Pursuing Happiness Essay

Human beings can give up many things to achieve happiness, sometimes they could be only be beneficial to themselves and be harmful for others. In the book, Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, Macbeth shows how he can do wrongful deeds such as committing murder to achieve his own happiness. Only after killing Duncan does he realize that he might have done something wrong and unjustful for the people around him, but later he murders yet another friend to keep his own happiness while disturbing others. William Shakespeare makes a great example of how people can become darker to fulfil their happiness and desires. Throughout the story Macbeth faces on Prophecies and encounters guilt but instead of embracing it he ignores it and becomes a darker person. By killing Duncan Macbeth is named king of Scotland and achieve what he always wanted, later on he becomes suspicious of his best friend Banquo and murders him as well. Macbeth keeps on becoming darker and darker and would do anything to keep his happiness and people from interfering with him. After killing Duncan Macbeth feels guilt for his actions and that â€Å"no ocean could ever watch off his bloody hands†. Only later on he kills his best friend Banquo because he thinks he know the truth behind King Duncan’s death. The author empires how Macbeth would go really far to keep the way things are including murdering everyone that interferes in his path. At this state Macbeth finally puts his guilt and enters his dark stage and starts to kill anyone of suspicion, as a result, Macduff’s family. Unfortunately Macbeth at this point has given up and thinks he’s lived a good enough life and wouldn’t mind to be laid to rest. William Shakespeare shows how Macbeth who was once honored to beside King Duncan has now committed great sins for his own selfishness. At the end Macbeth finally realises that he was wrong doing and only taking advantage of other people. One of the main reasons Macbeth felt it was necessary to kill King Duncan was because of Lady Macbeth. He loved her and felt she also needed to be happy and the only way was to kill Duncan. Although skeptical, Macbeth did the deed and felt terrible about it, Lady Macbeth taking advantage of Macbeth convinces Macbeth that it wasn’t actually a big deal. William Shakespeare shows how Macbeth can misguided and persuaded easily for his wife, and willing to go far enough to murder to give happiness and selfish desires for his loved one, Lady Macbeth. When Macbeth had ordered the murderers to kill Banquo, he wanted to stay happy with his wife but didn’t want her to get involved. This showed how Macbeth was willing to take the blame for his wife if he were to get caught. Although he was murdering Banquo for his sake of not getting caught he was also doing it for Lady Macbeth not getting anymore involved. Macbeth became a darker person so that Lady Macbeth could stay happy with him as King and Queen of Scotland. Through the end of the novel, Macbeth starts to realize who he has become because of his own selfishness, he realizes the how many people he has murdered to keep himself happy for his own sake and Lady Macbeth’s. Until the point where Macbeth just gives up on himself, â€Å"I have lived long enough.  My way of life Is fall’n into the sere, the yellow leaf, And that which should accompany old age. † Macbeth states that he has living long enough and wouldn’t mind dying because he has nothing more to live for. Shakespeare shows how Macbeth who was willing to do anything for happiness and has now become ill of it and had enough of the pointless slaughter. Once you have done everything to get happiness it isn’t happiness anymore because if you have all the sacrifices Macbeth had made. We all strive to achieve happiness doing either good or bad things to receive it. Macbeth had no ill intentions in killing King Duncan but for the sake of his wife he committed the crime. Until the end Macbeth only wanted happiness for himself and to achieve it he took a different path which lead to his downfall. Once we achieve happiness we frown upon it and think of it as always there but eventually you will lose it, nothing will be here forever. After Macbeth found out his wife had died, he didn’t care anymore because his time of happiness was gone, there was nothing left for him, he had lived a good enough life and if he was ready to die if he had to.