Macbeth's Desire For Power Analysis

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Logical is an adjective that means “of or according to the rules of logic or formal argument,” or in other words, if the end result justifies the means taken to get there. In the play Macbeth by Shakespeare, a Thane named Macbeth slowly rises to power. However, instead of being appointed to each position, Macbeth unlocks his inner demon and begins to claw up the ranks, killing every possible threat to satisfy his desire for more and more power. The end result of Macbeth’s struggles for power do not justify the means he takes to get there. Macbeth’s desire for power causes him to illogically cement and further this goal.
Macbeth’s desire for power makes him greedy, which causes him to go against human decency. In the play, Macbeth is made …show more content…
Macbeth is now king, but he is worried about staying in power. He fears that if people find out how he killed Duncan, he will be forced to leave power, and face terrible consequences. This fear of getting discovered warps Macbeth into a paranoid mess, to the point that he no longer trusts and he even fears his friend Banquo. At the beginning of Act 3, Macbeth says, “To be thus is nothing, / But to be safely thus. Our fears in Banquo / Stick deep, and in his royalty of nature / Reigns that which would be feared. 'Tis much he / dares, / And to that dauntless temper of his mind” (3.1.52-57). Macbeth’s power has gotten to his head and caused him to develop this paranoia and view that everything and everyone is against him. Because this excessive fear is inhibiting Macbeth to think clearly, he believes that the assumptions that he is making about the danger his best friend Banquo causes the most reasonable. However, this is far from the case. The power Macbeth has has gotten to his head, causing this paranoia. Because he is blind to every other possibility of what could happen, Macbeth is making illogical conclusions that go against all forms of human decency. He is plotting to kill his friend on mere assumptions. A friend is the person who one is supposed to be able to trust the most, and plotting to kill the one who trusts one the most for a selfish reason …show more content…
In the play, Macbeth has just found out that he has made the crucial mistake of killing Duncan when instead, his best friend Banquo’s sons are the true threat to his power. As a result, he makes a plan to kill them to secure his spot as king. In Act 3 Scene 1 Macbeth says, “If ’t be so, / For Banquo’s issue have I filed my mind; / For them the gracious Duncan have murdered; / Put rancors in the vessel of my peace / Only for them, and mine the eternal jewel / Given to the common enemy of man / To make them kings, the seeds of Banquo kings. / Rather than so, come fate into the list, / And champion me to th’ utterance” (3.1.69-77). To Macbeth, there is no harm in his plans to betray his best friend and kill his family because he cannot see how the end does not justify the means. However, his end goal of staying in power is not worth him killing his best friend’s sons, resulting in the destruction of an entire family and friendship. As a result, Macbeth is corrupt by definition because he is willing to act dishonestly by betraying his best friend in return for something so trivial as a personal gain, or in Macbeth’s case, staying in power. Macbeth is willing to violate every code of friendship and human decency to stay in power by betraying his best friend and killing his family. However, once again Macbeth’s desire for power cause his selfishness and corruption to blind him
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