Examples Of Ambition In Macbeth

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

Many people who have read William Shakespeare’s Macbeth know that Macbeth is the tragic hero in the play, but there another character stands out as a much greater protagonist. Macbeth is the type of character who turned from a loyal warrior to the king into a violent, tyrannical, and conflicted person as he progressively commits crimes inside the kingdom without anyone’s notice, except for one person, who is Macduff. Macduff doesn’t have any flaws and remains sinless and heroic throughout the play. As Macbeth progressively gains power and prestige in exchange for the lives of his king, his friends, and his countrymen, Macduff meanwhile goes through great personal loss in his attempts to stop Macbeth’s tyrannical ruling and to restore justice and freedom to Scotland. It is ironic how Macduff acts so much more nobly than his king. Throughout the tragic events that have occurred in the play, Macduff serves as a heroic figure through his demonstrations of intelligence, loyalty, and righteousness.

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

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

Macduff talks to the land of Scotland about Macbeth. He talks about how he should build himself up because the good people are afraid to stand up to Macbeth. He also says Macbeth should enjoy everything he has stolen because his title is safe. What he is saying is the people of Scotland are scared of him and don't want to stand up to him. Macduff knows Macbeth doesn't deserve the crown he wears on his head. Macbeth is a cruel ruler to the country of Scotland. Macduff uses his frustration about Macbeth getting the crown as a technique to get Malcolm to help fight.

Everything Macduff does shows his loyalty towards Scotland and its Kings. The biggest thing was Macduff going to England to get Malcolm to come back and claim his throne. Where someone less worthy is sitting and destroying Scotland. When Duncan was the King the country was very prosperous and they were winning wars. In Macbeth’s rule, many people were dying and there was a lot of poverty and he was killing his opposition. Like Banquo who was supposed to be the father of Kings but Macbeth gets him killed to secure kingship. Macduff does leave his family behind in Scotland which is slaughtered by Macbeth. He gets Macduff's wife and children killed in his leave, to get rid of potential threats to his throne. Macduff puts his country before his family, to help with the greater cause. This shows his loyalty and devotion toward Scotland. When he meets Malcolm, Macduff gets tested for his loyalty. Where Malcolm says he is very greedy and would be a terrible king. Hearing Malcolm says things like that Macduff cries for Scotland, after him doing that Malcolm trusts Macduff. They both join forces and get assistance from Siward and King Edward, to fight against the tyrant. Macduff shows his loyalty to Malcolm and his care for Scotland and its subjects. They both prepare to take back the throne to save their country.

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

Macbeth’s tragic flaw is his ambition. Macbeth’s ambition spurs his rise to power when the witches tell him that he would become the king of Scotland. This prophecy leads Macbeth to kill King Duncan in order to become the king. The murder of King Duncan Textual evidence that supports this is “All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter!” (Macbeth 1.3.49-50).

Ambitions can drive you crazy. Usually when ambitions get out of control they need limits. They can grow stronger. For example Macbeth shows ambition on which after a while grows drastically. In Tragedy of Macbeth, William Shakespeare expresses wrong doing, immoral behavior and ambition.

Ambition is Macbeth’s biggest characteristic because he is determined getting to the throne at all costs. To get to the throne Macbeth approved of things he is not proud of, although he himself is not the one who actually does the dirty work, he knew what was happening and did nothing to stop it even though he stopped to think to himself if he really wants to go through with this. Banquo foreshadows what happens to Macbeth “The instruments of darkness will tell us truths”(I.iii.136), into basically saying that power can reveal our true form of self because of the fact that he was talking about Macbeth’s new position as thane of Cawdor. Macbeth first starts to taste ambition as he thinks “If good, why do I [submit] to that suggestion”(I.iv.147),

In times of such insanity, when Macbeth’s counterpart Macduff shows clarity, it proves much more for these characters. Macduff could have chose to let his rage prompt him to absolute chaos, instead he chose to use it to motivate him to bring peace back to the nation. In fact Macduff states “If he scape Heaven forgive him too!” meaning that he may deserve heaven’s mercy, showing a much more logical and forgiving side of him, in a time in which he could have chosen a different path. When compared side by side Macduff and Macbeth are placed in very similar positions of power and opportunities, Macbeth sees this opportunity as his only end goal, one in which he will do anything to reach it.

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.

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