Power corrupts

“My lord am a man so angered by the vicious blows and beatings of the world, I don’t care what I do to get back at the world” (3.1.120-124). This quote here ties in very well with the theme I have chosen “power corrupts”. In the book Macbeth, the main character who is Macbeth, is strolling through the woods on his way home from battle. He was a soldier for Scotland and on his way back he met three gloomy witches which they all had something different to say but they were all different and were stated to Macbeth as which was to come first. The first witch said he would be thane of Glamis, the second said he would be thane of Cawdor, the last witches statement is what foreshadowed the entire book, so she said that he would become king! With this being said and no idea of how it would happen Macbeth had his head set on becoming king. He went home to his poor excuse of a wife to explain to her what he had just witnessed. Macbeth told her how he was coming home through the woods and had stumbled into three witches who told him their predictions. He quickly skipped most of it to tell her that he was to become king. Both of them were overwhelmed with joy but at the same time extremely confused because neither one of them ever expected this to happen to them.

Lady Macbeth grew impatient and her main objective was all about herself and becoming queen so she was getting desperate and irate. One night she plotted this complex scheme which was to assassin the king and everybody would think it was guards. She went on to go into detail about her plan which she was very confident that would work out, how she would get the guards totally sloshed, take they’re daggers and head into the kings room and slaughter him. Then they would smear the blood all over the guards so it really did look like they did it and they would leave the guards daggers beside both of them. They’re objective was Macbeth would be crowned king, and Lady Macbeth would be queen. Both of them were so anxious so see how there thoughtful plan would work out they could hardly wait for the next time to come.

This all ties into how power corrupts because before Macbeth ever heard these harbingers he never went crazy with power. He heard these fortunes an ever since then he’s been obsessed with coming king and nothing was more important than that, it was all he thought about. It also led him into taking part in a murder, he became so desperate, he forgot who he was and Lady Macbeth was a horrible influence on him. She egged him on into plots and ideas and if it wasn’t for her, I don’t believe Macbeth would have murdered the king. Macbeth in the story is a push over and his wife actually wears the pants, what she says goes. Eventually he just goes completely insane with paranoia, and believes everybody is out to get him. “Ill put a sword to his wife, children, and all who might follow him”(4.1. 166-167) Macbeth is all concerned with people finding out he framed the guards and killed the king. He sends assassins’ to go and kill Macduff because he believes he’s onto him and plans to reveal his secret to everyone. Instead of threatening and killing Macduff, he ends up slaughtering his family, consisting of his wife and kids.

“and I am another man so weary of disasters, so knocked about by fortune that I would risk my life in any way to mend it or be rid of it” (3.1.116-119)
After everything Macbeth has done while he was mad with power and the haunting memories, he realizes that he regrets his decisions and killing the king because he didn’t have patients was not worth it. I believe whether he killed the king or not that somehow, someway he would have been crowned king. This just goes so show how power corrupts and how it can make you think or and even act upon things you wouldn’t normally do.