Macbeth vs the Godfather Essay

The change from good to evil can happen to anyone. It can happen to the best of people, just like Macbeth in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Michael Corleone in Francis Ford Copalla’s the Godfather. In these two completely different stories, the protagonists Macbeth and Michael Corleone, start off good and transition into evil and gain too much power for them to handle. Changing isn’t a choice for either of them and evil just presented itself upon them. In both the Godfather and Macbeth, the change of the protagonist from good to evil is in complete plain sight; however, the protagonists themselves do not see or sense the change. In the Godfather, the protagonist Michael Corleone changes rapidly from god to evil without even a bit of realization what he is getting himself into, some may say that he is the new godfather. As soon as the original godfather (Michael’s dad) was put into the hospital, Michael didn’t even know until days later, he had to find out through a newspaper, this shows how uninvolved Michael is with his family. When he goes to visit the family, he takes over immediately. As soon as he takes over he already is planning to kill someone and he has never killed anyone before, by the end of the movie, he is already lying to his wife about him not killing someone because he has now been transferred into a true Corleone and made his transition from good to evil. In Macbeth, the protagonist Macbeth eases into his transition from good to evil a little more smoothly and a little more hesitant. Macbeth debates killing Duncan because he is his follower, when he is talking about it with his wife Lady Macbeth she calls him a coward for not helps frame some of the innocent drunks from the night before, when she says â€Å"a little water will clear us of this deed.† She is saying the water will wash away their guilt and consciences. When Macbeth becomes king he gains too much power and has too much self-confidence because the witches have told him â€Å"Macbeth cannot be killed by anyone born of woman.† He now has way too much power and becomes mad with it, the thought of killing Duncan has made Lady Macbeth crazy. The comparison between Macbeth and Michael Corleone is a strangely different but similar situation because they have both started out good with no evil thoughts or intentions at all, and then throughout each of the stories, Macbeth and Michael Corleone both become evil without realizing the power that the each of them have, they have both transitioned in completely different ways but they ended up in the same ending situation.