In the play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, Macbeth declares, “‘Life… is a tale told by an idiot… signifying nothing. (Act V, scene v, lines 25-30) ‘” This is true because Macbeth’s life will “‘signify nothing'” unless he is happy and appreciates his life and loved ones. However, Macbeth is too thirsty for power so will never be satisfied with the life he has. Macbeth is so desperate for power that he will stop at nothing to get what he wants.
In Act I, scene one he kills Thane of Cowdor and then assumes that position as well as Thane of Glamis. That, though, is not enough for he is far too ambitious to settle with being Thane of Cowdor and Glamis. He decides he must also be king. So then he kills Duncan (Act II, scene ii, ) the king, even though Macbeth was Duncan’s kinsman and loyal subject. This demonstrates his willingness to do anything for more power. Even though the witches prophesied that Macbeth would become king, Macbeth admitted to thinking about it even before the witches had mentioned it.
Even though Macbeth is king, he is not content because he feels guilty and is paranoid about losing his power. In order to calm his paranoia he kills his friend Banquo because Banquo becomes suspicious of Duncan’s death. Unfortunately for Macbeth, with each person he kills he becomes progressively guiltier and less satisfied. Then in Act IV, Scene I, Macbeth finds out that Macduff, whom the witches had warned him of, has fled to England. Macbeth kills Macduff’s family because he wants to intimidate anyone who might threaten his power.
The Essay on Why Macbeth Killed Duncan
In Shakespeare s Macbeth there are many answers posed to the question, why Macbeth killed Duncan. Some would say that it was his own quest for power that drove him to kill, while others would say that it was the influence of this power hungry wife. In my opinion Macbeth was driven by his power hungry wife to kill Duncan. The purpose of this paper is to provide the reader with evidence that Macbeth ...
However, Macduff was trying to form an opposing army, therefore Macbeth did have a reason to fear Macduff. Nevertheless, Macduff would not have been trying to kill Macbeth if Macbeth had not committed treason in the first place. Once again this only leads to more dissatisfaction. Then when Lady Macbeth dies, Macbeth’s life weakens even more. Macbeth has now no one to live for and as he later points out “Life is… nothing” without the people he cares about (V, v, 25-30).
It also weakens even more because he has no one to live with. He has no children, no relatives and he has all ready killed off his kinsman and his friend. He has made many more enemies than friends in the last couple months and there is no one that really supports him like Lady Macbeth did. Now Macbeth realizes this because he, of coarse, is the tragic hero and living like a power thirsty hound was his fatal flaw. Therefore, by definition it is be to late for him to change and he is all ready destined to die.
Nevertheless, if he had just never killed Duncan he still would have been able to live. Macbeth lives life for his future power, which leads to his downfall because once someone has power he only wants more. This is dreadful because power is limited so no matter what, Macbeth will end up unsatisfied because he will only desire more and more. Life would only be happy if Macbeth enjoyed his accomplishments and his restrictions, but because he was too ambitious he only lived for his future.
