Power, Authority And Corruption In Macbeth Essay, Research Paper
Power, Authority and Corruption in Macbeth
“ Authority toxicants everybody who takes authorization on himself ” [ Leninthis, 271 ] , this citation applies to Shakespeare ’ s Macbeth. In the drama, Macbeth commits regicide ; the most flagitious of all offenses in Elizabethan times, in order to go male monarch himself. However, during his regulation, Macbeth demonstrates that he is incapable of get the hanging the power and qualities of being a male monarch. His thrust for power and keeping his power is the beginning of his ruin. Macbeth ’ s compulsion with power fuels him to his mental impairment. He is non meant to hold authorization beyond Thane of Cawdor. When Macbeth is king, he does non utilize his authorization judiciously.
Macbeth ’ s eventual death is by virtuousness of his compulsion for power and retaining his power. Before he desired the power of being male monarch, Macbeth was a respected baronial called a “ valorous cousin! ” and a “ worthy gentleman ”
[ Macbeth, I, two, cubic decimeter: 25, p.13 ] . He was labeled, “ weather Macbeth ” [ Macbeth, I, two, cubic decimeter: 18, p.13 ] for his actions in conflict. During a conversation between Duncan and a soldier, the soldier describes how Macbeth viciously slew the Rebel Macdonwald:
“ Contemning luck, with his brandished steel,
Which smoked with bloody executing,
Like valour ’ s minion carved out his transition
Till he unseamed him from the nave to th ’ chops,
And fixed his caput upon our crenelations ” [ Macbeth, I, two, cubic decimeter: 17-23, p.13 ] .
In his address, the soldier describes Macbeth ’ s force to bespeak qualities as a good warrior, therefore demoing that he has regard for Macbeth. There can be no uncertainty that Macbeth had entertained the possibility of being King some twenty-four hours, “ My idea, whose slaying yet is but fantastical ” [ Macbeth, I, three, cubic decimeter: 149, p.29 ] . His success in conflict would function to escalate his ambitious hungriness for power. Once Macbeth became male monarch, he became overpowered with maintaining his authorization. Macbeth realized that he was being used merely so that Banquo ’ s boies can inherit the throne:
“ They hailed him father to a line of male monarchs.
Upon my caput they placed a bootless Crown,
And set a waste scepter in my kick,
Thence to be wrenched with an unlineal manus,
No boy of mine wining ” [ Macbeth, III, I, cubic decimeter: 64-78, p. 116-117 ] .
Macbeth, consumed by these feelings, convinces a brace of work forces to kill Banquo and his boy Fleance. By holding Banquo and Fleance murdered, Macbeth believes that it will forestall Banquo ’ s boies from going male monarch ; fundamentally, an effort to subvert destiny and the prophesies. Macbeth, every bit good, hires the liquidators to kill Macduff ’ s household. Which demonstrates Macbeth ’ s compulsion, bespeaking that Macbeth values his power and absolute control over his friends.
Macbeth ’ s compulsion with domination causes him to experience guilty and lose his saneness ; as a consequence he does non demo the qualities needed to be a stable King. Macbeth ’ s guilt is indicated in the hallucinations, his insomnia and mental province. His first hallucination occurs merely before killing King Duncan. Macbeth sees “ A sticker of the head, / a false creative activity ” [ Macbeth, II, I, cubic decimeter: 45, p.71 ] . The other hallucination Macbeth has occurs after Banquo is dead. Macbeth imagines that Banquo is teasing him during his feast. Macbeth suffers insomnia due to stalking incubuss, which leads him to “ restless ecstasy ” [ Macbeth, III, two, cubic decimeter: 24, p.127 ] . He killed the dormant Ducan ; hence, he can non kip. Macbeth lives entirely in his anguished interior universe admitting, “ O, full of Scorpios is my head ” [ Macbeth, III, two, cubic decimeter: 40, p.129 ] . “ Regicide easy becomes a cryptic kind of self-destructive impairment, both religious and physical ” [ Mack, 89 ] .
