s new position as king, gives him the power to delegate his needs to other people which he uses to hire murderers to slaughter Banquo. This proves that Banquo’s life means nothing to him anymore now that Banquo’s knows about Macbeth’s involvement in Duncan’s death. Banquo’s statement of “thou hast it now-king, Cawdor, Glamis, as the Weïrd women promised, and I fear thou played’st most foully for ‘t” shows Banquo’s realization of Macbeth’s involvement in Duncan’s murder but by the time he does it is too late for salvation. This worries Macbeth because his lies are catching up to him and they threaten to take his crown. The thought of killing Banquo once a never come to plight now seems as the only solution to an ever growing problem. Banquo’s ending set forth Macbeth’s notion of the crown leading to happiness. This murderous action, even though not directly taken by Macbeth, even more so painted Macbeth in a murderous light that will follow him on his path to…
Banquo is killed strictly for the reason that he has a suspicion that Macbeth killed Duncan. He could get Macbeth into trouble and ruin his future. The witches’ prophecies describe how Banquo will be a father to a future line of kings. Macbeth hearing this, believes it is a threat at him and uses his urge for power to set out for the killing of Fleance. Macbeth says, “To leave no rubs nor botches in the work—Fleance, his son, that keeps him company, Whose absence is no less material to me Than is his father’s” (Shakespeare). This quote is describing how Fleance’s life is just as equal as Banquo’s. He believes in killing Fleance because he is a threat to him. Macbeth wants no chances for another person to come into power. Therefore, Macbeth wants to be safe and chooses to kill more people. The ambition Macbeth has becomes clear during this chain of events because he is paranoid at losing the power he urgently wants. Cassandra Nelson says, “Once he hears the weird sisters' prophecy Macbeth becomes so consumed by his desire for power that he becomes a tyrannical and violent monster who ultimately destroys himself” (Nelson). She is referencing Macbeth listening to the prophecies given to him. As soon as he hears what the witches have to say, he acts immediately in any way possible to keep his power. Nelson is also hints to the fact that ambition is Macbeth’s tragic flaw and leads to his demise. Macbeth is so power hungry that he is willing to do anything possible to stay on the throne. Ambition is shown when he kills Banquo and attempts to kill Fleance because they threaten his…
Macbeth’s ambition is so great that he comes up with a plan to kill King Duncan when the king is staying at Macbeth’s castle. As Macbeth considers his plan, he evaluates the pros and cons of his action and admits to himself that it is immoral and wrong to kill Duncan for several reasons: “He is here in double-trust; First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, strong both against the dead; then, as his host, who should against his murderer shut the door, not bear the knife myself... I have no spur to prick the side of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o’erleps itself and fall on th’ other-”(1.7.12-27). Macbeth admits that it is wrong and that his ambition is what is driving him to commit murder to gain the throne. Macbeth knowing it was wrong still killed King Duncan because his ambition out weighed his moral Despite his doubts and…
Firstly, the power of ambition forces Macbeth to be less loyal to the people he loves and, therefore, he goes against his own set of morals. He is willing to turn on and kill the people he is loyal to king. Initially, Macbeth is reluctant to kill Duncan. He says, “He’s here in double trust:/First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,/Strong both against the deed; then, as his host.” (I.vii. 12-14) Macbeth demonstrates here that he knows it is morally wrong to kill Duncan but he murders him anyway because he believes it will give him more power. Next, Lady Macbeth convinces Macbeth using the power of ambition she says, “But your courage to sticking-place/And we’ll not fail. “ (I.vii.60-61) Lady Macbeth shows that power and being queen is more important to her than morals are. Afterwards, Macbeth feels that he needs kill Banquo. Macbeth sees Banquo as treat to him because the say that Banquo will be the father of kings. Macbeth says, “They hail’d him father to a line of kings./ Upon my head they plac’d a fruitless crown/ And put a barren sceptre in my gripe,/Thence to be wrench’d with a unltneal hand. / No sons of mine succeeding. If’t be so,/ For Banquo’s issue have I fill my mind.” (III, I, 61-165) Here Macbeth shows that he has no problem killing Banquo. The power of his ambition…
In the play Macbeth power is gained and cultivated through acts of violence. There are three murders that Macbeth does in order to get and keep his place on the throne. The first violent murder that Macbeth does is kill Duncan who was the King of Scotland. After the witches prophesies that Macbeth will be future king of Scotland, Duncan’s murders is the only way for Macbeth to gain more power. Macbeth subconsciously realizes this as soon as the three witches foretell he will be king and his thoughts immediately jump to murder.…