Macbeth himself was always yearning for power. It is first shown when he is made thane of Cawdor, and is jealous of Malcolm for becoming heir of the throne. “As Macbeth hears the title given to Malcolm, he shows again the conflict within him between ambition and fear.” (Campbell 216) His greed and ambition for more gets the better of him, as he plots with Lady Macbeth to kill King Duncan and become the heir to the throne. This was a very selfish act in his position; by killing Duncan and becoming king, Macbeth disrupted the chain of being and doomed all of society as a whole. “The Great Chain of Being was supposed to keep the Earth in a stable condition and order.
After the killing Macbeth would be choosen king and this is when his ambition would take control of him for the worse. Now king Macbeth viewed everyone as a threat to his throne including friends. Macbeth would hire two men to kill his friend Banquo and his son. Macbeth viewed them as a threat to his throne as Banquo was suspicous to how Macbeth had became king and his son was suppost to become king which was promised by the witches. This shows Macbeth ambition gave him the desire to maintain his power by any means necessary if even that meant killing a loyal friend , which he did in getting Banquo killed.
More than these, I think Lear is motivated by his idea that he is a good man. One thing that supports is when Kent says “I’ll tell thee thou dost evil,” (Act I, Scene I, Line 175) and Shakespeare writes the king as reacting in a frenzy, going so far as to say “This moment is thy death,” (Act I, Scene I, Line 190). By portraying the king in this way, Shakespeare causes us to judge him as unstable and mental. While his actions thus far have been rash, him reacting in this way, and him banishing his daughter saying, “Here I disclaim all my paternal care, Propinquity and property of blood,” (Act I, Scene I, Lines 117-118). From these thing, it is made clear that Lear is not only rash and insecure but also thoughtless and stupid.
The universal truth displayed in Macbeth was absolute power and greed can corrupt anyone. This is conveyed through the character of Macbeth when he committed the murder of Duncan because he wanted to be the king, however, greed and corruption ended with his death, as he corrupted himself to the point where he did not care about anything but power. Due to his greed of power everyone in the community disliked him, which influenced people to develop conspiracies to assassinate him. Macbeth is the recipient of Shakespeare’s great message through the course of the book, as he is portrayed, as the bad guy through his will of power, as his soul got corrupted very
Claudius, Hamlet's uncle is the most serious offender of lying and deceit. Although he has committed the most heinous acts, Claudius is the only characters who develops a guilty conscious as a result of dis devious actions. As each of the main characters develops on social, moral and psychological levels, lying and deception is an ever present theme and an integral part of the plot. From his very first scene in the play, Prince Hamlet establishes himself as someone who is morally opposed to deception. When Hamlet's uncle and mother urge him to “cast [his] nighted color off,” (Shakespeare 1.2.68) and stop acting and appearing so depressed, he replies that his “inky cloak.../ [and] river in the eye.../ are actions that a man might play” (Shakespeare 1.2.78-84).
In part of the play, Macbeth even admits to his ambition, "I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself, and falls on the other." As a result, many decisions were influenced negatively. His choice to kill the king was made too quickly, and had begun the snowballing effect of killing innocent people. After the witches had told Macbeth the four apparitions, he felt as though Banquo needed to be killed, since he was in the way of Macbeths becoming king. Other Characters in the play greatly influenced Macbeth.
Therefore, to perform his grand scheme, he must change the way he acts in order to prefect the chance to avenge his father’s death, and he must act in such a way to discover and learn everything he needs to do so. Many different plays and dramas included the role of madness because with madness it was thought that a madman would have no plans or thoughts of revenge such as in Shakespeare’s own, King Lear in which the fool is allowed to play on the King as well as give advice through riddles and double-talk.
The question everyone is asking is what Brutus does make him noble or an honorable stature. Brutus kills Julius because I believe he is persuaded by Cassius for Rome’s own good. In the play I believe Brutus’s character was very strong and his integrity. The fact that he basically could control the conspirators and over power Cassius definitely showed it. Brutus just wants to do the right thing for Rome, but I do believe when Cassius thinks killing Julius is the best thing for Rome Brutus was easily manipulated and deep down inside Brutus knows that.
Nevertheless one murder didn't comfort him, he thinks he needs to secure his position. So he goes off and hires hit men to kill who he thinks is his enemy, the one who can take his power, Banqo. Soon enough he finds himself ordering the slaughter of a traitors family, which is when remorse never enters his thoughts. Macbeth’s greed and ambitions are the sheer motivators of his killings and that is evident throughout the journey of the play. As Shakespeare once wrote , “Fair is foul and foul is fair” (Act I, Sc.I, Line
Good and Evil... Shakespeare has borrowed the concept of ying and yang and used it widely in king lear. He explains to his audience, through a variety of techniques and characters and conclusions , that without the good in the world their would be no bad, each cannot exsist without the other. He uses characters in binary opposites and mediums to show that humanity does have the potential for both good and evil. Good and evil ... In the world we live in, it seems that every other person is out for self gain They will step on anyone and do whatever it takes to get what they want, but does that make them purely evil?