Team 5 Per 3 Asher

Bryan Gutierrez

Macbeth Essay

A majority of men always tend to want one thing: more and more power. It is like an addictive drug, where little doses are not enough and must require more and more of the drug. The same effect has happened to Macbeth in Macbeth, by William Shakespeare. After Macbeth has his future told to him by three manipulative witches, he attempts to change his true nature through characterization by actions and family life, and ultimately leads to his craze for more power and the shed of Scottish blood.

Macbeth’s uncontrollable path to absolute power of Scotland is demonstrated through actions by all the characters. At first, Macbeth completely thought it was folly for him to possibly become the Thane of Cawdor as the witches predicted, but as soon as Macbeth had word he was the new thane; his thoughts came to become the new king of Scotland, no matter what the cost. He murdered King Duncan, the man who gave him the position the Thane of Cawdor and praised him for his prowess on the battlefield, along with hiring assassins to kill Banquo and his son Fleance so his bloodline wouldn’t threaten him on the position of the throne. But his thoughts for total control of the Scottish kingdom did not always come from his own mind. His wife, Lady Macbeth, catalyzed Macbeth’s future actions and in a way manipulated with his mind, calling him a coward and a fool, and is to be blamed for the misfortunes and deaths in the play. Lady Macbeth along with the three witches had a significant influence on Macbeth’s conscious, and finally drove him blood-thirsty to murder whomever he thought was a threat to his throne, which ironically lead to his downfall for he created numerous enemies in his conquest for total control of the kingdom.

Family life plays a key role in advancing the plot during the play. Lady Macduff proves to show how much of a caring mother she is, as she tries to protect her son from the ravenous murderers sent my Macbeth. Macduff’s passionate love for his deceased family is illustrated when he joins with the forces of Malcolm and is the one to slay Macbeth in the final scene of the play. A message is shown here, saying how one should not wish for more than what is needed, or else greed shall become the undoing of that person. Another example would be when Banquo sacrifices himself to ensure his son, Fleance, to escape the murderers. The survival of Fleance makes Macbeth uneasy and the audience now sees a flaw in the prediction made by three witches who just want to create havoc. The escape made Macbeth uneasy and thus forced to make rash decisions.

In all, the Macbeth’s actions sparked by the influence of his wife and the three witches made him make decisions that led to more murder and ironically the death of his own being. Family life also drove the play, for the close knit relationships between husband and wife and husband to family resulted in death as well. Shakespeare shows the message that one should not wish for power, for it taints peaceful minds and leads to unfortunate events.