Examples Of Ambition In Macbeth

In the play Macbeth the protagonist takes all the spotlight and leaves Macduff in the dark. If someone was to pay close attention they could see how big of a hero Macduff was. Macduff Thane of Fife played a really important part in the story, he was the first one to question King Duncan’s death and the one who slays the tyrant king Macbeth. Macduff is shown as a very righteous man who held strong morals and was very loyal to his country, king, and family. He has a good purpose, unlike Macbeth and wanted the best for his country, he sacrifices his family for the greater good. He plays a big part in helping Malcolm get to his rightful place. In ‘Macbeth’, William Shakespeare uses Macduff as an example to show how taking responsibility can

In Williams Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth a man who starts off as an innocent man who throughout the play gets corrupted by power. Macduff the hero of this story kills Macbeth from his dreadful rule. Macduff knew Macbeth killed Duncan to get the crown, therefore he does not show up to the coronation. Macduff convinces Malcolm to get back what he owns. Macduff gets emotional after he finds out his wife and kids had been killed by murders sent there by Macbeth. Macduff proves his strength and his ability to be a hero to all Scotland.

Macbeth is of a brave and capable warrior initially the first time that we see him. However, once we see Macbeth and the three witches together, we begin to realize that his physical courage is joined by a consuming mind boggling ambition and a tendency to self-doubt. The crusade’s mission is to place the rightful king, Malcolm, on the throne, but Macduff also desires vengeance for Macbeth’s murder of Macduff’s wife and young son. Macbeth is easily tempted into murder to fulfill his ambitions to the throne. Once he commits his first crime and is crowned King of Scotland. When Macduff finds out that Macbeth killed Duncan he plans to kill Macbeth and take his head to Malcolm. Banquo helped Duncan to claim victory over Norway and to become the Thane of Cawdor. They all are loyal to Duncan at some point, although Macduff and Banquo are doing the right things for Duncan, Macbeth is thinking of himself and is doing things so he will be the new King of Scotland. Macbeth is the play’s villain because he is betraying Duncan and trying to hide everything so he will be king.

The writer, Shakespeare, illustrates to the audience that the consequences do not just affect the person who have the ambitions, but it also affects the people around them. He does this by expressing the ambition through the characters of Macbeth and his wife Lady Macbeth. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are shown to be ambitious and their ambition feeds off of each other. Macbeth is initially shown to the audience as a brave and selfless soldier who is loyal to his king till the day he dies. But, once Macbeth hears the prophecy of the three witches’, (that he will become the King of Scotland), Macbeth changes. He develops a deep, dark and horrible ambition of ruthlessly murdering the king and taking his place. Macbeth then writes to Lady Macbeth telling her of his ambitions. This leads to Lady Macbeth provoking Macbeth’s ambitions instead of telling him to forget about it. As she provokes Macbeth the audience can clearly see that this woman is bad news. “Was the hope drunk?Wherein you dress'd yourself? hath it slept since?... and wakes it now, to look so green and pale which thou esteem'st the ornament of life, and live a coward in thine own esteem, Letting 'I

Coincidentally, Duncan, honoring the hero, decides to stay at Macbeth’s castle overnight. Lady Macbeth believes that this is a perfect opportunity given by fate to kill Duncan and usurp his power. Exhibiting extreme ambition and masculinity, Lady Macbeth orchestrates the entire scheme and persuades her husband into committing evil deeds, chiding him for behaving like a feminine and coward. Macbeth eventually yields to his wife’s pressure and manipulation. After the murder is discovered, Malcolm and Donalbain, Duncan’s sons, flee to England and Ireland, respectively, while Macbeth assumes a dictatorial sovereignty of Scotland. Macbeth, however, becomes insecure about his power, for the witches have prophesied that Banquo’s descendants will be kings and Macduff, another Scottish nobleman in England, may threaten him. Hence, the vicious tyrant assassinates Banquo and Macduff’s family. As a result, Macduff, with aids from Malcolm and England, vows to retaliate against Macbeth. Meanwhile, Lady Macbeth is greatly agonized by guilt, sleepwalking, rubbing her hands as if trying to wash away the bloodstains, and finally committing suicide. The downfall of Macbeth immediately succeeds when the English army invades his castle and is marked by Macduff outplaying Macbeth in a fierce

