People are capricious.
Thus there are many factors that can change people such as money, love,
negative experience or the criticism by others. However more powerful than any
of these other forces is the desire for power. In the book Macbeth by Shakespeare a man is changed due to his desire of power.
The book conveys that the main character, Macbeth, is the Scottish king
Duncan’s cousin, who is told by three witches that he will become the king. He
then murdered the King Duncan. Afterwards, Macbeth gained the power and became
the new King. Although some might blame the witches or Lady Macbeth for the
murder, they are not the true turning point for Macbeth. In fact, Macbeth’s
desire for power grasps his thoughts and manipulates his actions, which makes
Macbeth’s character change from the beginning of play to the end.
At the beginning of
the story, Macbeth is a really kind person. Who is loyal to his king, brave to
has many battle, and he is obedient to his wife. The captain describe to the
king about how Macbeth kill the enemies bravely “Brave Macbeth, laughing at
luck, chopped his way through to Macdonwald, who didn’t even have time to say
good-bye or shake hands before Macbeth split him open from his navel to his
jawbone and stuck his head on our castle walls.”(5). This piece of evidence
shows us that Macbeth is brave and he is loyal to his country. He can even
offer his life to the country. He then meets the three witches, but he was not
so ambition at that time, so he is afraid of what witches said about his life
of to become a king in the future. Banquo says “My dear Macbeth, why do you
look so startled and afraid of these nice things they’re saying?”(15). It shows
that Macbeth is loyal to his king because he thought that if he will become the
king, then something bad will happen to the kings now. Banquo also meets those
three witches. He unaffected by witches but Macbeth begins think of evil. “The
agents of evil often tell us part of the truth in order to lead us to our
destruction. They earn our trust by telling us the truth about little things,
but then they betray us when it will damage us the most.”(21). That means
Banquo doesn’t trust those witches and unaffected by those witches. Thus this
demonstrates the fact that what witches say is not as powerful as the desire
for power because though Banquo doesn’t change himself, Macbeth changes
immediately.
Lady Macbeth also
tempts Macbeth and makes him began to has the idea to kill the king Duncan, but
the most important point was still decide by Macbeth himself. Before Lady Macbeth
tries to tempt him, Macbeth says, “Stars, hide your light so no one can see the
terrible desires within me. I won’t let my eye look at what my hand is doing,
but in the end I’m still going to do that thing I’d be horrified to see.”(29). It
tells us the seeds of desire for the power was already in Macbeth. Even though Lady Macbeth is persuading him, it is Macbeth who
makes this final decision, because he hold his own desire for the power and
only himself can make the decision. “Now I’m decided, and I will exert every
muscle in my body to commit this crime.”(47). At this time, though Lady Macbeth
persuades him somehow, but the turning point is still in Macbeth. He decides by
himself that means he choices his own road.
Finally, Macbeth
changes into a bloody man and becomes completely evil. He has already stepped in
the river of blood because of himself. “Come, night, and blindfold the kindhearted
day.”(101) This quote shows us Macbeth
had already decided to kill more people and he was become evil. “I have walked
so far into this river of blood that even if I stopped now, it would be as hard
to go back to being good as it is to keep killing people.”(119-121). This
evidence shows that Macbeth becomes evil even without witches and Lady Macbeth.
He was ready to kill more people or do more bad things for his desire of power.
“In fact, I’ll start following up my thoughts with actions right now. I’ll raid
Macduff’s castle, seize the town of Fife, and kill his wife, his children, and
anyone else unfortunate enough to stand in line for his inheritance.”(145). He changes
himself totally because his desire for power. At that time, he turns into a
different characteristic. He becomes bloody, cruel and doing everything without
hesitation.
A person who has perseverance and
a just mind may face obstacles on the way for success. Like Macbeth, he may be
tempted by his own desire for power to listen to and believe rumors from others
which may lead him to destruction. This not only happens in the literature, it
also happens in our real life. For example, many officers in China who have
already reached important positions, because of their desire for power, still take
bribes or act in dishonest ways to get more power. Like Hu Changqing, who was Vice
Governor of Jiang Xi Province in China. He received many millions of RMB from
other people and gave then to others in order to get more power. And finally,
he got caught and dead. Though they know what they are doing is evil or is
breaking the law, they won’t change to do that because doing this will bring
them more power and benefit. Perhaps people
who doing this
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