Sunday, August 19, 2012

Does anyone have a good quote about greed in Macbeth?

Although we can identify greed in Macbeth, the word doesn't actually appear in this play. Rather, ambition (which is after all a kind of greed) is much more prevalent. We know that Macbeth has "black and deep desires" from his first soliloquy and it is clear that Lady Macbeth, his "partner in greatness" has high ambitions for her husband too.


One of the key quotes has to be Lady Macbeth speaking to her husband and dangling future possibilities in front of him:



Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be
What thou art promised.



In addition, Macbeth states: "I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself, and falls on the other." It is this greed or ambition that drives the play and results in such a high body count.

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