Jamie Bryenton
Ms.Lukey
EN2D
11/13/2017
Ambition in Macbeth
The act of Ambition can be described as having an eager mindset to obtain what you desire, however Ambition can also be accompanied by negative characteristics such as greed, ruthless power and selfishness.
Such ambition is evident in Shakespeare's Tragedy Of Macbeth, where a Scottish hero by the name of Macbeth receives unbelievable prophecies from three witches who state that he will one day become King. Fueled with ambition Macbeth alongside his wife, Lady Macbeth set out to become the new rulers of Scotland, blindly harming many in the process without sense of morality. Eventually, Lady Macbeth kills herself out of her own guilt and as a consequence for Macbeths crooked actions, he is beaten in a violent battle.
The use of Nemesis throughout the story exemplifies the idea that when somebody acts with a blind ambition, it can often lead to harmful decision making, usually leading to one's downfall.
In the beginning of the play, Macbeth is visited by three witches who prophesies his future, telling him that he will be named Thane of Cawdor, and that he will soon become the King. During this time, Macbeth instantaneously begins to think about killing king duncan, but the thought of doing it scares him. This shows that Macbeth is struggling over his own ambition, as Macbeth states in a Aside: “The supernatural soliciting cannot be I’ll, but cannot be good. If I’ll, why hath it given me earnest of success commencing
Ambition is often the driving force in one’s life. It can have an extremely dominant impact on not only yourself, but also many people in your surroundings. You have the ability to control if the outcomes either have a lasting negative or positive effect. When a goal requires determination and hard work to complete, personal morals often take a back seat to the aspiration of accomplishing the goal. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, it is clear that like many other great leaders, Macbeth exemplifies the necessary leadership virtue of ambition. Macbeth’s ambition does not just drive him to do great things. It in fact controls him. The playwright explores the idea of how an individual’s ambition can cause them to deceive others, make irrational
There are many different themes displayed in Shakespeare's famous play Macbeth. Many of these themes play with nature, the supernatural, and fate. From ghosts to horses eating each other the play uses symbolism, language, and characters to portray these themes. During the play the audience learns of several themes such as ambition, guilt, fate versus free will, nature versus the unnatural, and how things are not always as they seem.
We have all made mistakes in our lives, things we cannot reverse. I personally have never made such a bad mistake its life-changing but we see this happen in MacBeth, a play written by William Shakespeare. It has many themes and insinuates several different messages.
Despite the manipulation from Lady Macbeth, Macbeth is the one who ultimately makes the decision to murder King Duncan in order to become king. When Macbeth is given the title of Thane of Cawdor and the witches’ prophecies come to him, the thoughts of murdering King Duncan to become King emerge in Macbeth’s mind. Macbeth has mixed-feelings about the prophecies and asks himself, “Why do I yield to that suggestion whose horrid image doth unfix my hair, and make my seated heart knock at my ribs, against the use of nature? Present fears are less than horrible imaginings: my thought, whose murder yet is
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.
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
Ambition is a quality within every human, however it sometimes drives people to partake in totally unnatural actions. As illustrated in William Shakespeare's Macbeth, some forms of ambition can push people into becoming a person very sinister and evil. The ambition which Macbeth and Lady Macbeth encounter within Shakespeare's play not only drives them to become ruthless killers, but is the cause of the two characters meeting their demise. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth turn away from the honest and gentle people they once were and instead become "the dead butcher and his fiend-like queen." ( V, sc viii, 69)
Many Shakespearian dramas, like Macbeth, are inspired by the ancient Greek notion of tragedy and the fall of man; much of which is powered by one’s lust for greater gains. Correspondingly, the play reveals how ambition creates the capability of deteriorating a man’s morality and world. This is presented through the titular character and his “dearest partner of greatness” (P. 23) and the consequences of their actions.
In Shakespeare’s stage play Macbeth, a husband and wife are blinded by ambition which causes them to commit crimes to achieve power, but in the process they become unhappy and eventually died. Finally achieving their dream of power, did nothing for the couple except make them miserable and discontent with their lives. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s longing to be powerful figures made them engage in evil actions and directly led to their demise, revealing that in the ambitious pursuit of power a person can leave one distraught and disappointed with their achievements and bring about their own downfall.
Ambition, a trait which underlines success, but while unchecked can lead to self or societal corruption. In William Shakespeare’s tragedy, “Macbeth”, a brave general falls into tyranny and paranoia after he acts immorally upon the witches prophecies. Macbeth’s pursuit of long lasting power reveals the consequences of hubris and unchecked ambition, which ultimately leads to the the deterioration of his human nature and the corruption of the kingdom. Through the use of thematic motif, the theme of Macbeth’s unchecked ambition and hubris is examined through his struggle to alter and actuate fate, his haunting hallucinations, and the apparitions.
"Blood will have blood," a famous quote from Shakespeare's Macbeth, means that the blood of the victim will seek out the blood of the murderer; in this case, that is Macbeth. This play is full of many central themes that display the different sides of the characters. Although Macbeth proves to be very power hungry; greed, ambition, and also revenge fuel the individuals in this play, whether it be for the right or wrong reasons.
The beginning of Macbeth’s evil ambition occurs when, in the beginning of the play, Macbeth and a fellow Scottish Thane, Banquo, meet three witches who give them a prophecy. Macbeth’s prophecy was that he would become the Thane of Glamis, the Thane of Cawdor, and the King of Scotland while the witches told Banquo that his sons and grandsons would become kings of Scotland. After hearing this Macbeth says to the witches, “[b]y Sinel’s death I know I am Thane of Glamis;/ But how of Cawdor? The Thane of Cawdor lives,/ A prosperous gentleman; and to be King/ Stands not within the prospect of belief,/ No more than to be Cawdor” (1.3.83-87). Macbeth is very suspicious of the prophecy at first because he does not understand how it could come true. He tries to ask the witches how it could come true because he desires this type of power but they vanish before he can get an answer. Once he becomes the Thane of Cawdor later in the act, he is even more curious how
Ambition is defined as a strong desire to do or achieve something. It has an important role in William Shakespeare’s play the Tragedy of Macbeth.
Everyone has ambitions in their life, such as students who hope of becoming doctors or businessmen. In some cases, people get over ambitious and are forced to work even harder to achieve their goals. However, sometimes people have to do things which are against the law to be able to continue in their pursuit of success, those acts usually tend to land the people in Jail. In the play “Macbeth” written by Shakespeare. The hero Macbeth, has dark ambitions which lead to his untimely and tragic death after he goes from Scotland’s greatest warrior to a tyrant hated by his own soldiers who refuse to fight for him.
In the dark and twisted play Macbeth written by William Shakespear, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth sought for royalty. Their sought for royalty only breaking them in the end. Macbeth the main character, is given too much power. Macbeth being over powered, he tends to gain and uses it in the wrong ways. Through the book we see Macbeth and Lady Macbeth become to overwhelmed with the power they gain and how they gained it. We see them being overwhelmed through the main themes of the story; such as, ambition, guilt, things are not what they seem, and nature versus the unnatural.