How Is Macbeth Power Hungry

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One of Shakespeare’s famous plays is Macbeth. This play is based on a man named Macbeth who would do anything in order to achieve power. Here witches who gave him three prophecies, one of them being that Macbeth would be king of Scotland. A major theme throughout this play is murder. Macbeth was power hungry and he would do anything to gain power. To gain power Macbeth killed Duncan, Banquo and Macduff’s family which later lead to his own death. Macbeth was an innocent man who only thought about serving the country and never had a lust for power. After meeting the three witches who gave him three prophecies, one was being that he would become King of Scotland. Then Macbeth decides to tell his wife Lady Macbeth who persuades him into killing Duncan and becoming king of Scotland therefor fulfilling the prophecies. Lady Macbeth provokes Macbeth by questioning his manliness when he did not want to kill Duncan. Later Macbeth commits the first murder in the play when he…show more content…
To secure his position as king, Macbeth wanted to get rid of anything causing a threat. When Macbeth got his prophecies, Banquo his friend got his own prophecies too. The witches’ prophesized that Banquo would have a line of kings which was a threat to Macbeth. Since Banquo was threatening Macbeth’s position he decided to hire three murderers to kill Banquo and his son Fleance. Macbeth manipulates two murderers into believing that Banquo was the enemy and tells them to kill Banquo. “Second Murderer: We are resolved, my lord./Macbeth: I’ll call upon you straight; abide within. It is concluded: Banquo, thy soul’s flight, If it find heaven, must find it out to-night.” (Act 3, Scene 1, 155-158). This quote shows that Macbeth was able to persuade the murderers into killing Banquo. Macbeth’s only reason for killing Banquo was because he wanted to secure the throne for himself and his own children. Therefore, keeping the power in his own
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