Ambition In Macbeth

Ambition has changed the way people lived drastically throughout the years, affecting their lives and their decisions. Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Macbeth is a play of how one man’s ambition to do whatever he can to get what he wants . The banquet in Macbeth shows how Lady Macbeth acts throughout the play to obtain her desires at any cost. As Lady Macbeth pushes Macbeth in the play, Macbeth deals with guilt as it continues to torment him and overshadows ambition. In the final stages of the play, it shows how much ambition and guilt has changed throughout the play. The banquet in Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Macbeth, Shakespeare shows how characters dealt with guilt, and how ambition grows as it torments the characters throughout the play.

In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, Macbeth’s descent into madness is a major theme in the story. Throughout the play we witness him try to reach his ambitions, but also witnessing his journey into insanity. What caused this descent? Macbeth had many influences in his life telling him where to go and what to do. His wife, Lady Macbeth told him to chase after his ambitions, and the three witches supposedly prophesied that his ambitions would be reached. Who was responsible for the final outcome of his descent? Lady Macbeth and the three witches were major influences in his descent, but ultimately was Macbeth responsible for his own destruction? To be able to identify who is really responsible for this unfortunate outcome, one must examine each person’s

Ambition has been a driving force of humanity since the beginning of time. Emotions have always had a strong influence on humanity, specifically emotions that tend towards the ruin of others and the gain another. Throughout the history of humanity there have been many examples of people abusing their position of power, to gain something they more than likely did not deserve. Whether it be Hitler and his repulsive ascension to becoming chancellor of Germany, or Kim Jong Un’s obsession with obtaining nuclear weapons at the cost of the people, humanities struggle with greed is unceasing. No one better illustrates this unrelenting thirst for power more than Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Macbeth is a good, brave, and beloved man at the beginning of the play with the end of his latest battle heralding a new title for him. Fate though, seems to have different plans for the good, albeit, ambitious Macbeth. He is told by the 3 weird sisters that he will one day become king. Thus igniting the flame of greed within Macbeth, signaling his descent into madness and the guilt he feels towards the deeds he has done. Lady Macbeth is much the same in the sense that once she knew of Macbeths own ambition, it hatched her own deep seeded desire for the crown as well. However, there various similarities end with the death of Duncan and the way they both deal with the guilt over what they did. In the play Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have similarly great ambition, but this intense avarice in the end leads to their ruin in differing ways.

As a result, she stated the following, “Come you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood.” Through this she begs the spirits to take away any sympathy within in her in order to have the wit, desire, and drive her husband lacked of in order to become royalty. Through Lady Macbeth, Shakespeare shows there’s no such thing as impossible on the way to getting what one wants. In addition to giving up her femininity, Lady Macbeth also sacrifices her morals by convincing her husband to kill the king, when failing to do so; she states, “When you durst do it, then you were a man.” In other words she convinces Macbeth to kill King Duncan, despite knowing what a horrid crime that was. The struggle to go through anything standing in her way caused her to lose herself as well as her sanity. After realizing what she had caused, she began to lose her mind. She would constantly see her hands covered in blood by those who had been murdered along the way. Unable to get rid of the image in her head, led her to eventually commit suicide.

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

‘Macbeth’ is a tragic play written by William Shakespeare in the sixteen hundred, it dramatizes the physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those who seek power through the character of Macbeth. ‘The Pursuit Of Happyness’ likewise is a film directed by Gabriel Muccino who portrays a man named Chris Gardener who through his hard work and dedicated ambition goes from living on the streets to a rich stockbroker. In Macbeth and pursuit of happiness, both authors explore how ambition can…. (thesis). Macbeth's ambition is portrayed in a negative light as it is aimed to gain power and status, however, Chris ambition is pushed by his desire to gain happiness and a better future for him and his son. Similarly, both characters endure toxic spousal relationships that help them to tap into their ambition but it leads to different portrayal of ambition. Macbeth and Chris eventually both face the outcome of their ambition for Macbeth it being his doom where else for Chris it being his success. Shakespeare and Gabriel Muccino explore the theme of ambition through the protagonists of both plays.

In his book On the Sublime and Beautiful, Edmund Burke said, “…God has planted in man a sense of ambition…” (Bartleby.com). Burke contends that a man’s ambition is the passion that drives him toward perfection. Ambition is an innate desire to improvement, but how is the word actually defined? The word ambition means “an ardent desire for status, fame, or power” (Webster 2).

William Shakespeare’s Macbeth focuses on the subject of ambition and its psychological burdens. He makes it clear that Macbeth did commit to his hateful deeds responding to the psychological burden of his sins. A respected Thane, who has shown great loyalty to King Duncan, goes from a vigorous and worthy soldier to a shameless murderer presents himself as Macbeth

Whilst the character of Macbeth is initially portrayed as a noble kinsman, his ambition and motivation, directly influenced by the witches and Lady Macbeth, ultimately transforms him into a corrupt and ruthless tyrant. William Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy “Macbeth” clearly depicts this notion of change, illustrated through Shakespeare's utilisation of literary techniques. The tragic downfall of Macbeth is mainly attributed to Macbeth’s own greed and hubris.

Macbeth is written by William Shakespeare who is not only a playwright but also a poet in the Elizabethan era. Shakespeare wrote Macbeth in 1606 where James the First was king. The king was Scottish as well as catholic; the king was not trusted by the people in the country because of his race and religion. The reason behind the making of Macbeth was to show how society mistreated the monarchy and the people in power often abuse it. Even though Shakespeare was a well-known playwright he still had to be careful of what he written.

I once believed that I would follow the path of chance, yet my ambition is to strong. Those poisonous and devilish thoughts, that dagger which came before me, the handle towards my hand. Why was I so greedy for power, for oppression, at a time and in a place where there was peace?

In the macbeth play written by Shakespeare, a person's personal values and ambitions are clearly show as the play progresses. Shakespeare does a great way of showing how a person's ambitions can intervene with a person's friendships etc. Throughout the play Macbeth is show to be a man of his word and in the beginning of the play it is clear that he is just a man looking to find himself. In the scene when the witches tell Macbeth that he will be king he becomes surprised and intrigued. As anyone would, Macbeth became convinced that the thrown awaited for him but he did not want to wait any longer.

Ambition is a strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work. In Williams Shakespeare 's Macbeth the characters Lady Macbeth and Macbeth have a strong desire to ascend the throne and they are determined to do whatever it takes in order to achieve this goal, including deceiving and killing those they are closest to. The zeal of ambition predominately persuades both characters actions in Macbeth. Lady Macbeth portrays how the forces of ambition strike her to instil a powerful drive in her husband, also how she demonstrates an overweening pride and lack of morals in order to reach a goal and lastly how ambition leads Macbeth to betray those cares about most.

“Big results require big ambition” Herclitus once said. In Macbeth, the play written by the inimitable WIlliam Shakespeare, ambition is a key aspect and component of the main character, and we are introduced to the idea of what drives people to do the unquestionable as a result of ambition. In Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth’s strive for power and unequivocal ambition take responsibility for the profound tragedies that occur. This is shown through Lady Macbeth’s desire for the accumulation of wealth and power, the social normalities and gender roles during this period of time, and ultimately Macbeth’s ambition and pure desire for power.

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.