Compare and Contrast Essay
Edmund Burke once said, “Ambition can creep as well as soar.” This quote aptly captures both Jack and Lady Macbeth’s application of ambition. The allure of influence and power is so great that it corrupts their logical ways of thinking, ultimately leading them to disaster. If Jack and Lady Macbeth were to compare with each other, then both primarily represent the “id” side of human condition but at the same time they behave differently, because they diverge in their perpetuation of gender stereotypes.
To begin, Jack and Lady Macbeth represent the “id” side of personalities. According to Sigmund Freud's famous hypothesis on human psychology, the “id” is the sensibility in people that answers to instinctive and animalistic pleasures. In other words, they are both quite hedonistic and demonstrate the notion that a person’s intuitive desires are more inherently prominent instead of rationale and ethics. During the early stages of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth reads her husband's letter and plans Duncan’s murder without thinking about the repercussions, “Thy letters have transported me beyond. This ignorant present, and I feel now. The future in the instant.” (Shakespeare, 1606, Act I, Scene VI, Line 64-66) Her hopes of sitting next to her Kingly husband’s throne are insatiable; it is as though time completely collapses for Lady Macbeth. Similarly, Jack insists on being the chief by saying, “[Ralph is] like Piggy. He says things like Piggy. He isn't a proper chief.” (Golding, 1954, p.115) To Jack, being intelligent is not as important as having physical strength and therefore believes Ralph is undeserving of chiefdom. It is also abundantly clear that the frustration in his words convey Jack’s deep desire of becoming the chief. In essence, both Lady Macbeth and Jack deeply wish to gain power and control over their subjects and this blind thirst demonstrates their “id” compartm...
