Macbeth did have his own ambitious thoughts as shown when after his encounter with the wishes but ultimately it was Lady Macbeth’s greed for power which convinced Macbeth to kill King Duncan. Whilst the beginning of act 1 allowed us as readers to get a glimpse into Lady Macbeth’s ambition and greed for power it isn’t until act 1 scene 7 where we see how far her lust for power really stretches. As shown earlier it was Lady Macbeth who pushed her husband’s ambition to the limit and convinced him to kill the king. Even after Lady Macbeth’s taunts earlier in act 1 scene 7 Macbeth wasn’t one hundred percent convinced the plan would succeed: “If we should fail?” (1.7.58) . Lady Macbeth however is hell bent on killing the king and attaining power
Lady Macbeth is a very complex character; she has a way to manipulate people in order to come to hold whatever she wants. The play starts off with Macbeth hearing his future by three witches, and he proceeds to write a letter to Lady Macbeth telling her what the three witches have told him. Upon reading this letter, Lady Macbeth immediately starts thinking about killing King Duncan so that Macbeth may become king. “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be what thou art is promise. Yet I do fear thy nature. It is too full o’ the milk of human kindness o
Greed and ambition are traits that everyone has. Depending on how much of that greed and ambition the person has will determine their outcome. Greed is the intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food and ambition is a strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work. Ambition can be seen as a good thing when used toward good goals. For example, a student being ambitious to get an A-plus on a test. Greed is intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food, therefore, when combined with ambition, it can lead toward evil personalities. Which is displayed in the play “Macbeth” in Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, their desire to kill Duncan and become king and queen. However, their plan quickly unraveled and lead to Macbeth’s downfall. The person that was responsible for Macbeth’s downfall was Macbeth himself due to his inability to say “no” to Lady Macbeth and……...
A large part of William Shakespeare’s genius is attributed to his talent in examining human nature through his works. By weaving certain themes throughout his plays and poems, Shakespeare indirectly projected messages about the inherent fallacies of mankind. Such is the case with Macbeth. As classic literature goes, there are numerous themes found throughout the script. One of the most prevalent (if not the most prevalent) themes is that of blind ambition. It’s justifiable to say that blind ambition is the driving force of the plot. Nearly every major event in Macbeth was instigated, or, at the very least, influenced by various characters’ ambitious tendencies. The characters’ decisions, their influence over other characters, and moral degradation all exemplified the effect that blind ambition had.
The story of Macbeth is about Macbeth's ambitions for power, and how he will do anything to obtain that power. With the help of his wife and a prophecy, given to him by the witches, he has become an evil monster capable of committing hideous acts. Do his ambitions for becoming king make him evil, or is it his actions in pursuit of that power? Macbeth explains his actions by saying, "Fair is foul, and foul is fair." -(Macbeth, Act I, Scene I), he is expressing his confusion about whether his actions are good or evil. His ambition for becoming king runs deep, and he knows that murdering is wrong. Yet, he is willing to set aside all of his beliefs and morals to reach his goal. He describes himself and his dark ambitions by saying: "The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step on ... which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, for in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black
In Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, Lady Macbeth is the most ambitious because she will deceive the king by acting innocent, changing her characteristics to become more manly to get what she wants, and persuading Macbeth to kill the king so that she can become Queen. In the first aspect of her plan she says, “Look like the’ innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t.” (Macbeth 56-58). This reveals the ambition in her plan to commit the act of killing to achieve the status of being Queen she eagerly awaits. The innocence being of her actions hide the evil she has planned to unfold when the time is proper. It shows her initiative to get what she wants by acting one way but executing another. Another aspect of her plan is when she says, “Unsex
One of the main themes in 'Macbeth' was ambition. Shakespeare wanted to show how an unchecked ambition such as that of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's can be a destructive force. While teaching positive values that can easily impact the whole of humanity. Even though Macbeth started out as a noble and honorable man, the idea of being powerful and the idea of sitting on a throne corrupted his sole. He gives up everything he had and surrenders to the need to get what he wants. Though, even once he had secured the crown and has indeed become King of Scotland, it is not enough. He becomes paranoid with his guilt but continues to kill innocent people that he perceives as a threat to his kingship such as his best friend Banquo. Macbeth's greed is generally addressed negatively and has a great impact on him as it turns into his downfall. It is clear that Shakespeare's characters are very much like you and me, regardless that they are kings, queens or noblemen and women, we students can relate to them. "I have no spur/ To prick the sides of my intent, but only/ Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself And falls on the other." (Act 1, scene 7) Macbeth is being honest with himself, admitting there's no good reason to kill Duncan, as Duncan is a perfectly good king. To relate this to today's world, business men/women, workers and politicians who have started from the bottom and have created a life for themselves were ambitious at the
