Power, Authority And Corruptio
n in Macbeth
"Authority poisons everybody who takes authority on himself " [Leninthis, 271], this quotation applies to Shakespeare's Macbeth. In the play, Macbeth commits regicide; the most heinous of all crimes in Elizabethan times, in order to become king himself. However, during his rule, Macbeth demonstrates that he is incapable of mastering the power and qualities of being a king. His drive for power and maintaining his power is the source of his downfall. Macbeth's obsession with power fuels him to his mental deterioration. He is not meant to have authority beyond Thane of Cawdor. When Macbeth is king, he does not use his authority judiciously.
Macbeth's eventual demise is by virtue ...
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Like valour's minion carved out his passage…
Till he unseamed him from the nave to th' chops,
And fixed his head upon our battlements" [Macbeth, I, ii, l: 17-23, p.13].
In his speech, the soldier describes Macbeth's violence to indicate qualities as a good warrior, thus showing that he has respect for Macbeth. There can be no doubt that Macbeth had entertained the possibility of being King some day, "My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical" [Macbeth, I, iii, l: 149, p.29]. His success in battle would serve to intensify his ambitious hunger for power. Once Macbeth became king, he became overpowered with keeping his authority. Macbeth realized that he was being used just so that Banquo's sons can inherit the throne:
"They hailed him father to a line of kings.
Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown,
And put a barren sceptre in my gripe,
Thence to be wrenched with an unlineal hand,
No son of mine succeeding" [Macbeth, III, i, l: 64-78, p. 116-117].
Macbeth, ...
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sort of suicidal deterioration, both spiritual and physical"[Mack, 89].
As Macbeth's mental health deteriorates, he develops un-kingly qualities such as overconfidence, paranoia and loss of reasoning, as a mechanism to regain control and power. His overconfidence comes from the witches' three prophecies, which is their intent, "As by strength of their illusion, / Shall draw him on to his confusion" [Macbeth, III, vi, l: 28-29, p.155-156]. "The temptation was implicit in the prophecy" [Sisson, 14]. Macbeth becomes paranoid, irrational and unwilling to think through his decisions exclaiming, "The very firstlings of my heart shall be / the firstlings of my hand" [Macbeth, IV, i, l: ...
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"Power, Authority And Corruptio." Essayworld.com. November 15, 2006. Accessed November 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Power-Authority-And-Corruptio/55635.
"Power, Authority And Corruptio." Essayworld.com. November 15, 2006. Accessed November 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Power-Authority-And-Corruptio/55635.
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