Essay on Macbeth comparing to current events and people

Essay by YankeefansamHigh School, 10th gradeA+, March 2005

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On March 16, 1988, Saddam Hussein launched an attack on people in his own country. 5,000 Kurds were dead, and 7,000 were either injured or had long-term illnesses. The attack was in Iraq's city of Halabja and President Hussein only attacked because the Kurds did not support him, and he was retaliating. This ruthless destruction of innocent people proves that still in the world today there are people who are greedy, have ruthless ambition, and do not care how many lives they destroy, only if they can end up on top. In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the main character was described as a greedy, heartless, and ambitious individual who was swayed into evil and let his ambition take control of his life. Even thought that Macbeth was written over 400 years ago, people today such as Martha Stewart, Jeff Skilling, and Saddam Hussein compare with the character Macbeth in many ways.

"I have given suck, and know tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me; I would, while it was smiling in my face, have plucked my nipple from its boneless gums and dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you have done to this." (1.7.55-60) This quote from Macbeth shows how ruthless the character Lady Macbeth was and how she could murder her child if she swore she would. This compares with the brutality of Saddam Hussein and his attacks on his own Kurdish people. Only because the Kurds did not agree nor support Saddam and his regime, he said he would take measures to destroy them and he did. He launched chemical and biological weapons in the city of Halabja and the city along with its people are still trying to recover from this massacre. In Shakespeare's play, the character Macbeth killed...