His courage and emotions showed as he hunted for fearsome Macbeth on the battlefield, “Tyrant, show thy face! If thou beest slain, and with no stroke of mine, My wife and children’s ghosts will haunt me still. I cannot strike at wretched kerns, whose arms Are hired to bear their staves. Either thou, Macbeth, Or else my sword with an unbattered edge I sheathe again undeeded.” (5.7.15-20) If anyone other than Macduff killed Macbeth, Macduff’s family’s ghosts would haunt him forever. He would rather not fight the hired soldiers. Either he would use his sword in fighting Macbeth or not use it at all. In this battle, Macduff is not only seeking revenge on Macbeth for the murder of Macduff’s family and King Duncan, but also saving his country from a tyrant. Was Macduff’s motivation purely revenge for his family’s murder or also the good of his countrymen or both? He does succeed in decapitating Macbeth and bringing “the usurper’s cursèd head” to Malcolm, the legitimate heir of Scotland. Although courageous in the battle against Macbeth, Macduff’s actions overall didn’t rise to the extraordinary level and he embodied human virtues such as love for his country and family, and and human flaws such as poor judgement in exposing his family to the evil of

The witches then proceed to tell him “Beware Macduff” among other things. Macbeth then worries so much he sends assassins to kill him and his family, luck for Macduff he wasn’t there. The assassins end up killing his wife and son which Macduff hears about and goes after Macbeth for revenge leading to Macbeth’s

The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare recounts Macbeth's meteoric rise as a soldier and promising future leader whose megalomaniacal ambition led to his tragic downfall. In addition to Macbeth's ambitions, which initially enable him to be strong leader and soldier, he is influenced heavily by his wife, Lady Macbeth, and the three witches that prophesize his ascent to the throne, as well as warn him of his eventual demise. It can be argued that it is Macbeth's ambition that allows him to succeed in his endeavors, however the goals to which he is working toward influence the results of his hard work. Macbeth's ambitions help him to become a war hero, and as his goals change, his ambitions drive him to become a tyrannical villain.

The title character of Macbeth shows us his dreams of power taking him to a dark place. Macbeth wants the crown, which he believes is rightfully his, and he’ll do whatever it takes to get it. Macbeth first has the idea in the third scene when the witches give him a prophecy of his becoming the Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor and eventually King of Scotland. The witches’ prophecies start with dreams of power on his mind, Macbeth’s ambition gets the best of him. He instantly starts to think about murdering Duncan to get what he wants.

After arriving home from battle and being awarded new titles and praise, Macbeth is hesitant to break trust easily. As Lady Macbeth attempts to convince him to carry out the murder, Macbeth explains, “He hath honored me of late, and I have bought/Golden opinions from all sorts of people,/Which would be worn now in their newest gloss,/Not cast aside so soon”(I. vii. 35-38). Macbeth believes he should stay loyal to the king, King Duncan, since he has been recently given new titles and estates. However, Lady Macbeth’s coercion convinces him to disregard his loyalty, and leads to his eventual self destruction. Macduff, who is throughout the play intensely loyal to his country of Scotland, begs Malcolm to return and rule, rather than Macbeth. Hearing Malcolm’s injurious remarks about himself, Macduff despairs and cries, “Fare thee well. /These evils thou repeat’st upon thyself/Hath banished me from Scotland.‒O my breast, /Thy hope ends here!”(IV. iii. 129-132). Macduff is upset that Scotland will remain in the hold of the tyrant Macbeth, without a virtuous leader to save the situation. Macduff is clearly seeking his country’ salvation, without asking for anything for himself. After the battle at Dunsinane is fought and Macbeth is slain, Malcolm finally receives his honor as the rightful heir to the throne of Scotland. During the aftermath of the bloody and bitter battle, Malcolm proclaims, “We shall not spend a large expanse of time/Before we reckon with your several loves/And make us even with you. My thanes and/kinsmen, /Henceforth be earls, the first that ever Scotland/In such an honor named” (V. viii. 72-76). Malcolm has finally returned and proved his loyalty to his country by leading the battle against Macbeth, and he is rewarding those who have also been consistently loyal. Their loyalty has a palpable reward that they may benefit from. Loyalty is a constant type of

