Literary Essay - Macbeth In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the play’s central character Macbeth displays the atrocities created by greed, one of the play’s many themes. The play Macbeth, illustrates to the reader how greed for power and wealth can destroy oneself and everyone in his treacherous path. Macbeth shows this as he is not happy being a high ranking thane. He assassinates Duncan to become king, but not before he kills the innocent and dooms himself. Macbeth proves the argument that giving someone a small amount of power just leaves them grasping for more. Throughout the play many examples are evident