Motif Of Power In Macbeth

Many people want to obtain power to satisfy their needs. Once the individual gains the power, they continue to strive to gain more without acknowledging the consequences until later. In William Shakespeare's Elizabethan tragedy Macbeth, the corruptive quality of power influences the individual to go against their nature in order to obtain power by any means necessary. Shakespeare utilizes the motif of blood to show that the steps taken to obtain power will not always yield favorable results and the consequences will stay with the individual.

In order to possess power, an individual may decide to commit an act that goes entirely against their nature. Before Lady Macbeth commits the act of murdering of Duncan, she asks, “Make thick my blood. Stop up the access and passage to remorse,” in order to prepare herself to kill
After the murder, Macbeth questions himself, “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?” but he quickly answers himself by saying, “No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine. Making the green one red”, and reveals the guilt he feels (2.2.57-60). The blood symbolizes the stain on his conscience. Shakespeare demonstrates that even if the individual gains the power, they will not be entirely happy with the path they have chosen. Lady Macbeth personifies this with her ill-contentedness over her decisions. She says, “Nought's had, all's spent, where our desire is got without content; 'tis safer to be that which we destroy than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy”, and explains that what she has obtained has not brought her any peace (3.2.5-7). Shakespeare reveals that even when a person obtains the power they strived for, it does not guarantee them the happiness they expected to come with the power. He says that the acts committed to obtain power will continue to follow the person and cause them to feel the