This is displayed when Macbeth is lured by the witches as they prophesize he will be the King. He demonstrates it once again when entice by his wife as she persuades him to kill King Duncan. Macbeth knows that even listening to these ideas are dangerous so threatening he compares it to eating from "the insane root, that takes reason prisoner" (I.iii.84-84.) This show that when Macbeth thinks logically he understands the repercussions of his actions. He is only unmindful of his actions when the posability of increasing power is involved.
As the play goes on, Macbeth slowly looses his morality as he strives for more control whilst Lady Macbeth steps into a frantic stage of guilt. After killing the king, Macbeth starts to plot other evil undertakings as he becomes nervous that someone will take away his power. At one point he goes from wanting to needing the sovereignty, which makes him loose sight of his integrity. As Macbeth begins to immorally act in order to achieve what he hungers, the line between good and evil starts to fade. “I am in blood / Stepp’d in so far, that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o’er.” (3.4.136-138) In this quote, Macbeth is telling himself that because he has stepped into evil so deeply, it will be hard to go back to morallity because he will never be able to rid of this guilt brought onto him.
He is happy to commit murder if that was to be the end of it but he fears the consequences and is concerned that the same fate will befall him, “Bloody instructions, which being taught, return To plague the inventor”. He is moral man, loyal to the King who has recently honoured him. Macbeth tells himself that he cannot escape the consequences of assassinating Duncan yet ‘only vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself And falls on the other”. This suggests that his own motivation is ambition, which he understands makes people rush ahead of themselves and ends in a downfall. This is a prophetic reflection of the final denouement of the play.
In the quote she states, “You are too full of the milk of human kindness to strike aggressively at your first opportunity. You want to be powerful, and you don't lack ambition, but you don’t have the mean streak that these things call for.” Lady Macbeth embeds a fear into Macbeth’s soul, that she can persuade him into doing almost anything. Lady Macbeths constant persuasion leads Macbeth into the idea of killing the king so he can become king himself. He must get his hands dirty and kill the one he loves in order to be loved by many. “I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself And
No one to blame but Macbeth Decisions can be impacted by a number of factors; but in the end we have to be the ones to take responsibility for our actions. This is demonstrated when we see Macbeth transform from a brave soldier to a power-hungry murderer, feared by all his subjects. Macbeth is the one to blame for his own descent into cruelty and murder because he let his ambition, arrogance and greed take over his mind. While some may claim that Macbeth is to blame for his actions, others argue that it is the force of the supernatural that leads to his demise. Early on the witches reveal prophecies to Macbeth suggesting his rise to power.
It was Lady Macbeth who had planned King Duncan’s murder and the framing of the guards because Macbeth was too worried about the consequences. However, the greed for power corrupted and changed Macbeth. “Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, Till thou applaud the deed.” (Act 3: II, line 50-51) Macbeth consoled Lady Macbeth about the necessity of the terrible things planned. The desire for power drove Macbeth to planning a second murder so he could feel secure. “I am in blood stepped in so far, that, should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o’er.” (Act 3: IV, line 167-169) After committing the murders of Duncan and Banquo, Macbeth had decided that he had already gone so far to get
Macbeth is physically strong and competent, however his weak character causes him to lose his grip over guilt and his insecurities. When he becomes crowned thane of Cawdor just as the prophecies had said, the thought of murdering Duncan crossed Macbeth’s mind, and he starts to seriously consider it. However, during this period, Macbeth reveals his inner turmoil and moral dilemma in his soliloquies. (kinsman, host, and Duncan hath born his faculties so meek, act 1 sc 7) Lady Macbeth knows that Macbeth is too “full o’ th’ milk of human kindness”, so she challenges his manhood by calling him a coward, knowing that Macbeth will in turn, show that he is not a coward by accepting to murder Duncan. This shows that his ambition and self-image of bravery wins over his virtues.
Macbeth, on the other hand, does not like a possible future by the withes prophecy: that he will kill his King. This shows the difference between Lord and Lady Macbeth. It is only after much nagging and cajoling from his wife that he decides to go through with it, and then half heartedly. His wife uses insults, demeans him, and makes him feel less than a man, so Macbeth finally gives in. While Lady Macbeth is the one who sets the ball rolling, it was the witches that put the ball at the top of the hill.
When put into a position of such power and leadership, lust can easily consume even the wisest of men. Macbeth tells of his own fall from his ambition and greed to obtain more and more power in a quote in Act 1. The quote reads, “Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself and falls on the other.” (Macbeth-1.7.28-9) Macbeth speaks about how the only thing that is motivating him is his endless lust for power, and how as this cycle of greed continues, it makes people rush headfirst into disaster. Macbeth himself details how a lust of power leads to the corruption of man, and in the end, his downfall, and as we can see in the book, happens to Macbeth himself. We can see the corruption caused by a lust for power in this next quote, again from Act 1.
Harry's theories act like a slow poison: They get into you, start reacting, and slowly but surely, they destroy you. Dorian, who enters the novel as an almost idealistic figure, is completely under the control of Lord Henry's string pulling wordiness by the end of the second chapter. However, before he controls him, he confuses him and leaves him questioning himself and his way of life. This is observable as Dorian responds "'Stop! [...] Stop!