Power+and+Corruption+2010

__ Power and Corruption __

"and I fear thou play'dst most foully for't." III.i.3

"Art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend." I.v.19-20



"But yet I'll make assurance double sure and take a bond of fate. Thou shalt not live!" IV.i.83-84

"That will never be. Who can impress the forest, bid the tree unfix his earth-bound route?" IV.i.94-96



"...of this dead butcher and his fiendlike queen," V.viii.69 []

__Analysis__ Macbeth desires power, but he did not consider it much until the witches predicted that he would become the king of Scotland. When given this glimpse of the power he might have, he was tempted to gain it by the quickest means possible, i.e. killing King Duncan. At this point, Macbeth was not corrupt so he was able to block his thoughts and not act on them. Lady Macbeth desired power,too, but she was willing to act on her impulses. She is the influence that drives Macbeth off the path of decency and into corruption. In the second quote, Lady Macbeth comments that her husband does not have the "illness" that goes along with ambition. He is not corrupt enought to try to attain power by the quickest means. With the persuasion of Lady Macbeth, Macbeth gathers the guts needed to kill King Duncan. Once he kills his first victim, he cannot rest easy until he has destroyed all obstacles in his way to absolute power. With this thought process, Macbeth becomes truly corrupt. The second quote is Banquo mentioning his suspicions on his friend's newfound power. The result is that he dies; Macbeth is so corrupt he is willing to kill his friends. Macduff is suspicious of Macbeth as well. Macbeth is told that the only one he needs to fear is Macduff, but then he is given a prediction that suggests he doesn't need to fear anyone. Even so, Macbeth is obsessed with absolute power to the point that he is willing to kill someone who might not be a threat. However, he exceeds the limits of normal paranoia by killing everybody associated with Macduff, including family and servants. Macbeth is clearly corrupt if he is willing to kill women and children for the sake of maintaining power. Malcolm, who steps in to become king at the end of the play, tells Macduff that he would be a more corrupt leader than Macbeth, causing Macduff to dispair. It is only when Malcolm assures Macduff that he would not be a corrupt leader that the audience is assured that Scotland has hope for the future. The fourth quote indicates that Macbeth is so confident in his power that he is disdainful of other's assistance. The fifth quote shows the public opinion of the corruption of Macbeth and his wife. According to __Macbeth__, power corrupts individuals who are too willing to achieve it.

Questions 1. Would you be willing to go to the same extremes that Macbeth did for power? 2. If the witches had not told Macbeth their predictions, would Macbeth have followed this same course of action? 3. If Macbeth hadn't told his wife, would he have followed the same course of action?