Power In Macbeth
Frank Herbert once said, "Power attracts the corruptible. Absolute power attracts the absolutely corruptible.” In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the title character seizes “absolute power”, making him “absolutely corruptible”, which ultimately led him to his eventual death. In the play, Macbeth, the title character, seizes absolute power over his people when he brutally kills the real king to be crowned the new king of Scotland. Achieving power in this way allows him to be consumed by guilt and fear at first, which then develops into violence and the demise of both him, his wife, and ultimately his reign. Through examining the consequences that both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth face after trying to achieve power, it is clear that wrongly seizing power
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In the early acts of the play, Macbeth decides to wrongly seize power over Scotland by killing Duncan, the current king, which leads to the ultimate downfall of both him and his wife, Lady Macbeth, who supported him in his wrongdoings. Macbeth admits that he is doing the wrong thing when he says ““Stars, hide your fires/Let not light see my black and deep desires” (Shakespeare 1.4.57-60). Macbeth clearly confesses that his desires to murder the current king for power are dark and immoral, but eventually carries on with them anyway. Lady Macbeth, on the contrary, indiscreetly supports his decision, and confirms the witches’ prophecies (which state that Macbeth will be king of Scotland), when she says he “shalt be/What [he] …show more content…
When a gentlewoman observes that Lady Macbeth has been sleepwalking and sleeptalking, she calls upon a doctor to diagnose her. The doctor says he cannot clearly identify the issue since it is a mental problem and not a physical problem, but he adds that ““Unnatural deeds/Do breed unnatural troubles. Infected minds/To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets” (Shakespeare 5.1.75-77). He is suspecting that she is guilty of something major, and she is confessing her secrets while she sleeps, through “unnatural deeds” such as sleepwalking and sleeptalking. This sleepwalking and sleeptalking that Lady Macbeth suffers from is considered to be a “Freudian slip”, and is “best explained, according to Freud, in terms of the unconscious and its repressed desires” (Beeley 16). It is evident that Lady Macbeth’s “unconscious” and “repressed desires” includes washing away the blood and guilt that came from the murder of Duncan. This desire is revealed when she says “What, will these hands ne’er be clean?” (Shakespeare 5.1.45) while she talks and acts as if she’s washing her hands in her sleep. She is clearly desperate to remove Duncan’s blood from her hands since they symbolize her guilt, but she is unable to. Her hands will “ne’er be clean” due to the stain they have left on her conscience. The doctor concludes that Lady Macbeth’s “unnatural
In the early acts of the play, Macbeth decides to wrongly seize power over Scotland by killing Duncan, the current king, which leads to the ultimate downfall of both him and his wife, Lady Macbeth, who supported him in his wrongdoings. Macbeth admits that he is doing the wrong thing when he says ““Stars, hide your fires/Let not light see my black and deep desires” (Shakespeare 1.4.57-60). Macbeth clearly confesses that his desires to murder the current king for power are dark and immoral, but eventually carries on with them anyway. Lady Macbeth, on the contrary, indiscreetly supports his decision, and confirms the witches’ prophecies (which state that Macbeth will be king of Scotland), when she says he “shalt be/What [he] …show more content…
When a gentlewoman observes that Lady Macbeth has been sleepwalking and sleeptalking, she calls upon a doctor to diagnose her. The doctor says he cannot clearly identify the issue since it is a mental problem and not a physical problem, but he adds that ““Unnatural deeds/Do breed unnatural troubles. Infected minds/To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets” (Shakespeare 5.1.75-77). He is suspecting that she is guilty of something major, and she is confessing her secrets while she sleeps, through “unnatural deeds” such as sleepwalking and sleeptalking. This sleepwalking and sleeptalking that Lady Macbeth suffers from is considered to be a “Freudian slip”, and is “best explained, according to Freud, in terms of the unconscious and its repressed desires” (Beeley 16). It is evident that Lady Macbeth’s “unconscious” and “repressed desires” includes washing away the blood and guilt that came from the murder of Duncan. This desire is revealed when she says “What, will these hands ne’er be clean?” (Shakespeare 5.1.45) while she talks and acts as if she’s washing her hands in her sleep. She is clearly desperate to remove Duncan’s blood from her hands since they symbolize her guilt, but she is unable to. Her hands will “ne’er be clean” due to the stain they have left on her conscience. The doctor concludes that Lady Macbeth’s “unnatural