Macbeth says, “If chance will have me king, why chance may crown me/Without my stir.” (1.3.143).This is significant because Macbeth still has a sense of right and wrong. These bad thoughts eventually come back when King Duncan states that Malcolm will be the next king. Scared that his second prophecy would not come true, fear leads him to make rash decisions. As Lady Macbeth pressures Macbeth to kill King Duncan, paranoia takes over Macbeth. When people find out that the king is murdered they accuse the guards.
“I am in blood / Stepp’d in so far, that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o’er.” (3.4.136-138) In this quote, Macbeth is telling himself that because he has stepped into evil so deeply, it will be hard to go back to morallity because he will never be able to rid of this guilt brought onto him. He begins to feel so remorseful, that he starts hallucinating and realizing that he has done such treacherous deeds. Even though he can still see how his actions are terrible, as the play develops, he begins to inch deeper and deeper into his own destruction of innocence. Macbeth had always felt threatened by Macduff because Macduff knew what a traitor he really was. Therefore, he had wanted to plot to end Macduff’s life as to not pose a threat on his reign any longer.
Ambition is a common downfall for those who seek power. In literature, authors use characters to demonstrate the harmful effects of ambition. Shakespeare, in his play Macbeth, develops the character of Macbeth, who changes from a good-hearted person to evil because of his corrupting power and unchecked ambition. In Act I, Macbeth debates with himself on whether or not to kill Duncan. He considers that, even if Duncan’s murder could be completed without any negative consequences, like getting caught, he still would have to live with guilt.
Williams suggests that Richard perceives his hatred as his fuel for passionate revenge, but it is the anxious yearning for acceptance which he instead misinterprets. In the opening scene, Richard is “determined to play villain” [2], his decision to claim the throne, that he again places himself a victim to course of nature, which he blames for being “cheated of feature” [3], be his unnatural guide to his reign. Imperfectly shaped, he is noticeably attracted to objects that are as equally flawed as he is, which deters him from ever escaping his constraints and truly obtaining the so called ‘normal’ lifestyle that his surrounding others have refused him. The play opens immediately chastising Richard’s contorted body, emphasizing his impotence. William’s states, “Richard
He sins against his whole family and by thinking that love can be quantified. And as it turns out, Lear isn’t only separating his family but power and responsibility as well. His very unpredictable, easily aggravated temper causes him to act wrongly and irrationally towards Cordelia, his favorite daughter who, he believes has betrayed her. Lear cannot understand that anyone’s, let alone his daughter’s, love for him could be ‘nothing’. I think pride, anger and greed for power prompted Lear to make the decision of giving up the kingdom to his malicious, hateful and ungrateful daughters, Regan and Cordelia.
However, the need and urge for power overcame his senses and he was disloyal to both of them. Deception and dishonesty are a big role in this play also. Without deception, there would be no betrayal. Macbeth is deceptive whenever he pretends to be a trustworthy person to the king, the king’s son, and also Banquo. However, all the while he is greedily planning their deaths.
This quotation shows how much this solider is suffering but it also shows how no human on earth should die like this as it seems like a terrible way for a man’s death. The old lie: Dulce et decorum est – Pro patria mori” This quotation is placed right at the end of this poem, It means ‘Sweet and beautiful it is to die for one’s country’ In Latin. There is some irony in this last stanza, but Owen is also very serious. He uses the saying as a warning and a final attempt to persuade the reader that war is monstrous. He describes the saying as 'The old Lie,' which I think means that he is trying to say that it is a trick.
The character of Edmund in Shakespeare’s King Lear a complex antagonist whose quest for power, and the treatment he deserves from society fuels the subplot. Cunning, deceitful, and a villain, Edmund will do whatever it takes to achieve his objectives, even if it means betraying the people who love him most. Edmund plays a key role in setting the stage for the disaster waiting to unfold, which is the subplot. Initially, the audience sympathizes with Edmund’s character; society treats him poorly, and his own father publicly embarrasses him. In Act 1 Scene 1, when Kent asks Gloucester if Edmund is his Gloucester’s son, he replies “his breeding hath been at my charge” (1.1.9) yet Gloucester “blushed to acknowledge [Edmund]” (1.1.10).
According to Brown, “The dramatist depicts incidents which arouse pity and fear for the protagonist [Antigone], then during the course of the action, he resolves the major conflicts, bringing the plot to a logic and foreseeable conclusion (Brown, para 5). The tragic hero in Antigone is Creon. Tragic heroes are not all good and not all bad. Creon suffers a great deal due to his tragic flaw and destructive pride. Creon believes the gods make him suffer the loss of his wife and son as punishment for his pride.
The protagonist Macbeth was once this great Scottish hero, but he was a victim of his own ambition for power, which in the end was the cause of his tragic downfall. No matter how much force he put against himself, he could not resist his evil urges. Macbeth is so intrigued and obsessed with the idea of being King, he puts himself in situations that are hard for anyone to get over. “The prince of Cumberland! that is a step on which I must fall down, or else o’er-leap, for in my way it lies” (I.IV.55-57).