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Ambition In Macbeth

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Ambition is Dangerous and Can Lead to Terrible Consequences
Ambition is a good quality in human beings, but it can also be paradoxically bad as well. The consequences that ambition may sometimes lead to do not only affect the individual but may also have consequences on others around that person. In Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, there are many characters whose ambitions lead them to terrible consequences. For example, ambition can cause an individual to become greedy causing grief like how Lady Macbeth’s greed to become Queen of Scotland, leads to her depression. Also, ambition can result in a person to become inconsiderate with terrible consequences such as, Macduff’s decision to leave his family in Scotland resulting in their death. Furthermore, …show more content…

Lennox and a Lord are talking about the current state of Scotland, Lennox says that "Macduff / Is gone to pray the holy king, . . . / Free our feasts and banquets bloody knives" (III. vi. 30–36). Macduff leaves his family in Scotland to get help from King Edward and Malcolm so that Scotland no longer has to fear Macbeth. He is inconsiderate of the possible danger his family will be in because Macbeth still rules Scotland and could possibly find out about Macduff's betrayal. Macduff is too ambitious to free Scotland that he does not consider the repercussions that could come from his actions that could affect others. Instead of being the wise man he usually is, his ambition corrupts his morals and makes him inconsiderate of his family's well-being during his absence. Also, his actions lead to the death of his own family and cause his own grief. Macduff finds out that his family is dead because of the orders of Macbeth to murder them, Macduff exclaims, "Sinful Macduff, / They were all struck for thee! naught that I am, / Not for their own demerits, but for mine" (IV. iii. 262-264). Macduff grieves for his family as he blames himself for their murders. Due to the fact that Macduff is inconsiderate of the welfare of his family, he leaves them unprotected in Scotland where Macbeth sends people to murder them. This causes Macduff to fall into his own …show more content…

During the time Macbeth is talking to Lady Macbeth after the banquet, he confesses, “I am in blood / Stepp’d in so far, that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o’er” (III. iv. 167-169). Macbeth is saying that for him, to return to being a good person is pointless. Macbeth is now too ambitious to consider going back to being a good person. He is now uncaring as to the consequences of any evil deeds he does next, corrupting his honorable morals from earlier in the play. In addition, this leads to more violence and the grief of his subjects. In particular, when Macduff and Malcolm are discussing the state of Scotland under Macbeth’s rule, Macduff says, “Hold fast the mortal sword, and like good men / Bestride our down-fall’n birthdom: each new morn / New widows howl, new orphans cry, new sorrows” (IV. iii. 4-6). The people of Scotland are suffering due the fact that Macbeth is uncaring due to the many crimes he is a part of because of his ambition to remain King of Scotland. Many people have died and it is as if the country is crying, which shows the vast grief that Macbeth’s subjects are experiencing. In short, Macbeth's ambition made him into an uncaring person who possesses no morals, and commits violent acts, which leads to the grief of his subject's due to his tyrannical way of

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