Macbeth Ambition

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

What is ambition? Ambition is described as eager for success, power or fame. For Macbeth. Ambition was what drove him to become great, it forced him to change his nature towards evil. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth was portrayed as a courageous soldier who fought for his King without mercy. But once the witches planted the seeds of greater things and Lady Macbeth fuelled his ambition, which lead him to become greedy and power hungry.

How can one of such honor, fall into something as evil as the murder of King Duncan?

Macbeth starts to lose his sanity as he plans to kill Duncan. The story begins with three witches giving a prophecy to Macbeth: he will be the Thane of Glamis, the Thane of Cawdor, and King hereafter. Shortly after, Macbeth is named the Thane of Cawdor. He is amazed that the Witches were right, and quickly realizes that in order to fulfill the rest of his prophecy, he must kill the current king, Duncan. Macbeth says to himself, “I am thane of Cawdor. If good, why do I yield to that suggestion Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair … My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, Shakes so my single state of man” (1.3.146-155). Macbeth is frightened by the thought of having to kill Duncan, but he knows that it must be done. Although he has little faith in himself and his abilities, his thoughts and feelings are fairly sane. Lady Macbeth pushes Macbeth to kill Duncan so that he can become the new king; however, Macbeth is too cowardly to do it. After much contemplation, he says that he will not kill Duncan

After hearing the prophecy that he will become king, Macbeth resolves to leave his future up to fate proving his pride and prestige are very important to him. Once he is told of Malcolm being named successor to the throne, Macbeth decides that if he is going to reach his goal he cannot leave it up to luck. Again Macbeth’s resolve to murder Duncan wavers when he leaves the grand banquet to assess his situation and decide whether he wants to proceed. His arguments include wishing to keep his honor and not kill Duncan for Duncan is there ‘in double trust’. Thus, Macbeth is shown to be clinging to his honor. Finally, Macbeth must stand his ground one last time against his wife who uses tact to emasculate Macbeth. In his final attempt to stop the whole ordeal before it can start Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth that he does not want to ‘cast aside’ the honor he has just recently received. Unfortunately, Lady Macbeth will have none of what her husband is saying and so convinces Macbeth to follow through with his plan of murdering King Duncan. Hence, the audience is given the first example of how powerful selfish motives are and how quickly they can spread to others along with cause them to perform unthinkable

Macbeth's terrible murder of the King in order to obtain the crown causes absolute chaos and disturbs the Natural Order, or balance of the universe, and so he is punished for this. By murdering the king, Macbeth causes Duncan's sons to flee Scotland, allowing Macbeth to obtain the throne. This disturbs the Natural Order, as the rightful heir isn't on the throne, and slowly Macbeth pays for his evil deeds through his descent into evil. Macbeth is soon punished for all his cruel and wicked deeds, and his punishment is death by Macduff. Afterwards, the Natural Order is re-established as Duncan's son Malcolm rightfully obtains the throne, but many lives have been lost along the way. For example, after Duncan's murder, his sons fear for their own lives, and flee to other countries. "Let's not consort with them… I'll to England" (2, 3, 131-133). "To Ireland, I. Our separate fortune | Shall keep us both the safer. Where we are, | There's daggers in men's smiles; the nea'er in blood, | The nearer bloody" (2, 3, 134-137). Shakespeare uses a metaphor here ("daggers in men's smiles") to show the fear and distrust felt by Duncan's sons- fear for their lives, distrusting all those around them. Their flight leaves the throne free for Macbeth, who is given the title without question. "The

What is ambition? In the dictionary ambition is defined has “an earnest desire for some type of achievement or distinction, (ex) power, honor, fame, or wealth. The willingness to strive for its attainment”. From this definition I do not even believe that Macbeth really had any ambition of his own. I do not think his ambition was not Macbeth’s greatest weakness but more is gullibility and being able to be swayed into the directions of others. In the story of Macbeth of Macbeths miss fortune is caused by first the prophecy of the witches and secondly of the discouragement of his wife constantly degrading him causing him to prove his self willing and able. Also with the swaying of others making Macbeth feel he needed these

We all believe, the divine order abides with the monarch because God ordained them to lead. This meant that disobeying the monarch, was equal to disobeying God. So, in the night of King Duncan’s murder, it’s no surprise all of nature turned into uproar. The witnesses of that night “say the Earth was feverous and did shake” , while some believed, “within the volume of which (they) have seen strange things, this sore night hath trifled former knowing’s” . My noble lords, without a reasonable doubt, Duncan’s death was the beginning of God’s wrath. However, from everyone’s belief, Macbeth becoming king was destined to restore the divine order, which surprisingly never

In the play, Macbeth is fighting for the king. On his way back from the battlefield he and his companion, Banquo, encounter three witches with a prophecy. The prophecy tells that Macbeth will be thane of Glamis, thane of Cawdor, and king. Macbeth and his wife are having the king king and other people over and while everyone is asleep Macbeth kills the king as he and his wife discussed and blamed it on servants. After Macbeth becomes the king, he does everything in his power to ensure that he stays king, including murdering Banquo and killing Macduff’s family. At the end of the play Macbeth’s self-confidence and ambition leads to him being killed by Macduff.

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.

The witches prophecy leads Macbeth to kill Duncan, seeing as they prophesied that he was to be the new king. Although Macbeth was the one to kill Duncan, he would have never committed such a crime if the witches had not put the ruthless and evil prophecies into his mind. When he kills Duncan, he is regretful, he can

Macbeth subconsciously knows that he may have to kill Duncan in order to pursue the third prophecy, as it is Duncan who is presently king, and the only way for Macbeth to obtain Duncan’s title is if Duncan were to die and lose his title. In this scenario, Macbeth has thoughts of himself being the cause of Duncan’s death, in order to have Duncan’s title passed on to him. Macbeth is soon outraged to discover that Duncan has announced his son Malcolm as the future King of Scotland, Prince of Cumberland, as Malcolm now stands in his way of pursuing the actualization of the third prophecy. When Lady Macbeth receives news of the witches’ three prophecies and the fulfillment of the second prophecy, the enormity of her ambition to make Macbeth become King of Scotland leads her into plotting out the murder of Duncan. When Macbeth hears of Lady Macbeth’s plans to kill Duncan, he is at first unwilling to go through such horrific and drastic measures in order to obtain a royal title. Macbeth gives reasons during his soliloquy as to why he shouldn’t kill Duncan, and then says:

The most interesting aspect of Macbeth’s character is that it is flawed. The audience can identify with his human frailties. Despite the fact that Macbeth commits evil and is drawn to the successes he thinks evil can provide him, one can tell he has goodness in him. Shakespeare reveals Macbeth’s moral development through the use of symbolism in the soliloquys which portray

Macbeth is a very complex character whom reflects man's thirst for power through the drastic changes of his personality; thus being one of the slightest reasons in which make this intriguing character, greatest of all Shakespearean’s well-known works.