Macbeth's Ambition Research Paper

The demanding power of ambition is noted through Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth. Within this play, ambition is portrayed as a corrupting and unquenchable force through the main concepts of mental imbalance, supernatural behaviours and betrayal. The all-consuming desires of Macbeth and their repercussions are vividly enhanced through the use of various expressive literary techniques. Within the play, there are countless references of the supernatural, which often transpired to tragedies. An example such supernatural ambition occurs between the witches; “Fair is foul, and foul is fair.” (Act 1, Scene 1, pg 29). This quote from the opening scene reverses the syntactic structure and symbolizes a reversal in the logical order of the play as well as

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

There are many different themes displayed in Shakespeare's famous play Macbeth. Many of these themes play with nature, the supernatural, and fate. From ghosts to horses eating each other the play uses symbolism, language, and characters to portray these themes. During the play the audience learns of several themes such as ambition, guilt, fate versus free will, nature versus the unnatural, and how things are not always as they seem.

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

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

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

Macbeth’s ambition is powered by the sisters. Through the sisters he learns that he is to be king, he does not know how he is going to become king however. Ambition is the key to his downfall. Before he had this ambition he said that he would never have dreamed of killing the king to become king. The ambition drove him to kill the king, so that he could become then king.

Lady Macbeth is more evil than her husband and is blamed more with the things she did. She is responsible more of the blame in the King Duncan's murder than her husband is.

This angers Macbeth and enables him to follow Lady Macbeth's scheme to kill the King easier. Macbeth's first murder is definitely a trying experience for him. However, as the play progresses, killing seems easy and the only solution to maintain his reign of the people of Scotland. Macbeth becomes increasingly ambitious as the play goes on. The witches prophecies and Lady Macbeth's influence intensifies his ambition and drives Macbeth to obtain and maintain his title of Scotland by whatever means, even murdering his best friend, Banquo. "Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown, ...no son of mine succeeding. If't be so, for Banquo's issue have I filed my mind; For them the gracious Duncan I have murder'd; ...To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings! (Act III. sc.I) At this point Macbeth's passion becomes more and more extreme to the point where no one stands in his way. His greed, violence, and hunger for power drastically declines his character. The witches prophecy, Lady Macbeth's influence, and Macbeth's own ambition all contribute greatly to his deterioration of character which results in his downfall, which was death. All the causes link to one another. If it wasn't for Macbeth's strong will and passion, Macbeth would still be his ordinary self. Because of this, Macbeth's curiosity of possibly becoming king was brought out which led to Lady Macbeth's controlling influence. Macbeth's ambition then builds and causes him to commit a

The three witches happen to be the first characters to be introduced in Macbeth and were one of the main cause of the title character’s evil and unpredicted actions. Shakespeare used the stereotype about witches being ugly and wise women yielding evil powers and described them as the ‘Three Weird Sisters.’ They play the role of informants who convey a message to Macbeth, which eventually caused him to kill King Duncan as well as the Macduff and Banquo’s families. Their key skill, in fact, was to penetrate Macbeth’s troubled subconscious, which already contained a demonic desire for power and the throne. The witches just supplied the simple trigger; they have predicted that he would become the Thane of Cawdor and the King.

    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.

William Shakespeare was one of the greatest authors in history. Shakespeare is a famous author known for his tragedies. Macbeth is a play loosely written about historical people. The play Macbeth was written between 1603 and 1606. Historical Macbeth who the play was written about, lived from 1005-1057. Shakespeare refers to “ If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me.” Macbeth is saying whatever happens will happen. If fate wants Macbeth to be king, no matter what he does, he will become king. Shakespeare’s Macbeth and historical Macbeth have very little similarities. Shakespeare often took real events and used them as inspiration to write his plays. Being that theater is more dramatic than it actually is, he often changed

The historical play Macbeth written by Shakespeare tells a story of a man who succumbs to his ambitious demons and consequently develops a manic-depressive persona. After studying Macbeth and reading various criticisms I can conclude that Macbeth is a slave to his overarching ambition. The ambition was always there but when he encounters the “weird sisters” who tell him half-truths as a prophecy his weak mind choses to believe it and thus begins his journey to his own demise. The critics I will be referencing are John Charles Bucknill (1858), Vassilki Markidou (2003), Bert O. States (1985). Each critic argues that Macbeth’s ambition is ultimately responsible

Macbeth is one of William Shakespeare’s most powerful and emotionally intense plays. Macbeth, once known for his courage and bravery is transformed into a ruthless tyrant. His wife, Lady Macbeth, once known for her strength and great ambition is soon engulfed by guilt and sensitivity greatly weakens her. As the tragic hero Macbeth is overcome by tensions in his criminal act and the reactions by his conscience (Nix).