Macbeth Corruption Research Paper

Corruption Sani Abacha, a Nigerian military dictator and politician, was tied to human rights violations and corruption, he was considered the world’s fourth most corrupt leader. He was linked to taking money from the Nigerian government and keeping it for himself, the estimated total was 1.4 billion dollars. Corruption is common amongst people with substantial amounts of power, whether the corruption may be linked with murders, money transfers, human rights violations, or rigged elections, corruption occurs because people fear the leader and stopping them once the corruption has begun. When someone is introduced to power, they are overwhelmed and feel it is necessary to become corrupt, this can be compared to William Shakespeare 's Macbeth
. Macbeth transforms from an honorable Scottish general to being an extremely corrupt leader. When given power in Scotland, he carries out murders to achieve higher positions in Scotland. In Macbeth, Macbeth was a well liked general up until the prophecies of three creepy witches enter his mind motivating him to pursue these prophecies which ultimately lead to his death. Macbeth is a general in the King’s Army, he is a well liked general who devotes his life to his country during battle ensuring the safety of all the citizens of Scotland, until the prophecies of the three witches cause him to do otherwise.
Macbeth is loyal to the king and land of Scotland at the beginning of the play, he comes back from battle and Scotland honors the great general Macbeth. “When he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won” (1.2.78). Duncan starts discussing how when the army comes back from battle, noble Macbeth always comes back from battle victorious and the kingdom honors him. When Macbeth goes into battle, he knows he will come back from battle victorious and everyone in Scotland will honor him, Duncan believes that Macbeth is his greatest general and will always come back from battle victorious. Macbeth is loyal to Duncan and the land of Scotland at the beginning of the play, until the three witches prophecies cause him to be feared by everyone in Scotland. Lady Macbeth questions her husbands manliness and willingness to carry out a murder. “Yet do I fear thy nature; it is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way” (1.5.16-18). Lady Macbeth questions if Macbeth is too kind to murder someone, and questions if she would have too do it herself or if Macbeth would be man enough to actually commit a murder against one of his dearest friends. Lady Macbeth thinks Macbeth is too kind and unwilling to commit a murder against someone who he is
extremely loyal to. Lady Macbeth believes she would have to kill Duncan because Macbeth is too kind to do an act so brutal. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is loyal to the king and Scotland. He is far too kind to commit a murder against one of his dearest friends Duncan. Macbeth is going through his plans to kill Duncan with Lady Macbeth, but doesn’t want to carry the plan out because he is friends with Duncan. “Go bid thy mistress, when my drink is ready, She strike upon the bell. Get thee to bed” (2.1.42-43). Macbeth, an honorable general in the army, is planning to murder the king. He is doing this so he can hold the position of king. Macbeth is well liked up to this point in the book, but believes he has to murder the king to fulfill the witches prophecies. Macbeth prepares to kill Duncan, but second guesses his plan because he is friends with the king, although he carries out the plan so he can be king and has no regrets for what he is about to do. The prophecies of the three witches causes Macbeth to kill high power leaders in Scotland so he could be king, and Lady Macbeth could be queen. Macbeth has turned into an evil monster by the end of the play. He already murdered Duncan, Banquo, and Macduff 's family and servant.
Macbeth is only supported by people because they fear him. Macbeth was well liked in the beginning of the play, but ever since the witches prophecies came out, Macbeth has turned into this evil monster who everyone fears. People are so fearful of Macbeth that they only support Macbeth because they fear of being murdered. The prophecies of the three witches greatly altered Macbeth. They caused him to change into a completely different person causing him to commit these murders. Lady Macbeth helped her husband carry out these murders, although she herself didn’t think it would come down to both of them dying. “What 's done cannot be undone” (5.1.71). When Macbeth and Lady Macbeth finally realize what a ruckus they have caused throughout the kingdom, they realize they can’t change anything they did in the past. Lady Macbeth and her husband are feared throughout the kingdom. They know the murders that took place won’t ever be able to be undone. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth didn 't realize how much these murders would have affected them, they realize they can’t be undone and have affected them greatly. The prophecies of the three witches are getting to Macbeths head and they cause him to commit these murders which ultimately lead him to his death. Macbeth will kill anyone in any manner to achieve a greater position in Scotland. He is feared throughout the kingdom of Scotland, and people “support” him because if they don’t agree with him, they will be murdered, “My soul is too much charged with blood thine already” (5.8.6-7). Macbeth finally realizes the pain he has caused throughout the kingdom and will shortly pay the price of death. Macbeth now fully understands everything he did, and now will die shortly because Macduff and his army are coming to kill him. Macbeth has become this evil monster who will do anything he wants to have greater power, the prophecies of the three witches causes him to kill innocent Scotland citizens who had greater power than he did before he murdered them. He even kills Macduff’s family to eliminate the next heir to the throne.
Through the course of the murders Macbeth committed, he really didn’t think committing these murders would end up with him being killed, although going through all this he realized after his final murder, everyone knew he committed
murders Macbeth went from a well liked general in Scotland’s army transforming into a monster like murderer due to the prophecies of three witches. Macbeth certainly changed from the beginning of the play until the end of the play, going through numerous murders, and listening to several prophecies of the three witches. When given power, people drastically change. They have the ability to control other people and do whatever they think is necessary to keep themselves within the hands of power. Macbeth was left with the prophecies of the three witches, and continued committing murders. When having that much power, Macbeth feels it is necessary to carry out these events. Government leaders and people with significant amounts of power have the ability to be corrupt, although when leaders are corrupt, they won’t stop until they achieve all their goals or receive everything they want.

Works Cited
Shakespeare, William Macbeth. Simon & Schuster Paperbacks: New York, 1992