Question

excerpt 1: read the excerpt from act 3, scene 1 of the tragedy of macbeth. macbeth is thinking about killing banquo. he remembers the witches prophecy that banquos sons will be king after macbeth. in this excerpt, \seed\ means \descendants.\ macbeth. he chid the sisters when first they put the name of king upon me, and bade them speak to him; then, prophet - like, they haild him father to a line of kings. upon my head they placd a fruitless crown, and put a barren sceptre in my gripe, thence to be wrenchd with an unlineal hand, no son of mine succeeding. if t be so, for banquos issue have i fild my mind, for them the gracious duncan have i murderd; put rancours in the vessel of my peace only for them; and mine eternal jewel given to the common enemy of man how does the universal theme \the quest for power\ relate to the universal theme \the relationship between violence and human nature\ in these excerpts? macbeth is willing to share power with banquo to avoid more violence. macbeth is willing to use violence to keep himself and his descendants in power. macbeth knows that attaining power makes him susceptible to violence. macbeth knows that banquo will resort to violence to take away his power.

Explanation:

In Macbeth, Macbeth is driven by the quest for power. He has already committed murder (killed Duncan) to gain power. Now, fearing Banquo's descendants will take his power as prophesied, he is willing to use more violence (kill Banquo) to keep himself and his descendants in power, showing the link between the quest for power and the use of violence as part of human nature.

Answer:

Macbeth is willing to use violence to keep himself and his descendants in power.