Throughout time, we have seen that too much power has the potential to corrupt a person to become greedy, arrogant and cruel. In the play Macbeth, William Shakespeare portrays the character Macbeth as a loyal and honourable Thane. This changes as he slowly descends into madness after being given the opportunity to gain Kingship by killing his King. Shakespeare uses the character Macbeth and his change throughout the play in order to convey the message that immense power has the potential to corrupt and change even the most honourable man.
In the beginning of the play, Shakespeare portrays the protagonist, Macbeth, as a loyal and respectable man. This is seen when a soldier is telling the King about the recent battle, “For brave Macbeth -- …show more content…
This becomes apparent when Macbeth is faced with an army vastly superior to his already weak and crumbling army. This is partly because the soldiers dislike their new King, Macbeth. Due to the new prophecies from the witches being, “... laugh to scorn the power of man, for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth” and, “Macbeth shall never vanquish’d be, until great Birnam wood high to high Dunsinane hill shall come against him.” These prophecies indicate that Macbeth will be slain only when impossible events occur. This gives Macbeth a false sense of power and his feeling of invincibility is seen when he says, “Then live, Macduff: What need I fear of these? But yet I’ll make assurance double sure, and take a bond of fate: thou shalt not live...” Because of this unbridled fearlessness Macbeth refuses to surrender and thus mercilessly sacrifices hundreds of his own men and women. This gives the audience the impression that Macbeth does not care about anyone but himself and will do anything in order to secure his power. This makes him out to be a merciless shell of a human who has lost touch with humanity. This conveys Shakespeare 's message through the character Macbeth that too much power can corrupt and even destroy a
In the beginning of the play, Shakespeare portrays the protagonist, Macbeth, as a loyal and respectable man. This is seen when a soldier is telling the King about the recent battle, “For brave Macbeth -- …show more content…
This becomes apparent when Macbeth is faced with an army vastly superior to his already weak and crumbling army. This is partly because the soldiers dislike their new King, Macbeth. Due to the new prophecies from the witches being, “... laugh to scorn the power of man, for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth” and, “Macbeth shall never vanquish’d be, until great Birnam wood high to high Dunsinane hill shall come against him.” These prophecies indicate that Macbeth will be slain only when impossible events occur. This gives Macbeth a false sense of power and his feeling of invincibility is seen when he says, “Then live, Macduff: What need I fear of these? But yet I’ll make assurance double sure, and take a bond of fate: thou shalt not live...” Because of this unbridled fearlessness Macbeth refuses to surrender and thus mercilessly sacrifices hundreds of his own men and women. This gives the audience the impression that Macbeth does not care about anyone but himself and will do anything in order to secure his power. This makes him out to be a merciless shell of a human who has lost touch with humanity. This conveys Shakespeare 's message through the character Macbeth that too much power can corrupt and even destroy a