Monday, February 16, 2009

Power and Greed: In-class Response


•Do you think that power and greed dominate our society today? Why or Why not? Use at least one example from your life to explain your response.


• Do you think that power and greed dominate Macbeth’s life? Why or Why Not? Once again, use at least one example from the play (explain it; you do not have to quote it) to explain your response.

Click Comment below to leave your thoughts.

31 comments:

Allie~J said...

-In someways yes power and greed dominate our world because of all te countries that are tryiing to be te best and how littlekids steal from otherl ittle kids so they can have the best toy or the best lunch. Almost veryone in out socirty wantsto be the best and have the best.
-Power and greed dominate Macbeths life in the sense that his wife wantedpower and wanted to be the best and for her to do that she pursuaded Macbeth to do what she wanted also same goes with the witches, they wanted macbeth to become king and I betht hey will comein and tell him later that he is destined to do s omething else.

RachelK said...

1. Yes, I do think that power and greed dominate our world today. There is the want to be included in the "in" crowd, and the want to look cool and be cool. I know that I struggled back in 8th grade with wanting to be part of the "in" crowd, but later on, I found that it wasn't worth it AT ALL. Also, I'm pretty sure we've all gone through this stage where we want every toy we see on TV; especially when we were little kids.
2. Yes, i do think that power and greed dominate in Macbeth's life. I say this because he was convinced by Lady Macbeth to murder Duncan so they can both get the "easy" way into becoming rulers of Scotland. If Macbeth wasn't concerned about his prophecy to become king, he wouldn't have become so greedy to where he ended up killing King Duncan.

KatieW said...

Yes, I think that power and greed dominate our society today because a lot of people are after a successful life moneywise, and power and greed would be the main factors in getting that. For example, back when the Taliban was in power, all they were after was money and power, which was greedy, and they didn't care about their people and treated them very badley.

I also think that power and greed dominate Macbeth's life too. If they didn't, then Macbeth would never have thouht of killing Duncan. Because of Macbeth's greed to become king, he killed a man, Duncan, who had been a great king and had never done anything bad to anyone.

adamc said...

I do think that power and greed dominate our society. One reason for this is that we will do anything to get well fare and any money we can from the government.
I think that power and greed do rule Macbeths life because he is obsessed with being king and killed for it.

samh said...

Yes I thibk that power and greed dominate much of our society today. In today's world we focus on material things and money much of the time which leads to the greed aspect. People are always wanting bigger and better things. As far a power goes, I think that many people thrive on the power they do or do not have. In jobs people are always trying to be promoted to gain more power. All in all, power and greed have a very strong grip of our society.
I definitly think that power and greed dominate Macbeth's life. He decides to take the innocent life of the king just to gain more power. He is very greedy in this aspect because he is willing to do whatever he has to get what he wants.

Pye said...

Yes, I do think Power and greed dominate our lives but in our society it has to if anyone wants to get ahead. If people in our society werent so greedy and power-hungry no one would get anywhere, creativity would be stifled, and we would be stuck in a sort of communist limbo.

However I dont think that power and greed dominate Macbeths life. He is very reluctant about killing the king so it shows that he isnt very power hungry and the position of king matters more to his wife than himself.

Anonymous said...

1. I do think that power and greed dominate our socitey today. There are many corrupt leaders who only want good things for theirselves and not their country. They just keep trying to get more and more poewer. It seems like in the world everyone is trying to make things better for themselves and they do not care if that hurts others or not.
2. Yes i think that power and greed dominate Macbeth's life. If not his own, then it's his wife's. And she can make him do whatever she wants him to. Like when he gets the prophesie from the witches she decides that he needs to do something about it and she pushes him to kill the king. Eventually, he becomes just as greedy as she is and it's going to come back and hurt him in the future.

meghank said...

I do think that power and greed dominate our society. All people care about is how much money and materialistic things they have. It has gotten even worse with our issues with the economy.

I think that the greed for power is what dominates Macbeth's life because he wanted so badly to be king that he was willing to kill Duncan for it. Macbeth never said that he hated Duncan; he actually liked him and admitted that he was a good king but Macbeth wanted his title so he killed him.

alenav said...

Yes power and greed dominate our society today. The want for power and greed is what keeps our country going though. If people didn't want power then nothing would be of importance anymore. Greed keeps our economy and government going. Even though there is a certain extent to how much greed and power is needed, it still runs our society.




Power and Greed control Macbeth to. The reason Macbeth killed Duncan was to be successful and have power. He was greedy and was willing to do anything for it. Macbeth's greed was corrupt though. He took things to far to get what he wants. Macbeth thrived for power and didn't let anything stop him.

Macy D. said...

