Power is the source of destruction to many people. Generally when a person has a potential to gain power they take that chance even if they have to step on someone. In William Shakespeare's, Macbeth, he tells the story of a young man who was told his future by three witches that he will become King. To
gain the great power he did horrific things that came with great consequences, he started going insane and he grew apart from his wife. Macbeth is so hungry for power he would do anything including killing his closest friend. The lesson that is portrayed in Macbeth is
that people can change in terrible ways to gain power and it can ultimately be the death of you.
He doesn’t do wrong all he wants to do is fight
for his country and his king. But he
starts to get greedy when the witches he meets after the war tell him that he
will become the future king. You can see
that he starts thinking about killing the king once he hears the prophecy
because everyone wants to have power. He starts to contemplate killing the king and his head is getting the best of him. He
Imagines things “is this a dagger my weapon of choice pointing to king Duncans
room”(Act 2 Scene 1 p65). Then he changes from a good solider fighting for his country into a murderer and psychopath when he tells his
wife that the witches for told that he would be king. But you
can tell he didn’t turn in to a full on serial killer, he still has feelings. He shows that he killed the king but he feels guilty because he couldn't pray to god. He talks to his wife “the guards said Amen
why couldn’t I say amen I needed it the most”(Act 2 Scene 2 p71).
He says that he regretted it because Duncan was a good man that didn’t
do anything to him and he killed him for power. He changes from a good loyal man into a insane king because he craved the power.
The next time you see Macbeth a little while past the killing of King Duncan. He’s King he is different he starts to lose his sanity. He first gets paranoid and doesn’t trust anyone. He doesn’t trust his right hand man that went through war with him. He thinks Banquo knows too much and cant trust him because he can give him up. He also doesn’t like the prophecy of Banquo being the father of a line of kings, the witches called Banquo will become the father of a line of kings. He hires a murderer and talks to them “Banquo is a traitor everyday he is alive hurts me and his son Fleance is with him I would like both of them dead”(Act 3 Scene 1 p97). So he wants to kill him and his son so that he can keep the throne to himself. This shows that power is starting to make him corrupt and crazy. There is also the scene where Macbeth starts to see Banquo's ghost. He starts to go crazy because he feels the pressure of his terrible deeds and feels guilty about his acts to stay king. He also talks to his wife when he sees the ghost and she tells him “ are you a man your insane”(Act 3 Scene 4 p117). He sees a ghost and feels the guilt of killing Banquo. But the biggest change is from the end how much of a paranoid tyrant he becomes because he still has feeling but he soon becomes a corrupt tyrant. He is being overwhelmed by the terrible deeds he did to gain power.
The next time you see Macbeth a little while past the killing of King Duncan. He’s King he is different he starts to lose his sanity. He first gets paranoid and doesn’t trust anyone. He doesn’t trust his right hand man that went through war with him. He thinks Banquo knows too much and cant trust him because he can give him up. He also doesn’t like the prophecy of Banquo being the father of a line of kings, the witches called Banquo will become the father of a line of kings. He hires a murderer and talks to them “Banquo is a traitor everyday he is alive hurts me and his son Fleance is with him I would like both of them dead”(Act 3 Scene 1 p97). So he wants to kill him and his son so that he can keep the throne to himself. This shows that power is starting to make him corrupt and crazy. There is also the scene where Macbeth starts to see Banquo's ghost. He starts to go crazy because he feels the pressure of his terrible deeds and feels guilty about his acts to stay king. He also talks to his wife when he sees the ghost and she tells him “ are you a man your insane”(Act 3 Scene 4 p117). He sees a ghost and feels the guilt of killing Banquo. But the biggest change is from the end how much of a paranoid tyrant he becomes because he still has feeling but he soon becomes a corrupt tyrant. He is being overwhelmed by the terrible deeds he did to gain power.
In the end of the play we see a
completely changed Macbeth. The first
terrible thing that you hear that he is doing is killing many citizens from lack of trust.
He was such a tyrant that citizens of the Scottish kingdom left to help
Macduff a loyal because “there were so many murders that they got used to ringing the
bells daily and they didn’t know who died”(Act 4 Scene 3 p155).
That shows how insane he became and that he couldn’t trust anyone in the
country. Then you find out that everyone wants to overthrow King Macebeth because he is corrupt from his power. Even to the point where Macduff who is supposed to be loyal to the
throne leaves his family defenseless and they die just to help kill Macbeth. He says the phrase “bleed bleed my country while
that tyrant rules”(Act 4 Scene 3 p157) He doesn’t care that
much all he was focused on was killing the corrupt man. You saw the full transformation from a loyal, good solider to a power hungry and corrupt king. Which is why power results in your destruction.
In conclusion, Shakespeare
expresses a valuable life story through his famous play Macbeth. He portrays the message through a good man
becoming a power hungry tyrant because he was foretold to be king. The theme of the story was people change to
get power. This is an important lesson to learn because when your offered power people tend to do heinous things to get there. Which will ultimately lead to your demise. Thats why if you are offered power get it without doing horrific things. So that you can stay sane and not result in your demise.
