Lady Macbeth's Ambition Essay

Timothy Leary once said, "Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition" (Peters 175). But is this true in the case of the classic play Macbeth? In Macbeth it seems to be, that Macbeth the protagonist of the play is influence by Lady Macbeth's ambition. Could this be an exception or was Lady Macbeth lying when she ask to be equal to a man so she could commit the murder (1.5.33.45-61). To understand one must look deeply into the plot and many themes of Macbeth. William Shakespeare uses ambition among other things to imply may different ideas. Thus, Macbeth's downfall is a direct cause of Lady Macbeth's goading and ambition.

The point of this essay is to persuade the reader that Lady Macbeth did have a major influence over her husband, Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is one of the most manipulative, and probably the most frightening female character that William Shakespeare ever created. Lady Macbeth is Macbeth’s wife, she has a pivotal role in Macbeth’s self destruction. Macbeth was just a “victim” of a very persuasive character, Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth stands out so much in this play because during this time period women were not treated as equal to men. Women were only seen as the child-bearers or the pretty ones, not someone who was seen as dominant or powerful.

The play Macbeth written by William Shakespeare is based upon old Scotland and this is used as the general time frame. During this time, Monarchy still existed and Scotland is in war with Whales. There are many emotions that arise throughout the play, but the most important of all is ambition. “Ambition is the desire for personal achievement. Ambitious persons seek to be the best at what they choose to do for attainment, power, or superiority” (“Ambition”). The motif of ambition in the play is that being ambitious leaves one blind to certain areas and can drive one insane to reach the intended goal. Numerous characters that showed this trait throughout the play were Banquo, Macduff, Lady Macbeth, and Macbeth.

In play Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is one of William Shakespeare’s most dominant and frightening female characters, known for her ambitious nature. As Macbeth’s wife, her role is significant in his rise and fall from royalty. During Shakespearean times, women were regarded as weak insignificant beings that were there to give birth and look beautiful. They were not thought to be as intelligent or equal to men. Though in Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is the highest influence in Macbeth’s life. Her role was so large; in fact, that she uses her position to gain power, stay strong enough to support her unstable Lord, and fails miserably while their

The Macbeth’s base of all their actions are their strong desire for power, reflected in all the actions they will take in order to claim power. Since they are so power hungry, they bring about many tragic events causing suffering of not only themselves but those around them as well. Macbeth is driven to a homicidal state of mind causing pain/suffering for others. Lady Macbeth is his accomplice in being the mastermind behind all plans.

Macbeth’s wife, Lady Macbeth, was a woman who strived for a leading role in the kingdom and true power who would have done anything to get it. Lady Macbeth had the intention to kill King Duncan and take away the throne by convincing Macbeth to commit scandalous and shameful crimes in the kingdom. Lady Macbeth was a manipulative woman whom no one can trust. However, her relationship with her husband was much different and also much stronger than the relationship

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.

An ambition for power can seem to be true perfection, but one should be careful what they wish for, because that power might be exactly what causes their downfall. In the play Macbeth written by William Shakespeare ambition plays a great role and is also a main theme. Ambition is often the motivating force in one's life. It is supposed to be the motivating factor that drives one towards success. The main character, Macbeth has ambition even though it leads him to his downfall. In contrast, Lady Macbeth pursues her goals with greater determination, yet she is less capable of withstanding the outcome of her actions. She becomes guilty which leads to her death since she becomes mentally ill and commits suicide, leaving Macbeth without any

In Macbeth ambition plays a huge role in character devolvement. Ambition affects four of the major characters. The characters are Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Malcom, and Banquo. The sisters are the source of Ambition. It is as if they control ambition. The ambition the sisters’ control is negative ambition. Ambition is, wanting to have more then you have and wanting it now.

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.

Throughout Shakespeare’s tragedy, Macbeth, it demonstrated that when power is influenced by personal ambition, it leads to downfall and characters start to realize power signifies nothing. Almost every character introduced into this play has used their ambition to try to gain power or has used their power to get where they are right now. Macbeth’s actions were guided by what the witches predicted for him, and when that word went around, Lady Macbeth was controlled by the thought of power too. The thoughts of power created conflicts throughout the book, starting with the murder of King Duncan, all the way to the murder of Macbeth. When actions are used to steal power, it leads to a destructive future.

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.

Macbeth’s ambition develops into a cruel and evil passion after his murder of King Duncan and creates in him a desire to be, the ‘be all and end all’ of Scotland. Prior to murdering the King, Macbeth shows only a slight trend towards evilness. This is trivial compared to Lady Macbeth’s overriding evilness. In plotting to and finally succeeding in convincing Macbeth to kill the King, Lady Macbeth shows a vial evilness. This is first manifest when she appeals to the spirits to,

Macbeth: Theme Macbeth shows the theme as he is ambitious throughout the entire play of Macbeth by William Shakespeare. As the play goes on, Macbeth has murderous thoughts and he becomes over-confident in himself which leads to his downfall. Many of the characters see how Macbeth is acting and they realize that he will soon die. The theme of Macbeth is uncontrolled ambition can lead to destruction of the mind.

    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.