The Hunger for Power

People who gain power tend to lose sight of reality. Power is a tricky thing to gain in this world but also a tricky thing to keep ahold of. The great George Lucas once said The story being told in ‘Star Wars’ is a classic one. Every few hundred years, the story is retold because we have a tendency to do the same things over and over again. Power corrupts, and when you’re in charge, you start doing things that you think are right, but they’re actually not.

This relates to macbeth and how he began to rule his town throughout the story. But, with the power he was given the more corrupt of a person he began to become. Macbeth was a wise and noble leader in there town who became the thane in that town of many different things. Macbeth becomes obsessed with the power he gains and wants more of it. He ends up killing people and going insane to try and gain that power. By analyzing the way William Shakespeare perceives power in the story Macbeth, one can see that when a does not handle power correctly it causes them to lose sight of reality and affects their mental state. This reminds us that when power is given to a person, that person should be responsible with that power.

Macbeth end up losing sight of reality and the only person on his mind is Duncan. Duncan is the king at the time that Macbeth needs to get rid of Duncan to gain that power. As Macbeth is thinking, he states ‘Or art thou but a dagger of the mind, a false creation,’ (Act 2 Scene 1). Shakespeare uses this metaphor to show the hallucinations going on in Macbeth’s head to show how insane he is going over the power. This shows how power is affecting the mental state. The power in his head is over taking his mind and he is starting to hallucinate. It is a fact that only people who have lost their mind hallucinate indicating Macbeth is going crazy. It is like the word power is repeating over and over again in his mind and it is all he can think about. Macbeth gains power and becomes insane by losing touch with reality. He became so crazy of power he ends up killing one of his acquaintances Banquo. Macbeth becomes so obsessed with losing his power to Banquo that he states, Here we are now our country’s honour roof’d, were the graced person of our banquo’s present, who may I rather challenge for unkindness than pity for mischance. Macbeth would go so far as to killing someone and taking away their life to gain power. This clearly shows how power actually affects a person’s mental state because normal people don’t kill people to get something they want. Killing someone is the ultimate terrible thing you could do with someone.

A person would think that after killing someone they would get what they want but to go as far as saying you could rule hell. It seems a little messed up. This is where the power runs to far into peoples heads into having power even after they die. Lady Macbeth is Macbeth’s wife who has lost her mind due to the power too. She says Well surely go to hell for this LM: And when do, we’ll rule that too. This clearly shows the insanity that Lady Macbeth has as to saying that they will rule hell to. Hell is a bad place to go when you die and to go as far and to say you will rule it is beyond insanity proving the power of being a ruler is a strong power and Lady Macbeth needs to be a ruler. Macbeth also talks about his fear of Banquo when he is talking to Lady Macbeth, he states ‘Full of scorpions is my mind’- (Act 3 Scene 2). Macbeth is talking about the fear with banquo and fleance. Macbeth also states when lady Macbeth feels guilty about when they killed Duncan with the daggers. Macbeth responds by saying that killing people is like sending them into peace and them not having to live out the remaining tortures of their lives. This clearly shows how the power is getting to Macbeth’s head and how he is going insane. Real people don’t think killing people is putting them at peace.They think it is wrong but clearly Macbeth thinks this is right showing the insanity.

This neediness and craving for power plays a factor. In the short article The Danger that Lurks Inside Vladimir Putin’s Brain the reader can see how putin was just an average normal person before but now has gone insane due to the power overtaking his mind. Vladimir Putin is the president of Russia and is an insane leader that is obsessed with power. Vladimir Putin is very similar to Macbeth in the story. Putin’s actions reflected in Macbeth throughout the story on how he was a leader. In the beginning of the story, Macbeth was a normal and noble guy, just like Putin. Putin became also became like Macbeth.When president Obama was in an interview he stated, Putin was ‘in another world.'(Robertson 5). Macbeth seemed to be in his head about every little thing and how he could stay in control and gain more power. These actions reflect on what Putin does to stay in power as long as he can because it seems he cannot deal with someone being in charge of the country but him. Macbeth seemed to be in another world when he sate

In conclusion, Shakespeare Depicts Macbeth as a crazy over lord who has lost all sight of reality but was given to much power to handle. Macbeth was mad with power and the power did affect his mental state. He went from the normal average guy to a crazy killer that only cared about being king and even lost his loving wife because he wanted more power.

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