Ego milk of human kindness To catch
Ego Overload”It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it” – Aung San Suu Kyi. When obtaining so much power it starts to build your ego, yet the fear slowly overcomes the power bringing you down .
In Macbeth the author William Shakespeare uses Lady Macbeth’s flaws of lust for power and being violently aggressive to show power feeds to a person’s ego which leads to corruption.Lady Macbeth would do anything to receive power , murder being one of them. In the scene Lady Macbeth has just received a letter talking about how Macbeth has been crowned Thane of Cawdor.
In Act 1 Lady Macbeth states ” Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be what thou art promis’d. Yet do i fear thy nature, it is full o’th’ milk of human kindness To catch the nearest way”(Shakespeare 1.5,15-18). Lady Macbeth feels that Macbeth won’t take hold of the Scottish crown like he should so she wants to create the plan to kill King Duncan. Lady Macbeth wants to do this so Macbeth can receive power.
She wanted power more than Macbeth wanted it himself. Little did she know all this craving for power and what she’d do for it not only brought her ego up but herself down. Her trying to take over her husband’s power would eventually to their deaths.Lady Macbeth’s flaw of being violently aggressive illustrates the theme by having her kill the guards herself. In this scene Lady Macbeth is getting upset with Macbeth because he feels to guilty to follow through with the murder. In Act 2 Lady Macbeth said ” Infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead Are but as pictures. ‘Tis the eye of childhood that fears a painted devil”(Shakespeare 2.
2,45-52). Macbeth was scared to plant the dagger so he brought it with him. Lady Macbeth yells for him to give her the dagger so she can do it herself. Lady Macbeth’s aggressive demands made her get everything her way while standing behind Macbeth. Her standing in Macbeth’s shadow giving him aggressive demands brought them both down because if he fail so did she. Lady Macbeth’s obsession with power creates a new world full of violence. Society today would consider her to be a tyrant. She puts her greed first before thinking of the effects it has on others.
Shakespeare puts an emphasis on these quotes to demonstrate the themes of the novel. Lady Macbeths of lust of power and being violently aggressive reveals the theme power feeds to a person’s ego which leads to corruption.