In William Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, both Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth, are driven by ambition to fulfill their deepest desires. In the seventh scene of Act One, Macbeth was debating whether or not to murder King Duncan. By killing the King, Macbeth would become next in line for the throne and have rule of all of Scotland. Macbeth said aloud to himself, “I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself and falls on th' other.” (37) In this line, Macbeth is telling himself that the only thing motivating himself is ambition, which makes people rush ahead of themselves toward disaster. The literary device Shakespeare uses in this line is personification. Ambition is a strong desire or
In Macbeth, William Shakespeare writes about a lad whose life starts going downhill after he meets three sister witches on a deserted moor who can predict the future. Macbeth is a thane in Scotland who has supported and fought for King Duncan. The kinds rewards Macbeth with a new title, Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth, are disappointed that Macbeth has not been crowned King of Scotland and plan to murder Duncan due to his unsettling decision to crown his own son, Malcolm, king, instead of Macbeth. After killing the king, Macbeth is filled with the ambition to kill many other people, to assure himself that he will not be crowned king. Obviously, killing people is not the best solution to any problem one may have, so murderous
In Act IV of the play, “Macbeth,” William Shakespeare writes about the ambitions of men and the trust given to others. Shakespeare begins the play in Scotland, where Macbeth is worried about the future of his rule, while in England Macduff is trying to persuade the late king’s son, Malcolm, to fight back against Macbeth. The first complication is that Macbeth is worried about his future rule as king, so he decides to pay a visit to the witches who offer him their advice. When the witches reveal that Macbeth has nothing to worry about, he is relieved, however he decides to take extra precautions and wants to kill anyone that stands in his way, which in turn, shows the ambition and strive that Macbeth has. He later finds out that Macduff, has
In the famous Shakespeare play Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and her husband planned out the murder of Duncan, the King of Scotland, so that they would be the king and queen. She desired power and was very manipulative of her husband in order to fulfill her needs. Lady Macbeth is a strong-willed, ambitious, and ruthless character. Lady Macbeth’s ambition and willpower drove her to work with her husband to kill the king of Scotland. She knew she would not be able to kill the king on her own and she needed to push Macbeth to do the dirty work: “We fail? /
lady Macbeth becomes too ambitious and that causes her to want to be less woman like. for example this is seen when lady Macbeth says "unsex me here". this implies that lady Macbeth is a typical wife of lord Macbeth but cannot achieve being a queen if she is too woman like. the verb "unsex" is an imperative verb as lady Macbeth is commanding the spirits. this makes the reader feel that women are weak because lady Macbeth wants to be less feminine.
In the play The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare, many characters helped with the murder of King Duncan and Banquo. However, one can see that Lady Macbeth is the leader in the play. There are many times that clearly demonstrate that Lady Macbeth is indeed the main culprit. Macbeth has many moments where he second guesses himself and is afraid to follow up with his plans. He also acts overly nice and compared to Lady Macbeth seems scared.
The character Macbeth from the play Macbeth is a victim of unbridled ambition by making him slowly turn into the villain of the play. This essay will explain with three different examples of how Macbeth turns into the villain of the play. Macbeth’s victims of his unbridled ambition include King Duncan, Banquo and Macduff’s family.
Macbeth is a Tragic Play written in 1606 by a well-known writer William Shakespeare. This play revolves around Macbeth’s quest of becoming the king of Scotland in which Lady Macbeth is also equally involved. As there are many themes in Macbeth from which one of the major themes in this play is Ambition on which the complete play is built up, In Act 1 scene 2 captain brief’s Duncan about the Battlefield, how Macbeth chopped Macdonald’s head on the Battlefield and how Macbeth Defeated Norwegian Army and won the battle, this was Macbeths first Impression In the Play as a Brave soldier who can do whatever needed to defend his country. Later in Act 1 Scene 5, Lady Macbeth enters while reading a letter written by Macbeth, as she reads the letter
Macbeth was not the only one who took part in his gain for power, Lady Macbeth was a big part as well. Lady Macbeth pushed her husband toward murder when she heard the witches prophecy. She called him a woman and made him feel like he was inferior. She even placed daggers where he could find them to make the task of killing King Duncan easier. When she laid the daggers she exclaimed “I laid their daggers ready;/ He could not miss ‘em. Had he not resembled/ my father as he slept, I had done’t” (Shakespeare II.ii.11-13). The only reason she didn’t kill King Duncan herself was because he looked like her father as he slept.