The Themes Of Ambition In William 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

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.

In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the theme of guilt and conscience is one of many explored throughout the play. Macbeth, is a well respected Scottish noble who in the beginning of the play is a man everyone looks up to; however as the play progresses he makes a number of bad decisions. Eventually, as a result of his actions he suffers guilt and this plays heavily upon his character until his personality is completely destroyed. Shakespeare uses a range of techniques in order to develop this theme such as, characters, imagery.

Another important theme was guilt. Guilt is a strong emotion. It is a heavy weight to bear if you have any. MacBeth found this out the hard way. When MacBeth and Lady MacBeth kill King Duncan to make the prophecy come true, they set the course for their guilt to send them to insanity for they were so wracked with

The cast of Hamilton: The Musical once sang “ambition is my folly”. This quote, sung by Alexander Hamilton himself, was showing that having too much ambition will lead to your downfall in life. One character that comes to mind when hearing the word, ambition, is Macbeth from the Shakespearean play Macbeth by non other than William Shakespeare. Macbeth follows the story of a former general named Macbeth who goes crazy with greed and power and does anything to remain king, even murder. Although Macbeth's journey to becoming king may seem simple, it was full of not only emotional but physical triumphs. Throughout the book, Macbeth’s ambition is driven by numerous factors including: the prophecy of the witches, Lady Macbeth, and wanting to stay king.

Along with ambition, guilt is another common theme seen throughout Macbeth.  Almost all of the main characters are seen to have some sort of guilt during the course of the play, but two stand out far beyond the rest.  That is Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.  Since they both were in on the conspiracy to kill King Duncan, they both share it as a heavy burden.  They both seem to handle it in different ways however.  Macbeth, being the one who has committed the actual murder or one of his close friends, is immediately shown to be full of regret as he states, "Wake Duncan with thy knocking. I would thou couldst"(2.2.75-76).  Macbeth shows for a short time that he would go back and "wake," or revive King Duncan if he had the chance.  We then see Macbeth start to become somewhat insane, being eaten away by the guilt of this murder.  As for Lady Macbeth, she is guilty for a multitude of reasons.  Along with Macbeth, Lady Macbeth does share the burden of killing King Duncan, but is also burdened by Macbeth 's growing reign of tyranny.  As seen throughout the last few acts, Lady Macbeth is being eaten away by her guilt, feeling that this is all her fault.  Right before the scene where Invernous, Macbeth 's castle, is stormed she her guilt drives her to end it all.  She commits suicide right before Macbeth 's rule comes to a tragic end.  I feel that Shakespeare has used the theme of

Coinciding with the cycle of the tragic hero, Macbeth contains flaws in his character, his most prominent, being his ambition. In Shakespeare's Macbeth the idea of ambition is served as a vice to cause Macbeth’s tragic downfall. Ambition is a dangerous quality that causes those to go against their morals in order to gain power. Macbeth transforms into a self serving tyrant murdering anyone supposedly threatening his position of power or prophesied fate. ‘’I have no spur, To prick the sides of my intent, but only, Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself. And falls on the other.’’ This quote found early on in the play, reveals that Macbeth recognises his ambition as a flaw, yet not one so serious to leads, to his demise. Macbeth’s ambition is strongly influenced by lady Macbeth. “Letting ‘I dare not’ wait upon ‘I would,’ like the poor cat i’ the adage?” This simile expresses Lady Macbeth’s willingness to manipulate her husband to betrayal. She passes her murderous desires to Macbeth, building up his strong nature. Lady Macbeth’s emotive language helps Macbeth’s already present ambition, truly develop into a overpowering force. Foil is again used between Macbeth and Banquo, as well as Duncan and Macduff. Although Banquo, Duncan and Macbeth all aim to be dominant leaders they contrast from Macbeth as they withhold from the urge to let ambition control their decisions. Macbeth lets go of all sort of moral of social recognition allowing ambition to be his leading and most noticeable characteristic. Ambition is the driving element of the play triggering a series of deaths at Macbeth’s expense. He has spiralled so out of control that he is incapable of knowing any other option then to murder repetitively, to cover up his previous treasons. ‘’For mine own good, All causes shall give way. I am in blood, Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o’er.’’ There becomes a time in the play when Macbeth s completely aware of

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.