Yes I think power and greed dominate our society and lives today. It seems like everyone needs to have everything and only the best. People will basically do whatever they have to, to get what they want. In Macbeth's life, power and greed definitely dominate his life. Macbeth has the courage to kill the king in order for him to be powerful and have rule over everyone.

NowlanS said...

I do think that power and greed dominate our society. It is easy to see that. Everyone wants the nicest car the fanciest house and many are power hungry. People revolve there lives around achieving the nicest clothes or the coolest new electronic gadget.

I believe greed and power dominates Macbeth's life. He so badly wanted to be king and have the power that he killed Duncan. Earlier in the play he felt as if power hungry desires would get him nowhere but he continued on with his plot to kill Duncan.

annies said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nicole said...

Just look at politics, you see enough greed and power right there. Hence why politics literally means "many blood-sucking creatures."
You can see it in the typical high school "status system." You always have those popular kids and the wannabees who follow them around trying to be exactly like them.
Greed and power definitley live through Lady Macbeth, thus dominating Macbeth's life. Such when she had to convince him once again to kill Duncan when he left the dinner. Pages 41-45 Act I Scene 7.

JasonV said...

I do think that power and greed dominate our society, but I don't think that everyone is greedy, just the most successful people. Take Donald Trump for example. If he hadn't been greedy and wanted more and more money, he would have had no motivation to make his business larger and larger. I have my own lawn mowing business and if I didn't make any money from it, I would most likely quit because there would be no reason for me to continue doing what I was doing for free.
I feel that confusion and little motivation dominate Macbeth's life, but it seems like greed and power do because so much of his wife's influence is seen in him that it is hard to tell his own feelings. When Macbeth kills Duncan, he is doing what his wife said, not what he wanted.

michellev said...

I think in some ways that greed will take over this country because we are obsessed with having money, and you can see in the society for example Hollywood, are people who have a lot of money, and they turn out greedy and they screw up and want more and more. Than power can take over too, because people like having power and the more power they have the more they feel in control.

Than it will take over in Macbeth's life because after he killed Duncan he felt guilty, but now that he is king he doesn't seem to care anymore and if this doesn't bother him now he will do greater things and try to get more power, since he didn't find Thane of Cawdor enough

Liap said...

I think that for the most part people in our society are driven by money and power. When we're in school, we strive to do well so that we can get into a good college, get a good career and make good money. This is one example of how power and greed force us to work harder.

I think that Macbeths life is completely dominated by power and greed. All of the life-altering decisions he makes were driven by his greed and need for power. Killing Duncan was a decision completely made by these two forces.

JeniC said...

I think that power and greed only dominate society if we let them. It is a person's conscious choice whether or not they will let their want for something overcome them. Power and greed only dominate when someone allows them to. I don't think that power and greed dominate Macbeth, but I do think that it dominates Lady Macbeth's life. She let her want for power overcome her and therefore forced her greed upon Macbeth. Greed can be spread from person to person, just as it spread form Lady Macbeth to Macbeth.

annies said...

I think that greed and power are dominate in our society today because without power, you don't have much. When someone is higher up in the business world, like say, a manager of a company, they have more power over the people who don't have as high of a job as the manager. But they don't have to be greedy to have power; but they have to have power to be greedy. When you have more money, then you can be more greedy.

Power and greed do dominate Macbeth's life. If he wasn't power hungry and greedy, then he wouldn't have killed the king. But since he wanted to be king, and to make the witches' prophesies come true. But he didn't have to do anything to be come the Thane of Cawdor, so he shoudln't have killed the king because it could have come sooner. But since he was power hungry, he wanted to be king sooner than he thought it was going to happen.

Emma said...

I think that greed and power kind of do dominate our society. Our society is pretty self centered. A lot of people in our society today are very "me" centered. They want things to heppen that will be good for them. For example, That is one of the reasons why Obama was elected into office, because he told everyone that he was going to take care of them. It is also kind of centered around power. A lot of people want more power.

I think that power and greed does dominate Macbeth's life. He killed duncan out of greed because he wanted to get what he wanted and also for power. He wanted to become more powerful so that is why he killed Duncan.

Aaron H. said...

Yes, I think that greed and power dominate our society. An example would be someone who wants a really nice car and finds out who has that car and they takes the car from that someone. They are taking the car for personal gain. Then everyone thinks they have power because they took a car out of greed

Yes, I think that power and greed dominate Macbeth’s life. Macbeth wants power; therefore, he wants to become king. However, in order to become powerful Macbeth becomes greedy; therefore, he kills the king.

AprilH said...

I do think that power and greed dominate our society today because everyone is striving to get promoted to have more power. Many people are also greedy and don't want to share their money or power too. When we were little kids we wanted about everything we saw. Also, we were greedy and didn't want to share our things. I think that power and greed dominate Macbeth's life because his wife is powerful and greedy. She tells him what to do and he does it. Also, she seems some what greedy. The three witches also are powerful because they can do many things with their powers and spells.

elizabeth k said...

