Greed or the extreme desire for something is a powerful theme which was best exemplified in the 1998 movie “A Simple Plan” and the classic Shakespeare’s dark play “Macbeth.” Out of the greediness of the main characters, in both the film and play, comes the more dangerous prodding of their respective partners that eventually spurred all of them into further tragedy. Director Raimi’s crime thriller presented the characters of a couple and brother-in-law, who emerged as wealthy-hungry people all because of $4.4 million loot from a crashed plane (“A Simple Plan” Motion Picture, 1998). The movie presented how a supposedly simple plan of hiding the money has turned into destruction. It showed how a previously clean man named Hank Mitchell, played by Bill Paxton, placed himself deeper into a gluttonous cave because of his intensifying desire for the money and the mounting goad of his wife. In turn, the movie has successfully depicted how greed served as the ultimate point of realization. This is because greed has brought out the characters’ most dreadful personalities when they resorted into violence in place of faith. Ultimately, one’s hunger for money has manifested that even a moral person and happy marriage will be bound for destruction (Gleiberman, 1998).
Shakespeare’s play is all similar to the movie in a way that the former also centered on Macbeth’s corruptive tendency and penchant for power. Such similar trait of greediness was likewise intensified by Lady Macbeth’s prodding which turned her mad and her husband into a brutal title-hungry aspirant for the throne (“Macbeth Characters,” 2005). Relative to the film, Macbeth has explicitly portrayed how one’s destruction is attributed from his desire for money or power which was uncontrolled by moral restrictions (“Macbeth Themes, Motifs & Symbols,” 2008). Ultimately, both the film “A Simple Plan” and “Macbeth” are definitely identical representation of life reality that greed for power and money will lead one to nothing but destruction.
References
- Gleiberman, O. (1998). Movie Review: A Simple Plan. Retrieved October 29, 2008, from http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,63824,00.html
- Jacks, J. & Schroeder, A. (Producer), & Raimi, S. (Director). (1998). A Simple Plan. United Kingdom: British Broadcasting Corporation.
- Shakespeare, W. (1606). Macbeth. Retrieved October 29, 2008. from http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/macbeth/themes.html
- Shakespeare, W. (1606). Index of /guides/Macbeth/characters. In Apache/1.3.39 Server at absoluteshakespeare.com Port 80. Retrieved October 29, 2008, from http://absoluteshakespeare.com/guides/macbeth/characters/characters.htm
