Societal Effects on the Macbeths Ambitions cloud the heads of those who then become irrational

Alongside his wife’s fiendish greed is how influenceable Macbeth truly was, dooming him from the very start. His morals change rapidly throughout the play, starting as a heroic soldier and ending as a treasonous tyrant. Swayed easily by the witches and his wife, Macbeth’s desperation to prove himself and control his fate transform into a numbing sense of entitlement. Macbeth becomes blind to his arrogance- and the subsequent consequences. When Macbeth first spoke to the witches, he is horrified by violent thoughts and vows that “if chance have me king, why, chance may crown me without my stir”, intending to let whatever happens to happen. Instead, after speaking to his wife Macbeth decides to take fate into his own hands, killing King Duncan and launching himself towards madness. Perhaps with a stronger sense of self Macbeth would have stood up to his wife, or realized taking advice from witches was unwise. Ironically Macbeth only starts making his OWN decisions out of paranoia of losing the throne, a situation he would not have been put in should he have made wiser decisions from the very beginning. In the same token, after getting a taste of power both Macbeth and his wife are

Lady Macbeth states, “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be what thou art promised. Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full of the milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great, art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it” (1.5.16-21). Lady Macbeth depicts her husband as being ambitious, but he is also too kind to murder Duncan and take the throne for himself. She also says, “Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe topful of direst cruelty…”(1.5.41-44). In this quote Lady Macbeth is praying to the spirits to literally deprive her from her femininity because she desires to take the initiative in seizing power for her husband. Another example of reversed gender roles is when Lady Macbeth says, “O,proper stuff! This is the very painting of your fear. This is the air-drawn dagger which you said led you to Duncan. O, these flaws and starts, impostors to true fear, would well become a woman’s story at a winter’s fire, authorized by her grandam.Shame itself!”(3.4.62-67). In this quote Lady Macbeth yet again takes on the dominant role in a relationship and tells Macbeth that he is yet again hallucinating just like he did with the floating dagger that led him to Duncan and he is also acting like a woman. This quote further connects to the thesis in which the roles of the Lady Macbeth and Macbeth is reversed in

Macbeth wants to hold back his ambitions of taking over the crown by murdering the king due to Duncan’s kindness and the honor he has received recently from the king. However, Lady Macbeth wants her husband to be more brave and ambitious in order to take over the crown by mocking his perceived weakness.

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

William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a tragedy in which the main characters are obsessed by the desire for power. Macbeth’s aspiration for power blinds him to the ethical implications of his dreadful acts. The more that Shakespeare’s Macbeth represses his murderous feelings, the more he is haunted by them. By analyzing his hallucinations it is possible to trace his deteriorating mental state and the trajectory of his ultimate fall. Throughout the play Macbeth is never satisfied with himself. He feels the need to keep committing crime in order to keep what he wants most: his kingship. The harder Macbeth tries to change his fate the more he tends to run into his fate. His ambition and struggle for power was Macbeth’s tragic flaw in the play.

After hearing the prophecy that he will become king, Macbeth resolves to leave his future up to fate proving his pride and prestige are very important to him. Once he is told of Malcolm being named successor to the throne, Macbeth decides that if he is going to reach his goal he cannot leave it up to luck. Again Macbeth’s resolve to murder Duncan wavers when he leaves the grand banquet to assess his situation and decide whether he wants to proceed. His arguments include wishing to keep his honor and not kill Duncan for Duncan is there ‘in double trust’. Thus, Macbeth is shown to be clinging to his honor. Finally, Macbeth must stand his ground one last time against his wife who uses tact to emasculate Macbeth. In his final attempt to stop the whole ordeal before it can start Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth that he does not want to ‘cast aside’ the honor he has just recently received. Unfortunately, Lady Macbeth will have none of what her husband is saying and so convinces Macbeth to follow through with his plan of murdering King Duncan. Hence, the audience is given the first example of how powerful selfish motives are and how quickly they can spread to others along with cause them to perform unthinkable

After the prophecies were put forward to Macbeth stating that he would one day have the "golden round" upon his head, Macbeth became paranoid and power hungry. He could not get the idea of being the king out of his head and he had no remorse as he killed many men with a passion, in order to climb the social hierarchy. Each death marked another step closer to Kingship. It is fair to say that Macbeths habits lived by the witches philosophy of life, "fair is foul, and foul is fair", because each time "the devil speaks true", the more ambitious Macbeth becomes. Lady Macbeth is a strong influence on Macbeths ambitions as she manipulates him about his masculinity and bravery, "when you durst do it then you were a man". She questions his courage and manliness as she wielded enormous influence upon his mind, leading him to take drastic actions to prove his worth. Macbeth rises to his ladies challenge and takes "foul" and unjust actions in doing so. He orders the murder of anyone who threatened his position, alike Macduff and his family, and even took extraordinary measures of killing his best friend in order to protect the throne. Ultimately, Macbeth's ambitions increase after he comes across the witches and their prophecies. Lady Macbeth employed self-doubt upon Macbeth by implying he was

