Macbeth

2 Pages 456 Words

The story of Macbeth, like most of Shakespeare's plays, tells a story that has a moral lesson attached to it. Macbeth was essentially a man who craved power but when a prophecy was revealed that he would indeed gain that which he sought, Macbeth wasn't satisfied. Instead, he went to great lengths to ensure that his power lasted longer than it should have. He ahdered to the evil whims and plans of his wife, Lady Macbeth, and put himself in a position that destroyed his self respect, ruined his pride, degraded his honor, and spoiled his integrity... all in order to possess...and maintain the crown...
Macbeth is a character of powerful contradictions. He is a man who, for the simple sake of his own ambition, is willing to murder his king and his best friend. At the same time, Macbeth has a conscience so strong that the mere thought of his crimes torments him to no end. As with any of Shakespeare's work, what we learn is essentially up to us as is the way we view the story. Reading Macbeth, one could easily infer that the pursuit of power and control bare a great price. We see that Macbeth essentially loses his integrity and honor as a direct result of his own actions. Macbeth is no longer happy with who he is or what he has done despite the fact he gets all that which he set out to gain. This is a very common lesson indeed: Macbeth failed to realize that he needed to be more proud of himself than of the material things he could gain. And thus, in trying to acquire his idea of "everything"-- Macbeth tragically lost everything instead.. The ends simply didn't justify the means necessary to attain them. And it is this very theme... this very idea and so many others pertinent to the study of Macbeth --
In 1606 William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon, wrote a play which would go down in history as the cursed Scottish play after numerous mishaps during production. It was written for his new patron, James I (James VI of Scotland), following ...