Macbeth's Power

Throughout reading the play, Macbeth changes a lot from being a man of loyalty and honesty, to a man of whom is power hungry and greedy. This shows how the more power you receive the more power you want; which in many cases, such as this one leads to destruction. Many of the choices that Macbeth made were influenced by the power that he had, and this power began to take over him. This then lead to greed and destruction of not only others, but himself as well.

In the beginning of the play, Macbeth is not in a position of authority yet still receives praise. Although Macbeth is not in a place of power, he is truly content with his life. Macbeth is looked up to and admired for begin so brave and courageous. In the beginning of the play Macbeth comes off as a genuine man who is admired by many people. This is demonstrated by a member of Macbeth's battalion who refers to Macbeth as "the great Macbeth." This man is covered in blood and hurt, yet he still speaks of how noble Macbeth is. This really shows how respected and faithful the citizens are to Macbeth. "For brave Macbeth he is the one to whom oh so many praise." (1.2.18), said by the man. Hearing this news of Macbeth is very pleasing to the king, he now sees how noble and commendable Macbeth is, he then decided to give Macbeth the power of being Thane of Cawdor; by doing so he did not know what this decision was going to lead to in the future. The king gave him this power because he saw how fine of a man he was and thought that he would do a good job leading Cawdor with the power that has been given to him. But little did the king know that this taste of power would bring out new dangerous qualities in Macbeth.

Once Macbeth possessed the power of being Thane of Cawdor he began to exhibit more greed. He has just been given such a huge responsibility and once he was given new power, he craved more; especially when he stumbled upon the witches. He liked the power that he had and wanted to gain more, no matter what he has to do to get it. Macbeth had an encounter with the three witches and they had told him that he will become the next king. Although the witches did say this it did not mean that it was certain, it was just a possibility. But when Macbeth realized the opportunity for power he knew he wanted to become the king. This passage was in part of the letter that Macbeth wrote to Lady Macbeth: "Whiles I stood rapt in the wonder of it came missives from the King, who all-hailed me 'Thane of Cawdor,' by which title, before, these Weird Sisters saluted me and referred me to the coming on of time with 'Hail, king that shalt be'" (1.5.6-10). . It seems as if the power and greed now had full control over him, he is doing things that he wouldn't do when he did not have all this power. This is the first time that we see this side of Macbeth, the side of him that is greedy for power and is willing to kill the king to do so. In the beginning of the play the thought of being Thane of Cawdor never even crossed his mind, and by no means being king. As he was given more power he had the desire to become king. In order to gain more power Macbeth had become so greedy that it was slowly destroying his own life along with others.

Once Macbeth had control