In life, some people crave power above all else, whether its wealth, control or position. Once some has been gained, it can be very hard not to let it go to your head. In the story of MacBeth, the lead character is not satisfied with the little amount of power he has. This thirst for more power is augmented when he becomes the thane of cawdor. MacBeth’s problem is that he can’t stop there. He wants the ultimate power that comes with being king. The only way he can become king is by killing Duncan and this is the beginning of MacBeth’s corruption. MacBeth then kills Banquo and MacDuffs family in order to stay in power. This displays that he has become even more corrupt as king. By the end he is completely corrupt that his people come and rise against him and finally he meets his demise. These points show that “the more power that MacBeth gained the more corrupt he became.”

At the beginning of MacBeth, MacBeth’s title did not give him much power. His title restricted him to the role of a soldier for the King. As the Thane of Glamis MacBeth was nothing more than a loyal soldier and servant to King Duncan, fighting bravely in a bloody civil war. While performing his

The little glimmer of hope that MacBeth had of staying a decent and honest person vanished when MacBeth made up his mind to go through with killing Duncan. MacBeth has now decided that he will kill King Duncan, mainly in part to his wife’s influence over him. After he kills MacBeth he is worried that he will not be able to clean his hands of Duncan’s blood when he says “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No; this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red.”(2.ii.77-80) This shows that MacBeth has indeed killed Duncan and that the King’s blood is on his hands. The outcome of Duncans murder was exactly what MacBeth wanted, he was named the new King of Scotland. Banquo announces this when he says “Thou hast it now, king, Cawdor, Glamis, all, as the weird women promised…”(3.i.1-2) This shows that the witches prophecies have come true and that MacBeth has the power he wanted. Now that MacBeth is King, he remembers the other prophecy the witches told him about Banquo. The third witches prophecy was “Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none”(1.iii.70) This means that Banquo will have a long line of children who will all become king, starting with his son Fleance. If MacBeth was to stay in power he could not have his friend’s children coming around to replace him so he convinces some of his men to kill Banquo and Fleance. He tells them “Both of you, know Banquo was your enemy”(3.i.125-126) This message is telling them that Banquo is their enemy and that is the reason why he is sending them to commit the murder. In actuality, MacBeth is trying to assure that his position on the throne will not be changed by any of Banquo’s children. The murder of Banquo proves that MacBeth has become immensely corrupt.

MacBeth went from the Thane of Glamis all the way to being the all powerful King but it came at the price of many lives. This proves that “the more power that MacBeth gained the more corrupt he became.” The beginning of MacBeth’s corruption came with his murder of Duncan. This was the main outcome of his deadly thirst for power. The cor

Some topics in this essay:
Cawdor MacBeth, King Duncan, Banquo Lennox, Thane Glamis, Corruption MacBeth, Scotland MacDuff, MacBeth MacDuff, Banquo Fleance, England MacBeth, Thane Cawdor, thane cawdor, macbeth’s corruption, killing duncan, beginning macbeth’s, power macbeth, king duncan, beginning macbeth’s corruption, stay power, macbeth thane, “all hail macbeth, became” beginning, duncan banquo, “the power macbeth, duncan gain power, power macbeth gained,