The theme of power is a reocurring theme in the play Macbeth, Shakespeares subtle portrayal of it in each character shows the audience the effect it has on different type of people according to their rank on the Great Chain of being and also shows how too much of it can ruin a person. At the beginning of the play the audience first hears about how Macbeth “unseamed” Macdonwald “from nave to chaps”. This already shows how violent and cruel Macbeth can be even though he isn’t ranked as high as his ambition would like him to be in the Great Chain of Being.With this being the first description of Macbeth and how he was “disdaining fortune with his brandished steel”, the audience will be eager to actually meet Macbeth's character as he’s already been portrayed to be the ideal masculine figure in Jacobean times. As the play goes on we first see Macbeth with the witches as they prophecy to him “thou shall be king here after” giving an idea of how much power he could possibly get, he meets with Duncan in hopes of becoming the next heir to the throne as a reward for his bravery but instead Malcolm is proclaimed the next heir and Macbeth has an aside calling Malcolm a “step in which i must fall back down or else o’erleap it” already dehumanizing him as his lust for power increases. Macbeth gets impatient and usurps the power he longed for by committing regicide-one of the worst sins that could’ve been ever committed in jacobean times as it was not only against the king but also against God because it was disrupting the divine right of kings. At last Macbeth became king but because he wasnt divinely appointed he didnt know how to handle the power and it caused him to change drastically. Macbeth went from being “noble” and “brave” to a “tyrant” and “butcher”. Shakespeare did this to show that power in the wrong hands can destroy the noblest people, to deter the Jacobean audience from thinking of retrying the gunpowder plot. Shakespeare also presents the importance of power through Duncan's reign in Scotland.He uses Duncan as a device to show that someone too weak has power, it can also have a negative effect on the country. This is evident as we see Duncan wrongfully judge Macbeth and the previous Thane of Cawdor. He said the Thane of Cawdor was a “worthiest gentleman on whom he could build an absolute trust in” and Macbeth was a “worthiest gentleman” however both end up committing treason disproving his praise for them. In addition when Duncan says“There's no art that can find the mind's construction in one's face”. This shows Duncan admitting how naive he can be at times by placing his trust in the wrong people because he has no spirit of discernment to see who is good and who is bad, causing him to be betrayed repeatedly, ironically by people with the same title “Thane of Cawdor”. Although Duncan has power he doesn't know how to properly yield it which to the Jacobean audience can weaken the country as a weak throne makes a weak country. Shakespeares intention was to please King James I and reassure him that he saw him as a strong king also to warn people that not every single person can handle power and how it can bring other people down as well if the holder is weak or unfit.