2005, Form B. One of the strongest human drives seems to be a desire for power. Write an essay in which you discuss how a character in a novel or a drama struggles to free himself or herself from the power of others or seeks to gain power over others. Be sure to demonstrate in your essay how the author uses this power struggle to enhance the meaning of the work.
In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the idea of power is exploited throughout. Lady Macbeth yearns for her husband to seize power and murder Duncan. Macbeth desperately defends his power by having Banquo killed. Ultimately however, there is no one in the play who has real power besides the Witches. Shakespeare portrays the struggle for power as brutal and bloody, but ultimately insignificant, as fate is the only true holder of power.
When Macbeth and Banquo first hear their prophesy, Macbeth immediately begins to question himself and where he stands. Does he have enough power as it is? Who will truly have more power, he or Banquo? Lady Macbeth ultimately decides though, as she holds the power in their relationship. It is she who urges and humiliates Macbeth into seizing what is supposedly rightfully his. Shakespeare uses the power dynamic between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth to also play on gender roles, making the female Lady Macbeth more masculine, and thus more powerful, than her husband.
As Macbeth continues to struggle with the meaning of the prophesy, he desperately clings to his power by having his closest friend murdered. The quest for power has driven Macbeth insane, and tortured by guilt. This is the fate of all who go down this road. Lady Macbeth too is driven to suicide by her guilt. Those who seek power through force do not die in their beds, they suffer the same fate they inflicted on others.
Throughout the play, despite Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, or even those who resist Macbeth, the Witches are the only characters who truly have power. The supernatural forces that seem to manipulate fate and destiny are the only charactesr with any real control. This symbolizes the lack of structure or reliability in life, emphasizing the chaos of life.
You did a good job of leading the reader to your thesis. I would recommend shortening your background info sentences as they are unnecessary for elucidating the context of the play. Your body paragraphs consist mainly of a summary of the play and thus contain little scholarly analysis of the power struggle in the work. You briefly refer to some scholarly analysis at the end of the play. I feel that you may need to expand on that and maybe add it after your plot summaries. If you could incorporate more pieces of evidence to support your position, that would further enhance your position. Overall, your position is clear but there are certain flaws in carrying out your argument and conveying it effectively to your readers.
ReplyDeleteYour essay is very well organized and well written! It was a great flow, and your voice really comes through, making it easy for the reader to connect with your writing. Your point that the only characters with true power are the Witches is something I hadn't considered before but now makes a lot of sense. You could consider revising your introduction a little bit; the first sentence could be broad, the second focused, and the last your thesis, like what we learned in class. This would give you some great topic sentences to use and add more structure to your essay! Overall, really good job!
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