1. yes i think that power and greed dominate our society. everyone wants something and most people want power over something. most of the time this is something that is not needed and is usually very greedy. one example of this is when someone wants something bad enough and they cant have it, then it might turn it into a power struggle and now the problem is not the original thing that they wanted but, now its all about having the power.

2. no i dont because i think that it was more peer-presure than greed or power. yes he wanted to be the king but i think that his wife put him up to killing him. i think that her pressure was more of a motivation than greed or power.

ddenton76 said...

Yes, I think power and greed do dominate our world today because if people didn't have power or greed there wouldn't be any wars because people wouldn't want to take over things. People these days want power so bad they will do anything to get which is also a sign of greed. I think power and greed also dominate Macbeth's world because it was greed that made Macbeth kill Duncan. I don't think it was Macbeth's greed, I think it was Lady Macbeth's greed that made Macbeth kill Duncan. Lady Macbeth wanted power so bad that she went to any length to get it which shows us how greedy and power hungry she is.

Jake H said...

I think that power and sometimes greed dominates our society. I believe this because some people will do anything for money. For example, they rob a store or mug a little old lady just for some spending money. Also for greed most people want to be in the popular crowd. They would do what ever it takes to be friends with them that they will ditch their real friends and hurt the ones that truly like them.

As for power, if a huge CEO of a large business doesn't like the way this man dresses or doesn't like the way he talks he has the power to fire him or not even give him the job.

In Macbeth I think that power and greed dominate his life. The determiniation to be the most powerful man in Scottland led him to be greedy. He was greedy by not letting nature takes its course. He took matters into his own hands and killed the king for his power and his glorious life.

georged said...

Yes, greed and power dominate our society. The capitalistic system is based on the principle of greed. People want to move up in life (greed) and tend to look out for themselves first. That is just natural survival.

Power and greed certainly control Macbeth's life. His only motive for the murder was to gain power, because of his greed. When Macbeth finally decides to kill him, he knows that Duncan has done him no wrong, his only justification is that it is fate.

BrianW said...

I think that power and greed dominates our society because rich people get whatever they want because rich people can buy power. For example they could buy people to do things for them or work for them. Like bill gates

I think that power doesn’t dominate Macbeth’s life, but I do think it can corrupt people to do things like Macbeth killing king Duncan.

Mark W said...

I think that power and greed exists in most people of our society today. People are always looking for the highest ranked job available in a large businesses because we like to the boss of others. We like to have control of people and the more people we have control of, the more powerful we feel. Many of these people fight over these jobs because of their greed for power.

Power and greed dominate Macbeth's life and choices. Macbeth didn't really have a choice about killing Duncan. His wife is the one who told him to kill Duncan because she wants to be Queen. Her greed for power has taken over her life and Macbeth's choices.

nilec said...

Power and greed don't control every aspect of life today. But if plays a large role the way this world is ran. An example of power and greed is the war in Iraq that is currently taking place. The desire that people have to always get more than the next person is what drives this world to more advanced stages. So maybe the greed isn't so bad after all.


Power and greed may have not always controlled Macbeth's life. But now that he has gone as far as to murder the king, he shows that he has changed into a power hungry greedy man.

jamieG said...

Our life:
Power and greed are just a way that a person chooses to live, it is not a dominate action. It may seem like those two things are overcoming our society today but in reality people are just allowing them to. We all seek power because we know that if people think we have that ability we are seen from a greater view point. Once a person has established power another will develop greed. It all works in a system and if nothing changes everyone in the world will be the same.

Macbeth’s life:
Macbeth lived in a much different time period when Power was a trend of life. Everyone was looking to be at the top, or in other words king. Either Macbeth or Lady Macbeth wanted the power more than they could bare and they had to do something about it. As for greed, you really notice it when Duncan gives the news of the new hear to the throne, because it wasn’t him he expresses a lot of grief.

allison t said...

I believe that greed and power have a part in our society today but do not dominate it. Everyone is greedy and wants power but not everyone is driven by greed and power. People who are driven by power and greed do everything for themselves and will do anything to be all powerful. For example, professional athletes and famous actors are sometimes selfish and don't care about anyone except for themselves.

Power and greed dominate Macbeth's life because he will do anything to be powerful and he really has no interest in anyone's well being except for himself and his wife. For instance, he kills the king, Duncan, to become king himself and he doesn't care that anyone gets framed for it.

Shay N said...

I think that power and greed are what run the world today. With everyone trying to move their way up in the world and their jobs. Everyone want more money and with more money comes more power so why wouldn’t you want it. Why else would everyone work so hard in school so that they can have a higher position in society. I think that Macbeths life is dominated by greed too because he wants to be king and to do this he killed the king!