Plot

The plot in Macbeth revolves heavily around greed.  Ambition is also a key factor in the plot.  Ambition is what begins the plot as Macbeth has won a victory over the Norsemen.  The plot slowly transforms to greed when Macbeth and Banquo meet with the witches.  His ambition becomes greed because he realizes that it is possible to become King by his own accord.  It is here that he first considers taking violent actions towards the King.

His greed is given a large boost as his wife enters into the plot.  Macbeth decides that he will not go through with it as he still has some decency left in him.  His wife, being greedier than he, is able to push him over the edge by insulting his manliness and dissing his testicular fortitude.

His greed extends into his kingship as he becomes paranoid that the people he once trusted will turn against him.  His paranoia leads to the death of Banquo, the only other person who had something to gain from the witches prophecies.  The evil and anger within him leads to the death of Macduff's family.  Macbeth kills them in spite of Macduff.  These deaths illustrate the evil with which Macbeth has been overcome because of his greed.

Macbeth's greed also creates a snowball effect in that once he begins on his path of destruction, he is unable to stop and it increases his need for power and therefore increases the amount of death.  As his greed increases he returns to the witches for more prophecies. At this point in the play, he is much more demanding than the first encounter.  After the apparitions appear to him, he becomes more confident and yet more power hungry.  He openly fears no one because "none of woman born/ Shall harm Macbeth." (4.1.80-81).  Although he believes he can not be harmed, he decides to kill Macduff as a precaution.  Again, his greed and lust for power has led to more death.

The plot demonstrates that greed can have an effect on the mind of the greedy individual.  Lady Macbeth has difficulty dealing with the length with which she and her husband have gone in order to gain power.  While conscious she acts very well the part of an innocent Queen.  However, the audience realizes that she is having difficulty with the amount of death involved in the plot.  Her sleepwalking episode in which she admits the plan to a doctor and gentlewoman, and admits her moral problems with what has happened.  She is unable to deal with the mental problems that arose from her and her husbands actions, and kills herself.

The plot is conducive to greed in that it follows along a path which allows Macbeth's ambition to worsen into greed and lead to much death and in the end his own.