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Macbeth State Of Nature

Decent Essays

Man in the State of Nature and Society In the state of nature, man relies completely on himself. He uses the natural world around him to pose as guidelines and laws for survival. Man will strive to be on top, whether in the case of nature or involving human interaction. Man, in the state of nature, is inherently evil, and when entered into society, he becomes more greedy, self-involved, selfish, and power-hungry due to the emergence of other humans with the same intention of being as successful as he can be. The competitive drive of human nature urges the need for an individual to always remain in the highest position and be greater and excel in everything above everyone. Man’s notorious attribute of taking advantage of each other’s weaknesses …show more content…

Man viciously uses another’s delicate self-esteem to benefit for their own success. Reverse psychology is often used by man to to undermine another’s intention and make them do what the other intended. The idea of reverse psychology is “...to say something or respond to something in a way that is opposite to what you really think in order to get the opposite response from the other person,” (Loewen). In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, a main character, Lady Macbeth calls Macbeth, her husband, names in order to coerce him into doing the dirty work that she’d rather not do. Lady Macbeth lowers Macbeth’s self esteem, stating that he could never accomplish such a task and she takes into question his manhood with the lines, “ Wouldst thou have that Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life, And live a coward in thine own esteem, Letting “I dare not” wait upon “I would,” Like the poor cat i' th' adage?” (Shakespeare, I, vii, 41-44). Using this attack on Macbeth’s self-worth and confidence, Lady Macbeth skillfully deceived Macbeth into performing her evil act, which was her original intent. In using character’s from his play, Shakespeare perfectly shows how reverse psychology can be abused by man to benefit oneself. The constant need for man to prove himself, to be the very best he can be, is his inevitable downfall. Not only does attacking someone else’s self esteem make them want to prove themselves, but at the same time, it may have the opposite outcome, where-as man is left emotionally wounded. This man’s downfall makes way for the individual that has done the harming, making him superior, proving that man is evil. In regards to Lord of the Flies, Golding uses one of his characters, Piggy, to show that an attack on self-esteem can lead to someone else’s advancement. On multiple accounts, Piggy was called worthless and unintelligent. These attacks on his self-worth made him feel inferior, letting others step on

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