Macbeth Project: Act III Scene IV

The two EQs that my group decided to use for our Macbeth project were:
How does power corrupt?
How far is one willing to "go" to get what they desire most?

During our scene, (3.4), Macbeth is already crowned King (and Lady Macbeth is crowned Queen), and they are having a celebration banquet with their courts people. Prior to our scene, Macbeth has ordered murderers to kill Banquo and his son, Fleance. (During scene 3.4), the one of the murderer arrives at the banquet and speaks to Macbeth alone, informing him that they had successfully murdered Banquo, however, Fleance had escaped. After returning to the banquet, Macbeth sees Banquo's ghost in his throne, however none of his guests sees what he is seeing, as Macbeth speaks to the ghost.  Lady Macbeth tells the guests that he often gets these 'visions', and to not worry about his health; to just ignore him for the time being.  Later on during the scene, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth speak privately about their intentions to keep the the throne theirs (doing whatever it takes, asking for the witches' help).

How the scene relates to the two EQs we have chosen is that it shows how much Macbeth desires to keep his throne and his power, and how he is willing to use this newfound power of his to maintain that control.  You can see that the power of the crown has corrupted Macbeth in that it is all he is fixated upon; the decisions he made such as murdering Banquo and attempting the murder of Fleance shows not only that the power was a priority over one of his best friends, but also he was willing to utilize his power as King to 'get the job done'.  Macbeth's desire to maintain his crown creates a long path not only behind him, but infront of him as well. The act of wanting Fleance to be dead upon the prophecy of the Witches ([to Banquo]: "Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none.") was the trigger in Macbeth's mental overload.  He became crazy in wanting to stay King so badly that he was willing to murder his best friend's son, and anyone else who got in the way.  In wanting to maintain his crown, Macbeth was also willing to put his full trust and loyalty into the Witches' words, because he wanted to believe that they would guide the way for him. In the scene 3.4, Macbeth also envisions Banquo's ghost at his banquet, proving that the power, and desire went to his brain and that he was not making rational decisions, but instead just following his gut-instinct which perhaps was not the most worthy to trust.