Instead of feminine guilt, Macbeth manifests ambition and ruthlessness, traits formerly considered to be masculine. Denoting this ruthlessness is his willingness to slay former friend Banquo, and Macduff’s innocent family. Macbeth’s will to act is conveyed when he plans Banquo’s murder himself, and insists Lady Macbeth, “be innocent of the knowledge...till thou applaud the deed”. (3.3.51-52) Both processes show the male imperative of will and action, which differs from his initial “we will proceed no further” stance (1.7.34). This highlights how as Macbeth has gained power; he has firmly situated himself within the realm of masculinity and is no longer susceptible to his wife’s influence. However, Macbeth later faces an untimely death at the hands of Macduff. The audience perceives this as ‘punishment’ for initially allowing his wife to fulfil the dominant role of the

Macbeth’s ambitious ways takes over his whole inner self throughout his time of first wanting to be king. Macbeth was thought to be a great leader and war hero before he was king. Macbeth was hatched an idea by three suspicious witches in whom he had never come in contact with before. They told him that he would one day become King of Scotland. After the witches disappeared, he got to think a lot about what they told him and pondered the words they spoke. Macbeth sends a letter to his wife about his feelings of what he had heard. When Macbeth returned back to his castle his wife wanted to lead him down a dark path and feed his ambition. Macbeth decides he wants to go after the crown after consulting his wife. "I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself, and falls on th'other...." (Act I, scene vii) This shows that Macbeth’s only reason to kill Duncan is for his ambition. Macbeth ends up killing Duncan. The way Macbeth killed Duncan made it a great crime scene. Macbeth still

As the play continues, in the acts three and four the gender roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth make a big switch when Macbeth is planning on the killing of Banquo. Macbeth beings to act more masculine before this murder and in a sense leaves his lady out of what is going on this time, instead of her taking charge like before, Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, Till thou applaud the deed. Come, seeling night, Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day; And with thy bloody and invisible hand Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond Which keeps me pale! Light thickens; and the crow Makes wing to the rooky wood: Good things of day begin to droop and drowse; While night's black agents to their preys do rouse Thou marvell'st at my words: but hold thee still; Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill. So, prithee, go with me. (3.2, ).” As of now, Macbeth is portraying the actions of what society believes a man should act like. He is now telling her that he has a plan to kill Banquo but he is not going to tell her the details, he wants her not to worry because he believes he has everything under control. Macbeth is trying to be what it takes to be a man but when a person is power hungry they always seem to fail.

Upon this realization, Lady Macbeth indicates a newfound desire to be rid of her feminine qualities, seeking instead to replace them with masculine counterparts. Crying out, Lady Macbeth declares, “Come, you spirits. That tend on mortal thought! Unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top full of direst cruelty” (1. 5. 38-41). Her abstinence towards the limitations of gender thus set her down the road to madness.

Macbeth is one of William Shakespeare’s most powerful and emotionally intense plays. Macbeth, once known for his courage and bravery is transformed into a ruthless tyrant. His wife, Lady Macbeth, once known for her strength and great ambition is soon engulfed by guilt and sensitivity greatly weakens her. As the tragic hero Macbeth is overcome by tensions in his criminal act and the reactions by his conscience (Nix).

The Human Nature of an individual is the leading force of choice, where a right or wrong path is chosen. This can ultimately be influenced by personal ambitions and moral decisions which could cause conflict due to the excessiveness of power. This is explored through the play Macbeth, where Shakespeare portrays the downfall of characters through complex representations of human nature, discovered through the plot of play. The concepts of power and ambition causing a destruction to the greater chain of being is a constant reflection of their downfall and the lead up to guilt which consequently has an eternal effect on the rest of their lives, leading to their destructive ends. The subversion of gender roles in the Macbeth family are seen through the character construction of both characters, typically for Lady Macbeth as her characteristics converse heavily with women during the Elizabethan period. Shakespeare continually uses the motif of blood, to represent the concept of guilt, in order to preview the complexity of the Macbeth family’s character.

Later in the play, when Macbeth is troubled by the presence of the ghost of Banquo at his palace, Lady Macbeth again uses insults to try to control his actions in front of the guests with the harsh words, "Are you a man?"(3.4.59). "What! quite unmanned in folly?"(3.7.74). Lady Macbeth seems to feed off the power she obtains over her husband by attacking his character, and she uses this to build up her own confidence.

Lady Macbeth wants the spirits to “unsex [her] here” not because she wants to be transformed into a man, but rather she desires the same male characteristics as her husband which are associated with violence. Alfar claims, “If she does indeed transgress her gender to become more manly, therefore, it is because she must do so to reflect—as conduct manuals demand—the bloody desire of her husband (181).