Banquo's Ambition In Macbeth

Banquo's purpose in the play is the quintessential foil of Macbeth, both in acting, as well as in meaning. Shakespeare utilizes Banquo in order to create opposite moods to what is the drive of the play, which is Macbeth and his wife plotting, scheming, and murdering, by offering great solid blocks of integrity, passion, and goodness, that slightly descend into questioning. In contrast to Macbeth's ambitious state, his transformation into an immoral form of such a state, and his acting on such, Shakespeare creates Banquo in order to give the reader a feeling for contrasting points in order to augment, and practically create, the play.

Macbeth was a brutal man in war but outside of war he was a cowardly man. Till he meets three witches and they tell him a prophecy. They tell him something that would make any man go crazy with power which leads Macbeth to a fatal end. The witches tell him and his friend Banquo that they will be king but there was one big problem with this prophecy he can never be king because the king is Duncan and Macbeth is no where

Lady Macbeth comes off as one of the most oblique, yet determined characters in the play. She had her mind set on helping her husband conciliate the throne and encourages him to pursue his dreams of being crowned as the king. When his weaknesses appeared she remained firm and made Macbeth’s goals her own ambitions. Things do seem a bit outrageous at that particular moment where Lady Macbeth explains to Macbeth how they should kill King Duncan but it shows not only the true love and devotion for her husband, but how she would stop at nothing until he gets what he wants.

“All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!” Great fear was shown on Macbeth’s face suggesting he was very hesitant toward the idea of him becoming King. However Banquo was much more optimistic about the words of the witch’s, questioning Macbeth, “why do you start and seem to fear things that do sound so fair?” Macbeth is still in

Lady Macbeth is a complex and intriguing character in Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth. She is a difficult character to embody as her personality seems split between two sides, one that is pure evil, sly and conniving in contrast to her softer, vulnerable, weak and feminine side. In the play we see her in these two main ways. The reader may feel a certain animosity towards Lady Macbeth throughout the first few acts as her personality appears more and more distasteful, in spite of this towards the end she has a serious breakdown over the guilt that torments her, even in her sleep, regarding her hand in Duncan’s untimely death.

Ambition is the passion to achieve success, yet there is an irony that comes with the word "passion" originating from a Greek verb meaning to suffer, when ambition is generally supposed to lead others away from suffering. In the case of Richard Nixon, his ambition lead to his suffering: he aspired to have power, continued running after defeats in elections, which made him paranoid of political opponents, which led to the Watergate debacle, which was the beginning of the end of Nixons' presidency. Besides history, there are examples in literature, from the past and present, which occasionally tell the stories of what can become of excessive ambition that becomes uncontrollable passion. " The Tragedy of Macbeth" by William Shakespeare is a drama

Explore the ways in which Browning and Shakespeare present disturbed minds. Macbeth is Shakespeare's most famous tragedy written between 1603 and 1606. It is strongly written with King James I of England's interest in mind, the supernatural. Due to this we are introduced with the idea of the paranormal and witch craft straight away with the three witches. A Jacobean audience would have feared the supernatural.

“Great ambition is the passion of great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principles which direct them.” (Napoleon Bonaparte). Napoleons statement on ambition reflects they good at which drives people to achieve greatness, but touches on how ambition in the wrong direction can lead one to a poor fate.

Shakespeare’s characterization of Macbeth and his consequences reveals his warning about ambitions and its downfalls. Macbeth begins as a noble man who’s ambition ruins him and his true self, leading to his inevitable death. In Act I, Shakespeare presents Macbeth as an accomplished man whose lust for more is fueled by his wife’s ambitions. At this point in the play, Lady Macbeth commonly challenges his masculinity to drive his ambition to kill King Duncan and acclaim the throne of Scotland: “Art thou afeard to be the same in thine own act and valour as thou art desire?” (P. 29). Conversely, by Act III, Macbeth’s ambition is self-driven because of the prophecy making him loses his sense of morality, and become corrupt. One such action is the murder of Banquo, Macbeth’s “noble partner” (P. 17): “Who wear our health but sickly in his life, which his death were prefect” (P. 56). Banquo’s murder serves as the beginning of Macbeth’s crumbling edifice, as for each murder he commits, he falls deeper into the world of deception.

Macbeth, on the one hand, understands the crime of his design, and on the other, only more eager to get the promised witches as soon as possible. Macbeth's ambition turns out to be tight within the bounds of good, although Macbeth understands how to approach the prediction: “If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, without my stir.” (Act I, Scene 3, line 255) But very soon, after giving in to the entreaties of his wife and yielding to his own thirst for power, Macbeth rejects This honest and wise view of your own future. The integrity of the nature of Banquo allows him to calmly, even somewhat skeptical about the prediction.

Julio Villarreal English 4-W Professor Zirulnik January 18, 2015 The Tragedy of Macbeth Macbeth and his wife invite thanes of Scotland to a banquet with means of proving themselves throne-worthy. Much like the ethereal dagger that leads to Duncan's room, the ghost of Banquo appears at the banquet constantly, pushing Macbeth into random fits of rage and despair. Macbeth’s first order of events as a king is this exquisite banquet, a supposed representation of great discipline and benevolence, which becomes a wicked mockery of itself. Instead of Macbeth gathering with his subjects as he would wish, he is thrown off by the bloody apparition of his former ally. Australian filmmaker Justin Kurzel tackles Macbeth in a true-to-the-origin fashion in

All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Cawdor! All hail, Macbeth! that shalt be king hereafter” (1.3.50-53). This

The play begins with three witches providing predictions of Macbeth’s fate. They tell him that he’ll become the Thane of Glamis, and King of Cawdor. They also provide Banquo with information that his descendants will become Kings as well. Though the witches aren’t wrong in their prediction, Macbeth both doubts the witches credibility as well as believes them so much that it dictates

Lady Macbeth is the driving force that encourages Macbeth to overcome his strong sense of guilt and take action on the prophecies. She is plotting for King Duncan’s murder to get the throne of Scotland. She is stronger, ambitious, and greedy than her husband. Lady Macbeth persistently taunts her husband for his lack of courage and challenges Macbeth to commit murder of King Duncan. Specifically, she mocked the masculinity of Macbeth in order to commit the murder. She said “But screw your courage to the sticking-place, And we'll not fail”. In this regard, Lady Macbeth appears to switch characters with Macbeth midway through the play. Although most famous for her cruelty and lines such as "unsex me here," the decline of Lady Macbeth is also of great interest and certainly a mysterious aspect of Macbeth.

After Macbeth and Banquo receive prophecies, the foil characters start to diverge as Banquo’s takes the moral path of goodness while Macbeth takes the immoral path towards his ultimate decline. Banquo and Macbeth have the opportunity to pursue the same path, but because of his unchecked ambition, Macbeth deviates from Banquo's path of good morals. Immediately after the witches tell their prophecies, Banquo’s mindset is wary and rational. He warns Macbeth that, “oftentimes, to win us to our harm, / the instruments of darkness tell us truths...” (1.3.125-126). Banquo is not obsessed with the prophecies and the idea that one day his ancestors will be kings. On the other hand, Macbeth speculates, “Two truths are told, / as happy prologues to the swelling act / of the imperial theme.” (1.3.130-132) Because two of the three prophecies have come true, Macbeth is blinded by his ambition and seems to fantasize about the idea of being king. These contrasting reactions show that Macbeth takes a