On the surface, most readers would conclude that the hero in Shakespeare’s tragedy, Macbeth, is Malcom. Malcom receives recognition as the successor to Macbeth’s bloody tyranny in the conclusion of the play. However, Macduff is truly deserving of the role of hero. Genuinely concerned for Scotland, Macduff abandons his family to travel to England and recruit an army to end the disastrous reign of Macbeth. Macduff begins his vendetta against Macbeth before he has any personal incentive to kill Macbeth; he solely wants to restore Scotland to peace. In an attempt to determine Macduff’s true colors, Malcolm claims to have vices that would prevent him from being a good king. Instead of seizing the opportunity to become heir to the throne like Macbeth had done, Macduff is honest

Ambition, a word that can have a wishy washy meaning. A person can have an extreme amount of ambition and be good or bad. William Shakespeare writes the play “Macbeth” this play is considered the most tragic of his works, showed his dark side of writing. He uses the character Macbeth to show that ambition can lead to downfall if left uncontrolled.

Macduff and Macbeth Through the relationship between Macduff and Macbeth in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the overall theme of the play- the destructive nature of greedy ambition- is illuminated by the contrast in Macduff’s actions and those of Macbeth. Although gruesomely dark, the play explores truths of human nature in the fight for power and success. These vastly different characters reflect on one another in their choices and motivations, portraying the beautiful symmetry of one of Shakespeare’s best works. This contrast between Macduff and Macbeth highlights the two characters’ worst and best qualities i.e. Macbeth’s gruesome lack of empathy highlights the emotional nature of Macduff’s actions, proving once more what it means to be

Macbeth comes to rely on the witches throughout the book to help guide him on his journey to destiny. During his final meeting with them, he gets told this, “Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! Beware Macduff, / Beware the thane of Fife. Dismiss me. Enough.” (4.1,94). The apparitions foretell Macduff will be an issue for Macbeth, and on his way to destiny that he must be cautious when dealing with him. The apparitions are foreshadowing events that will lead to Macbeth's tragic downfall and to the fulfilment of his fate. After being told that he needs to undergo vigilance when dealing with Macduff, Macbeth tries to do everything in his power to make sure that he can hold on to royalty for his family. He explains to Lennox that “The castle of Macduff I will surprise, / Seize upon Fife, give to th' edge o' th' sword / His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls / That trace him in his line.” (4.1.172-175) Even though Macduff was not born from a “woman” and supposedly cannot stop Macbeth’s kin from becoming king, Macbeth takes the extra precaution to eliminate all potential enemies because his fate has such an enormous impact on his life. Macbeth takes it upon himself to make sure that no one will cease him from his fate, even if it includes murdering a whole bloodline. Finally, after

More people start to become treats along with becoming suspicious to Macbeth. In order to make sure that he stays in power without letting anyone know about his previous scandals Macbeth hires people to do it for him. Macduff finds out that his family was murdered and wants to kill Macbeth before he destroys the kingdom. At the end of the story. Macduff battles Macbeth saying “I have no words,My voice is in my sword. Thou bloodier villain,Than terms can give thee out! (Act 5 Scene 8) meaning that Macduff is full of rage and wants Macbeth dead. As the battle continues, Macbeth is defeated knowing that he couldn't be killed from anyone born from a