English Essay
BIG IDEA #1
Shakespeare shows the success that follows from kingship and by following the divine right of kings. He also shows that Duncan had the divine right to rule and so all of nature was flowing well until Macbeth became king with force and nature started to turn on itself.
During Shakespeare’s Elizabethan period, everyone believed in the Divine right to rule. The Divine right to rule is if the king has the right to rule then all of nature should be in order. King Duncan was ruling Scotland, and all was flowing perfectly until Macbeth killed Duncan and then everything started falling apart and crumbling down because Macbeth did not have the divine right to rule.
As soon as the play opens, Macbeth is fighting with all his heart and loyalty to protect King Duncan’s Scotland from the two attacking armies. He is rewarded with direct praise through extended noble speeches from Duncan, praising him generously, “O valiant cousin! Worthy gentleman,” with the title Thane of Cawdor and promised that all involved with defending Scotland will enjoy recognition. Disaster occurs, however, when Macbeth’s overreaching ambition leads to destruction.
Shakespeare provides two kings for the audience to compare: one appointed by divine right, one self-appointed through intimidation, manipulation, murder, and force. Scotland’s strong position under Duncan’s rule is directly contrasted against the tyrannical chaos of Macbeth’s rule.
Big Idea 2
– Shakespeare uses the witches, who are feared and hated by the audience of the time, to manipulate Macbeth by taking advantage of his ambitious nature and convincing him to kill King Duncan. Macbeth had never had the idea to kill King Duncan until the witches told him his so-called prophecy which sparked Macbeth’s desire to kill Duncan.
During Shakespeare’s Elizabethan period, people were intrigued and terrified about the witches and believed they had so much power to do evil. The witches were going around and abusing people’s weaknesses and manipulating them into evil actions. Macbeth was fighting two armies to protect the King of Scotland and never before thought of killing King Duncan to claim his title, until the three witches appeared and told Macbeth of his apparent prophecies which created a spark in his fuel tank of ambition, and used his weaknesses to do evil. At the start of the play we see Macbeth fighting the two other armies to protect King Duncan and Scotland and then all of a sudden the three witches appear and make contact. The third witch says, “all hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter.” Shakespeare uses the witches to create a fake prophecy for Macbeth and states Macbeth will be the future king, this ignites his ambition and kicks off the destruction that follows. Shakespeare provides the witches and the normal society for the audience to compare: The witches have a huge amount of power and they terrify the normal humans. The witches are evil which makes humans believe what they say. Then there is the normal human society, Macbeth, Banquo, etc, and they believe in what the witches say, but they don’t have as much power as them which makes us believe that the witches are evil and powerful. Shakespeare highlights the destruction that the witches have caused through sparking Macbeth’s ambition.
Big Idea 3
– Shakespeare shows the tragic downfall of Macbeth from receiving the title of the king through power and ambition instead of earning the King through the natural world. Macbeth earns the title of King by using his ambition and power sparked by the witches to kill King Duncan and Banquo and blame it on the servants, Macbeth is then traumatized and is hallucinating about dead Banquo.
During Shakespeare’s Elizabethan period you had to earn your place in the societies hierarchy by either being born into it or deserving it. Normally the part of society you lived in that was where you normally stayed for your life. Macbeth did not follow this simple system, instead, Macbeth was too ambitious and received King through abusing his power with his ambition. Towards the end of the play, Shakespeare shows Macbeth having hallucinates of dead Banquo that he hired servants to kill, “Thou canst not say I did it: never shake thy gory locks at me.” This is a quote from Act 3 Scene 4 where Macbeth is hallucinating about dead Banquo sitting in a seat at Macbeth’s dinner gathering but the people are pointing to an empty seat for Macbeth to sit down and Macbeth is seeing dead Banquo sitting there.
Shakespeare shows that if you do not receive your position in the hierarchy by natural selection than you shall not live your life like a normal being and you should regret it.
Conclusion
– In conclusion, Shakespeare shows us that the destructive link between ambition and power is very destructive and can lead to a huge downfall of someone’s life. Shakespeare shows that the destructive link between ambition and power in Macbeth is very easily activated. Shakespeare uses a variety of different ways to show the destructive link between ambition and power by using the divine right of kings/divine right to rule, using the witches to ignite Macbeths fuel tank of ambition and by showing how Macbeth’s ambition of power leads to the tragic downfall of Macbeth and his wife (Lady Macbeth)’s life. Therefore there is a dangerously destructive link between ambition and power in the play of Macbeth and Shakespeare has shown this through many techniques.