Abuse Of Power In Macbeth

Macbeth wants to have the highest authority in Scotland and his ambition has caused him to go to the extremes. Such as hiring people to kill people for him. Macbeth has a hypocritical mindset. For example, he finds it normal to kill in a battle, but he disapproves of killing people in order to protect his status in society. He was forced to Kill King Duncan because of Lady Macbeth, but when he wanted Banquo and his son dead he had to hire people to do his dirty work.

In both texts, the protagonists have outside influences which affect how they use their power. In ‘Macbeth’ the eponymous character has his wife, who makes sacrifices in order for her husband to gain power. The reader can see that Lady Macbeth, while harsh and ruthless, in acting out of love; this becomes apparent in Act I (v) where Lady Macbeth calls upon supernatural forces to rid her of feminine weakness; “Come you spirits/ …unsex me here”. Again, Shakespeare makes reference to the supernatural; he wanted to warn audiences at the time that any conference with evil, supernatural “spirits” would result in the undoing of the order of nature and one’s demise. The word “unsex” suggests being stripped of all feminine weaknesses; the prefix “un-“ is widely repeated in the play.

It is in human nature that the more power one desires the more corrupt actions one must do to attain it. In Shakespeare’s tragedy of Macbeth, a Scottish noble's craving for power leads him to do terrible deeds that leads to his demise. Shakespeare shows that power corrupts by using Macbeth who corrupts under the thought of have power over others. Macbeth becomes corrupt under the thought of becoming king and gaining almost complete control over the people that he rules. Macbeth wants the power badly enough to do horrible deeds such as commit regicide. Lady Macbeth becomes very ambitious and allows herself to become seduced to the

“Nearly all men can stand the power of adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power” (Abraham Lincoln). Someone can come off as a good person until they are given power. When someone has power, they may abuse it or treat others unfairly. Giving someone power and seeing how they act can show their true character. Macbeth is the most responsible for the events that occur in the play because he misconstrued the witches prophecies and was overcome by greed.

In the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth is both equally ambitious and evil as she urges her husband to kill King Duncan in order to fulfill the witches’ prophecies by gaining social power on the throne as king and queen. Lady Macbeth calls upon the spirits to give her emotional strength in order to help her husband go through with the murder plot, “Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts! Unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty,” (1.5.39-42). She asks the spirits to take

     Personal power has the ability to be essential to greatness, and at the same time is able to destroy a person’s nature. In the drama Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the main character, Macbeth, becomes corrupt through power that he gains. The play shows that even someone who starts out like Macbeth and does not crave power, will do terrible things to gain authority and power.

Plato, a greek philosopher, once said, “The measure of a man is what he does with power” (Brainyquote 1). In other words, when giving someone power, their true character is revealed. For instance, in William Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, some character’s genuine personalities were unveiled once obtaining high authority over others. In the drama with Macbeth, he portrays both coercive power and referent power throughout the written work, as defined in, “French and Raven’s Five Forms of Power.”

She thinks Macbeth is a coward, she feels Macbeth can’t do anything just like a baby. “Infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead Are but as pictures. ‘Tis the eye of childhood That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed, I’ll gild the faces of the grooms withal, For it must seem their guilt”(2.2 line 52-57). Lady Macbeth just wants power, she doesn’t care about killing other people at all, she’s cold-hearted and crazy, she would do anything to get power. However, after she feels like she’ll lose all of her power, she goes crazy. ”Here’s the smell of the blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand” (5.1 line 49-50). When she thinks about losing her power, she went crazy, she’s afraid of losing her power and afraid of what would happen to her, she made her own

Does obtaining or coming into power automatically corrupt the person who has the power? There are many people who think that power will eventually and always corrupt a person, and there are also others who believe power doesn't corrupt someone at all and it's just who they really were all along, however, I personally think that power does corrupt people some of the time, and actually has many different factors attributing to whether or not the person becomes corrupted. I think that the argument that power can never corrupt is completely invalid because if that were true, then terms like 'mad with power' or 'power-trip' would not exist, so these terms existing and being used proves that power can make a person become corrupt at least some of the time.

Throughout reading the play, Macbeth changes a lot from being a man of loyalty and honesty, to a man of whom is power hungry and greedy. This shows how the more power you receive the more power you want; which in many cases, such as this one leads to destruction. Many of the choices that Macbeth made were influenced by the power that he had, and this power began to take over him. This then lead to greed and destruction of not only others, but himself as well.

     Lady Macbeth progresses throughout the play from a seemingly savage and heartless creature to a very delicate and fragile woman. In the beginning of the play, she is very ambitious and hungry for power. She pushes Macbeth to kill Duncan in order to fulfill the witches’ prophecy. In Act I, Scene 6, she asks the gods to make her emotionally strong like a man in order to help her husband go through with the murder plot. She says, “Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full Of direst cruelty!” Also, she does everything in her power to convince Macbeth that he would be wrong not to kill Duncan. In Act I,

In the book Macbeth by Shakespeare there are two characters named Lady Macbeth and Macbeth, and their knowledge capacity was so filled with guilt at the end of the book their mind could not take anymore. This book was written around 1606 and today we still see this today but just a different way. Throughout the book Shakespeare showed how power can change your character, and mind. In the book, Macbeth made many mistakes, and soon some people turned against him.

In The Tragedy of Macbeth, the most prevailing theme is the shift in power in the relationships of the central character. The main character of the play, Macbeth, experiences a shift in control of his relationships as he gains more power.

Lady Macbeth, in contrast is never depicted as a soft tender female figure, instead Shakespeare makes her ambitious character apparent from the start, after reading the letter from her husband, telling her about the Witches’ predictions, the seed of ambition grows within her and immediately a plan forms in her head, her first speech is one full of strong metaphors, “come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and fill me, from the crown to the toe, top full of direst cruelty.” This initial speech is so powerful and strong, as she summons spirits to give her the strength of a man, so that she has the vigour to plot Duncan’s murder, and convince Macbeth to form an alliance with her, ensuring he will become king, just as the Witches predicted. Although the Witches

Complicated consequences result from the abuse of power that is central in William Shakespeare’s play ’Macbeth’ following immoral manipulation. Macbeth was written in 1606 during the reign of King James I and was used as a warning to potential threats of the King. It is a form of praise and admiration towards the King by Shakespeare as those who immorally seize power will ultimately possess a destroyed fate. Through analysing the text, we can see that abuse of power through supernatural manipulation on human nature is evident therefore guilt and delusions are consequences of that power abuse.