Macbeth a book and a play written by Shakespeare, it was a very good text to study and watch. There are many ideas I have picked up from Macbeth, but the one which has got me interested the most was the theme/idea about Greed and its side effects. This essay analyses how greed in Macbeth has challenged me to develop my ideas.
Macbeth was a very brave and loyal soldier, but one day he was returning home with his dearest friend Banquo and he heard the prophecy from the three witches; that he will one day be the Thane of Cawdor then will be king after Duncan (present king). After Macbeth had heard this he didnt believe the witches but when he got to the base the King (Duncan) announced that since the last Thane was a traitor he will be killed and because of Macbeths brave acts in the war he is the new Thane of Cawdor. The prophecies had suddenly started to fall in place and Macbeth didnt believe this was all happening. Now he couldnt wait till the throne became his and had day dreams to sabotage the throne by killing Duncan and the rightful owner of the throne according to him. Suddenly Macbeths ambition was to become the king of Scotland at any cost. Lady Macbeth starts taking interest in the witches prophecies and forces Macbeth to kill Duncan. Macbeths ambition has come to reality; hes now King of Scotland although this position wasnt earned rightfully. Greed is causing a big ruckus in Macbeths life, to achieve his ambitions he had to be really greedy to earn his targets.
Macbeth is King and now there are suspicions around town on how he earned that crown. The fear of being blamed as murderers Malcolm and Mac duff (sons of the king) fleed to England. Macbeth is feeling guilty of his dirty deeds and is getting over cautious about being revealed to the entire country as a murderer. Macbeth is paranoid to keep the crown, anyone he sees he thinks they are suspecting him of being Duncans murderer. Macbeth has got Banquo murdered by the towns dogs, his attempt was to get rid of Banquo and his son Fleance who was according to the witches prophecy going to be the upcoming king of Scotland. Macbeth failed to terminate Fleance but was successful in killing Banquo, this crime was kept a secret from Lady Macbeth too. Macbeths greed had now cost him to lose his sanity; he was getting crazier and fearful day by day. He was killing innocents and became more and more disrespectful to anyone he had command over. Greed was something he had to accomplish his ambitions but he earned his ambitions not in the correct way which is what is making him mad, hes paying the price for his dirty deeds he had committed to get to his goal.
How it had started as Macbeth being loyal and brave had progressed and ended as being hated and named a tyrant bloody scepterd. Macbeth had crossed the line and could be considered as mentally ill in a way. Because of his paranoia to lose the throne he made too many wrong decisions and from being a respected Thane he had lost all and become a disliked being by all. Before Macbeth was be-headed by Mac duff he had lost his wife, his army and hope for staying alive. Macbeth at that point in time of the play had come to his senses that he had done too many wrong deeds to accomplish his ambitions. Greed had played a very cruel game with Macbeths life, he earned everything he desired and then he had gone out of control and lost everything he ever had also bring death upon himself in a very gruesome manner.
Greed is something really irresistible by mankind, but if you are successful in resisting greed you will be more peaceful to achieve your ambitions you may be greedy but what greed does is cause you to lose your patience and make you walk the wrong path to your goals. To achieve your ambitions in life correctly all you need is determination and hard work, if there is greed it should be to gain as much knowledge and skill as possible. As I have analysed about Macbeth if he had earned his throne in the right manner he still would have kept everything and also he would have lived a long peaceful life with the name of a good king.
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