The Never Ending Need for More

The Never Ending Need for More

    Earlier this year, a powerful hedge fund manager by the name of Thomas Gilbert Sr., was shot dead. He was killed by his son, Thomas Gilbert Jr., over a money dispute. Senior told his 30 year old son that he was going to lower his weekly allowance to a few hundred dollars, and also stop paying rent for his son’s $3,100 a month apartment. This is a completely reasonable action for Senior to take, because he wanted his son to begin working for himself and start earning a living. However, his son did not take too kindly to this, and decided to become a murderer. This is not a rare occurrence in the news. There are stories similar to this more often than one would like to think. This story, as well as all of the others similar to it, are nearly identical to the murder of King Duncan in Macbeth.

Macbeth made a decision similar to that of Thomas Gilbert Jr.’s when he decided to kill King Duncan. Macbeth was a power hungry animal, willing to do anything to make his way to the top, even if it involved foul play. Macbeth planned to murder the King, not pausing for a second to think about how generous King Duncan had been to him. Duncan had made Macbeth the Thane of Cawdor, and he had treated Macbeth as his own son. However, Macbeth chose to put all of that to the side and convinced his wife to assist him in the murder of Duncan. In addition to this, Macbeth had his best friend, Banquo, murdered, and attempted to have Banquo’s son, Fleance, murdered as well. Macbeth chose to do this because he was willing to do anything to gain power, even though it meant killing those he cared most about.

When Thomas Gilbert Jr. killed his father, he made decisions for reasons incredibly similar to those that Macbeth made when Macbeth killed Duncan. Junior killed because he was scared that he was going to receive less money. This meant that Junior would have less freedom, and in turn, less power as well. Junior was able to kill over this just like Macbeth was. In addition to this, Junior put aside the fact that his father had been extremely generous to him by supporting Junior with a large and steady flow of cash for 30 years. This is incredibly similar to how King Duncan had been generous by making Macbeth Thane of Cawdor, but generosity ended up meaning nothing to both Junior and Macbeth. Also, both Junior and Macbeth were willing to harm their family or put their family in harm’s way in order to get power. This is incredibly evident with Junior, as he was willing to kill his father over money. Macbeth did something similar when he got his wife involved to kill King Duncan. Macbeth was willing to put his wife at risk in order to get the power he desired incessantly.