As Macbeth ’ s mental wellness deteriorates, he develops un-kingly qualities such as certitude, paranoia and loss of concluding, as a mechanism to recover control and power. His certitude comes from the enchantresss ’ three prognostications, which is their purpose, “ As by strength of their semblance, / Shall draw him on to his confusion ” [ Macbeth, III, six, cubic decimeter: 28-29, p.155-156 ] . “ The enticement was inexplicit in the prognostication ” [ Sisson, 14 ] . Macbeth becomes paranoid, irrational and unwilling to believe through his determinations crying, “ The
really firstlings of my bosom shall be / the firstlings of my hand” [ Macbeth, IV, I, cubic decimeter: 161-162, p.177 ] . He suspects that Macduff is against him with cognition that Macduff went to England. Alternatively of covering with Macduff, Macbeth orders the slaying of his household ; therefore, showing his loss of common sense. Killing Macduff’s household does non carry through anything but add to Macduff’s hatred towards Macbeth. It is besides apparent that Macbeth has lost logical thinking when he states: “Bring me no more studies, allow them wing all. / Till Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane” [ Macbeth, V, three, cubic decimeter: 1-2, p.223 ] . Throughout this act Macbeth is cocksure ; he keeps on reiterating the witches’ prophesies. “These phantoms give Macbeth, who regards their words whilst staying blind to themselves, non desperation, but hope” [ Wilson Knight, 151 ] . Macbeth does non go alarmed until he hears that Birnam wood is traveling, so he relies on the 2nd prophesy that “none of adult female born / Shall injury Macbeth” [ Macbeth, IV, I, cubic decimeter: 86-87, p.173 ] . Macbeth, nevertheless, though weary of life, intends to travel on combat. He is ready to destruct the full existence with himself. His self-importance is all he has left. Macbeth insists on maintaining the power until the terminal.
As Macbeth falls to his death seizing to command, it is recognised that Macbeth was non meant to hold the power beyond Thane of Cawdor. He did non keep the right lineage. In Macbeth ’ s clip the rubric of male monarch was inherited, non taken by force. Peoples were loyal to the male monarch because he was regarded every bit closest to god. Thus, Macbeth slaying Duncan and presuming the ‘ aureate unit of ammunition ’ disturbed the concatenation of being and nature. After Duncan ’ s decease it is said that “ the celestial spheres, as troubled with adult male ’ s act ” [ Macbeth, II, four, cubic decimeter: 6, p.103 ] and life on Earth has opened “ ruin ’ s uneconomical entryway ” [ Macbeth, III, I, cubic decimeter: 47, p. 183 ] . This is symbolised by such unnatural happenings as a hawk being killed by an bird of Minerva, the Equus caballuss turning wild and interrupting out of their stables. Macbeth became king unnaturally, his power is non reliable. The existent male monarch is Malcom. By the terminal of the drama, order is restored when Macbeth loses his power and Malcom becomes king. Nature lifting up against Macbeth is symbolized by Birnam lifting to Dunsinane, where Macbeth ’ s palace is.
Bing non of natural authorization, Macbeth does non utilize his power as male monarch suitably. He abuses his power and regulations by an Fe fist. Malcom remarks that Macbeth is a “ autocrat, whose exclusive names blisters our linguas ” [ Macbeth, IV, three, cubic decimeter: 14, p.191 ] . He besides remarks that Macbeth is unreliable and Scotland “ sinks beneath the yoke ; / It weeps, it bleeds, and each new a gash/ Is added to her lesions ” [ Macbeth, IV, three, cubic decimeter: 45-47, p.192 ] . Generally, Malcom is stating that his state is enduring under Macbeth ’ s regulation. Duncan “ Was a most angelic King ” [ Macbeth, IV, three, cubic decimeter: 123, p.197 ] whom his people loved. This is how a male monarch should be, Macbeth nevertheless, can non even compare to the manner Duncan was loved. It was non because Duncan was a natural male monarch ; it was the manner he ruled. Macbeth ruled forcefully and therefore, was non as extremely regarded as Duncan.
Macbeth is unable to command the power and duties of being king. His thrust for power and keeping his power is the ground for his ruin. Due to his arrested development with domination, Macbeth loses his saneness and additions destructive qualities. Macbeth, because he does non keep the right lineage, is non meant to be in the natural order of male monarch. Macbeth besides abuses his authorization, and causes his people to lose regard for him. “ Power tends to pervert, and absolute power corrupts perfectly ” [ Acton, 1 ] .
Plants Cited
Shakespeare, W. Macbeth. Toronto: Harcourt Brace & A ; Co. , 1988. P.13, 29, 116,117, 71, 127, 129, 89, 155, 156, 177, 223, 173, 103, 183, 191, 192, 197.
Leninthis, V. Dictionary of Quotations. London: Oxford University Press, 1973. P. 271.
Acton, L. Dictionary of Quotations. London: Oxford University Press, 1973. P. 1.
Bloom, H. “ The Voice in the Sword by Maynard Mack ” Modern Critical Interpretation. United states: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. P.89.
Sisson, C. Public Justice: Macbeth. London: Oxford University Press, 1965. P.14.
Wilson Knight. C. The Life and Themes of Macbeth. London: Oxford University Press, 1965. P.151.
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