Deception, Seduction and Ambition in Shakespeare's Macbeth

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

Deception is defined as “the act of tricking someone by telling them something that is not true”. In the play, Macbeth by William Shakespeare, deception is always present and things are not always what they appear to be. In this great work of literature, the three witches; the Thane of Cawdor; and Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are the very embodiments of trickery and show us the true effects deception can have on man.

Shakespeare's tragedy, Macbeth, is a play that transcends time due to its timeless and universal themes. The themes presented in this play are just as relevant to modern audiences as they would have been to contemporary Elizabethan audiences. The play has been able to maintain its textual integrity, withstanding the fact that it is now performed out of its original context to remain a successful play for modern audiences. The issues of heroism, abuse of power and the deceptiveness of appearances are all key within the play, conveyed through the use of dramatic and literary techniques, are issues which still resonate with contemporary audiences. Shakespeare has tested the parameters of the conventional tragedy that was extremely popular during his lifetime and in doing so has created text, which is still relevant today.

Deception and Betrayal in William Shakespeare's Macbeth The play ‘Macbeth” written by William Shakespeare” not only shows us how betrayal and deception undermines society but how it restores the moral law and society back to the way it was before the Thane of Cawdor and the tyrant Macbeth brought about the destruction in the first place. the play Macbeth also featured two changes to the throne of Scotland, both as a result of betrayal, deception, the aid of the weird sisters and the death of kings, the fate of Scotland changed for better and for worse.

In the play Macbeth you have deception left and right, especially when things start to get to Macbeth’s head and he wants everything he was told he will be sometime in his future. In this play it’s hard to know who you can and cannot trust due to how many lies there are and how often people manipulate others. How can you trust someone that was completely sane at the beginning of the play that turns into a psycho just because he wanted to become king and make the prophecies true. Or even someone that was ranked second in the land to become a traitor and then get punished by death. The theme of deception in Macbeth is pretty much the whole story but most of it all goes down in the first two acts of the play, which really explains everything and who you can or cannot trust, along with knowing who won’t turn around and stab them in the back and become a traitor.

Ambition is an admirable trait that enabled famous writers and scholars to attain an unbelievable greatness. However, highly ambitious people often end up failing because they are unable to fill up an insatiable hole of greed that leads them to constant frustration and dissatisfaction. Just as an excessive ambition can start with malice, it can end in anguish and despair. In the play, Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, the main protagonist, Macbeth, and his wife, Lady Macbeth, demonstrate an ambition that has an exacerbating impact on them that slowly leads to the self-destruction and obliteration of people around. After Lady Macbeth clouded Macbeth’s mind, Macbeth killed a benevolent king Duncan. But even with crown and power, Macbeth spend his life in fear and anxiety, until the weight of the ambition was relieved by his downfall. Through Macbeth’s character, Shakespeare shows that the extreme ambition that was emerged out of ferocious passion could devour an individual’s moral goodness, which in turn would carve the path directly to the total misery. Possessing such ambition makes the individual live in a self-imposed fretfulness and expose the closest people under consequential threats.

In Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”, destruction is wrought when ambition goes rampant by moral constraints. “Macbeth” amplifies the fight amidst good vs evil, analyzing the psychological effects of King Duncan's murder. This tragedy concerned the plunge of a great man (King) from his position of nobility to humility on behalf of his ambitious pride. This pride causes the downfall of Macbeth that triggers a series of deaths down the line. Ambition is the driving force of the play.

‘Macbeth’ is a play in which a Lord and his Lady come into supreme power through acts of injustice and despicable inhumanities. In the play Macbeth there is no main focal theme that overrules the others; the play however has several underlying themes, namely there are important themes i.e. good and evil (like ying and yang), greed and power, guilt and conscience, fear, ambition – this leads to the murder of other people illustrating to the reader that even the most sane of people can result to character diminishing methods to get what they want. These particular themes are the most prominent and when closely looked at, it can help to understand characters and meanings behind the play. The theme of ambition is very important in this play,

In William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth evil is conveyed in many ways through characters, themes and settings. Many themes are explored in detail contributing hugely to the sense of evil with characters being used along with these themes to create evil within the characters. These themes and characters are shown in different settings at different times consequently affecting the mood and atmosphere of the play.

Throughout Macbeth things are not always as they seem. Deception is always present with Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and the three witches.

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.

    William Shakespeare's tragic play Macbeth presents the fizzled drive of an ambitious husband and wife. This essay is the story of their destructive ambition.

Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s most mystifying plays and is a study of human nature. The theme of appearance versus reality is apparent in Macbeth. It’s filled with numerous, notable, and significant scenes, including when King Duncan visits the Macbeth’s home, Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking scene, and Macbeth’s dagger soliloquy. They provide raw, psychological insight into the character of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, showcasing the differing characteristics between the two characters. A quote that has developed synonym with Macbeth is, “Fair is foul and foul is fair” (1.1.11) which introduces deceptiveness, debut, and one of the most important themes of this tragedy, appearance versus reality. Shakespeare uses numerous characters and situations to emphasize the confusion between appearance and reality, the real and the surreal, the legitimate and the imposturous. Emphasized in these scenes and throughout the play, Shakespeare successfully portrays the misalignment between appearance and reality.

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.

In the play “Macbeth”, William Shakespeare uses belief in the existence and power of witches to create and influence the audience’s understanding of the play. Our initial impression of Macbeth is one of a brave and capable warrior, however once we see his interaction with the three “evil sisters” (Shakespeare, 1996) we realises that his physical audacity is coupled by an intense amount of ambition and self doubt. It is believed that the witches are the motive behind this ambition which eventually leads to his tragedy, however strong diverging arguments are in existence. The intensity of Macbeth’s tragedy is dependent on whether or not the witches are “professed to be able to control the naïve, innocent Macbeth” or whether he is to blame