Adolf Hitler is a dictator of the twentieth century who is very similar to Macbeth. Macbeth being a fictional character created by William Shakespeare, and Hitler being a actual dictator in real life. They resemble eachother most in their career as soldiers, their challenging rise to power, their heartless actions, and their trecherous downfall. Before they held their position as leaders, they were both soldiers in war.
In Macbeth, a captain pronounces Macbeth a “ brave man” for his heroric acts of executing the betrayer Macdonwald(act I, scene I, lines 16-23). Hitler was a courageous and brave soldier as well as Macbeth. Serving as a despatch runner, Hitler joined World War I. He received The Iron Cross for his bravery in War World I (American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, 2010). Both of these men were loved by their people, but used the method of manipulation to gain power.
Hitler soon discovered his talent for speaking a powerful oratory, “ His hoarse, grating voice, for all the bombastic, humourless, histrionic content of his speeches, dominated audiences by dint of his tone of impassioned conviction and gift for self-dramatization. ” (Wistrich, 1997) . In act III, scene I, Macbeth realizes that Banquo is getting suspicious and will get in his was of keeping the throne in the future. So, Macbeth manipulates two murderers to kill Banquo by saying that Banquo is the reason for their poverty (act III, scene I, lines 77-87).
These two dictators were also similar in their brutality and cruelty. Macbeth forced himself into power by committing a murder, killing King Duncan (act II, scene I, lines 63-65). When Hitler was sworn in as chancellor heading a coalition government, he brought along a group who would murder anyone that opposed him on political issues called “ The Stormtroopers” (Chris Brambery, 2008). The Stormtroopers got so out of hand, that Hitler was demanded by army commanders to stop and forbid Hitler from using them. Hitler responded by killing multiple political enemies and their leaders.
This displays that both of these men forced their way into power by killing anybody who got in their way (Chris Brambery, 2008). Many people died in the ruling of these dictators. Hitler is most famous for the events associated with the Holocaust. He was resposible for kill six million Jews and millions more of non-Jews (Wikipedia, 2012). After getting word that Macduff left his family home unprotected, Macbeth sent murderers there who killed Macduff’s wife, childern, and even the servants (act IV, scene I, lines 150-165).
Macbeth and Hitler both share terrible characteristics that make them heartless and cruel in fiction and reality. Through the description of Hitler’s rule, the savagness that Hitler possessed greatly overcomes Macbeth, but their lack of concern for human life is a characteristic that they can both relate too. Even though Macbeth’s level of cruelty doesn’t even skim the level of Hitler’s cruelty, they realte to each other because of their brutality towards people and their ambition to become in power.
