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Ambition In Macbeth

Decent Essays

The author, William Shakespeare, wrote a play titled, The Tragedy of Macbeth, which took place in Scotland during the 11th century. In the story, the main character, Macbeth, went on a destructive and murderous path to be king. The essential theme of the tragedy is ambition shown throughout the play by Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. To begin with, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth go through various events to show the power of ambition and determination as a crucial theme of the play. For example, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth show characteristics of being blood-thirsty, murderous, and spiteful. The reader can see that Lady Macbeth is more masculine than Macbeth by the way she handles some events throughout the play. When Lady Macbeth receives a letter from Macbeth, she is hesitant that Macbeth will not run the risk of making himself king because he is “th’ milk of human kindness.” (Act 1, Scene 5, Line 15) …show more content…

During Act I, King Duncan is ignorant of Macbeth’s intensions because King Duncan thinks Macbeth is a good person. When Macbeth is visiting the king’s castle, King Duncan praises Macbeth for his loyalty and valor. King Duncan decides he should visit Macbeth’s castle; instead of Macbeth leaving to make sure Duncan will approve, Macbeth stays because of his desires to be king. “Stars, hide your fires/ Let not light see my black and deep desires to be king.” (Act 1, Scene 4, Line 50-1) Lady Macbeth keeps provoking Macbeth to perform his murderous deed of slaying Duncan to gain the title of kingship. During Lady Macbeth’s preparation, the guards were drunk and drugged, with daggers placed by them to make it look like they did the heartless crime Macbeth actually did. Lady Macbeth would have performed Macbeth’s deed, if King Duncan didn’t resemble her own father. (Act 1, Scene 7)All in all, the masculine female, Lady Macbeth had everything in place to get Macbeth to be

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