The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare recounts Macbeth's meteoric rise as a soldier and promising future leader whose megalomaniacal ambition led to his tragic downfall. In addition to Macbeth's ambitions, which initially enable him to be strong leader and soldier, he is influenced heavily by his wife, Lady Macbeth, and the three witches that prophesize his ascent to the throne, as well as warn him of his eventual demise. It can be argued that it is Macbeth's ambition that allows him to succeed in his endeavors, however the goals to which he is working toward influence the results of his hard work. Macbeth's ambitions help him to become a war hero, and as his goals change, his ambitions drive him to become a tyrannical villain.

Macbeth believes in the prophecies that the witches have told him but he knows he will have to act to make the predictions come true. These actions are what cause Macbeth’s true identity to become corrupted and dishonoured. Macbeth talks to himself and mentions, “Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires. The eye wink at the hand. yet let that be, Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see” (I.v.50-53). This conveys that Macbeth realizes he will have to go through various hardships and challenges in order to become king and perform specific tasks that he otherwise would not have. Initially Macbeth is hesitant and doubts if he should execute the murder of Duncan for his own benefit. This hesitancy slowly changes into corruption of his identity as Macbeth allows his ambition to take control of him and his actions. Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth that he has “settled, and bend up each corporal agent to this terrible feat” (I.vii.79-80). This demonstrates that Macbeth has transformed from being a loyal kinsman to the king, to a corrupted individual feeling confident into killing Duncan for his own advantage. Macbeth’s greed to keep power forces him to attempt to intentionally kill Fleance so that the prophecy is not fulfilled. Macbeth orders the murderers, “Fleance, his son, that keeps him company, whose

Macbeth has some remorse to his actions of killing Duncan, knowing it was an immoral decision. His ambition has seized control over his body, actions, and emotions, as a result of aspiring to be in King Duncan’s position. This supports the theme because Macbeth fancies power and control, which brings out his character flaw, ambition, and results in an unbridled deed. Then due to the unacceptable crime he committed, Macbeth is a prisoner of guilt. The ocean will not cleanse him of his sin. Furthermore, Shakespeare also uses a dagger to symbolize Macbeth’s ongoing guilt. Macbeth imagines that there is a dagger in front of him and wonders if it is a “...false creation, /...from [his] heat-oppresséd brain?” (Shakespeare 2.1.38-39). The seed of guilt germinates inside Macbeth when he explains that it is the “bloody business which informs, /[it] to [his] eyes” (Shakespeare 2.1.48-49), clearly stating that his ambition took over and forced him to kill the king. This supports the universal theme because his determination to take over Duncan’s position exploited Macbeth’s emotions and compelled him to execute an action with no moral

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.

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.

First, ambition is found in just about every character in Macbeth. Macduff, Malcolm, Macbeth, and Lady Macbeth all show very obvious signs of ambition. In the first act, Macbeth is ambitious after talking to the Witches. They address him as Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, and last but definitely not least, King. This peaks Macbeth's interest and he begins to think about how he would become King. Thoughts of killing Duncan flood his mind. If it were not for his ambition, I am almost certain he would have never told Lady Macbeth or allowed himself to be convinced to kill Duncan. This quote signifies his ambition perfectly, "The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step / On which I must fall down, or else o'er leap, / For in my way lies. Stars, hide your fires; / Let not light see my black and deep desires. / The eye wink at the hand, yet let that be / Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see." (Mac 1.4.28). Furthermore, Lady Macbeth played a very important role in convincing Macbeth to murder Duncan. After reading a letter sent from Macbeth, Lady Macbeth was determined to become Queen and she was willing to do anything to receive the title, "...Thou'ld'st have, great Glamis, / That which cries, "Thus thou must do," if thou have it, / And that which rather thou dost fear to do, / Than wishest should be undone. Hie thee hither, / That I may pour my spirits in thine ear / And chastise with the valor of my tongue / All that impedes thee from the golden round, / Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem / To have thee crowned withal." (Mac 1.5.30). Additionally, Macduff is ambitious towards the end of the play. After Macbeth kills his whole family, Macduff is extremely determined to get rid of Macbeth once and for all. He joins forces with Malcolm, Siward, and the

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.