Ambition is frequently seen as desirable - it provides purpose, motivation to work hard, and a goal to strive towards. Yet it also has a dangerous side, when it becomes too great and out of control. Although ambition is often positive, an excess of it can have detrimental effects. This unrestrained ambition is predominant in the tragedy Macbeth. In this play, Shakespeare employs the use of hallucination, blood, and prophecy motifs to emphasize the theme of ambition, which, when goes unchecked by moral constraints, wreaks destruction upon an individual. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth hallucinate, which propels the consequences of ambition. Blood is shed in the pursuit of ambition, when desire for power overwhelms morality. Ambition is further /Oh, Oh, Oh!” (5.1.46-48) This shows that Lady Macbeth wants to rid herself of guilt, to wipe her hands clean of blood. At the start of the play, Lady Macbeth has an intense desire to become queen and will go to great lengths to become royalty. However, this passionate ambition causes her to conduct wicked deeds, the consequences of which tear her apart from the inside, first by driving her insane, then taking her life. The vision of the dagger encourages the pursuit of ambition, and Lady Macbeth’s suffering demonstrates the deadly results of This is illustrated by the first prophecy from the three witches. The witches reveal to Macbeth that he will be the thane of Cawdor and the future king of Scotland. They say to Macbeth, “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis!/ All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!/ All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!” (1.3.49-51) The prophecy from the three witches influences Macbeth, foreseeing that he will become king of Scotland and removing all doubt from his mind. Macbeth believes in the witches’ prophecies, so he asks them for a second vision. Macbeth asks the witches to reveal possible threats, and the prophecy tells him to beware of
William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a tragedy in which the main characters are obsessed by the desire for power. Macbeth’s aspiration for power blinds him to the ethical implications of his dreadful acts. The more that Shakespeare’s Macbeth represses his murderous feelings, the more he is haunted by them. By analyzing his hallucinations it is possible to trace his deteriorating mental state and the trajectory of his ultimate fall. Throughout the play Macbeth is never satisfied with himself. He feels the need to keep committing crime in order to keep what he wants most: his kingship. The harder Macbeth tries to change his fate the more he tends to run into his fate. His ambition and struggle for power was Macbeth’s tragic flaw in the play. Macbeth’s rise to the throne was brought about by the same external forces that ensure his downfall.
The play identifies how Macbeth faced guilt after he killed his King, “Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible To feeling as to sight? or art thou but A dagger of the mind, a false creation Proceeding from the heat-oppressèd brain? I see thee yet, in form as palpable.” Macbeth is hallucinating a dagger in which was caused by the guilt he feels after killing King Duncan. Macbeth also states, “I’ll go no more.I am afraid to think what I have done. Look on ’t again I dare not…..What hands are here? Ha, they pluck out mine eyes.Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine….” Macbeth’s emotions are everywhere. After he killed King Duncan he immediately regretted it as he explains that no water, not even Neptune’s ocean can wash the blood and guilt off his hands. Macbeth not only faced guilt but he also losses his sanity. Macbeth hallucinates Banquo’s ghost making him scared and on edge, “[to the Ghost]. What man dare, I dare. Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear, The armed rhinoceros, or th’ Hyrcan tiger; Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves Shall never tremble. Or be alive again And dare me to the desert with thy sword. If
In the mind of Lady Macbeth, ambition is represented as the ruling motive, an intense overmastering passion, which is gratified at the expense of every just and generous principle, and every feminine feeling (Moulton 516). Lady Macbeth learns, by letter, of the prophecy made by the Three Witches from her husband. She takes this knowledge to be true. Macbeth will one day be the King of Scotland, but she fears he is too kind and compassionate to kill King Duncan. Then, she makes this famous speech to the gods, “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, stop up th’ access and passage to remorse; that no compunctious visitings of Nature shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between th’ effect and it! Come to my woman’s breasts, and take my milk for gall, you murth’ring ministers, wherever in your sightless substances you wait on Nature’s mischief! Come, thick night, and pall th...
To achieve a goal you need to dream it, set your mind to it, and accomplish it. This explains how Macbeth 's speedy rise to the throne. Macbeth makes quick work of becoming king because he sets his mind to the ambitions he holds, and accomplishes them with Lady Macbeth 's support pushing him. However, sometimes harmless ambitions set in motion a path of negative and harmful actions required to achieve them.
Among the greatest gifts that the renaissance produced was the eloquent and incredible Shakespearean plays. Written mostly in the 1590s these plays have been performed and admired countless times; entertaining mass audiences by providing interesting tales that explore the depth of human insights and the different universal themes. Among the many Shakespearean plays Macbeth, written in 1606, stands out with its short composition but multiple themes. This tragedy narrates the tale of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s quest to grasp ultimate power by ignoring their morals and succumbing to their dark desires, which ultimately leads to their downfall. This tragic play portrays the desires, needs, and temptations that accompany ambition in men and women. However the ambition in Macbeth is blind, it does not abide to the morals, but it allows space for dark actions as means necessary for accomplishment. Blind ambition serves as the main driving force that drives Macbeth to subdue to his dark desires, defy his noble behavior, and ultimately his downfall.
Lady Macbeth is one of the most important factors of Macbeth’s inevitable is downfall. Throughout their time together in the play, Lady Macbeth is portrayed as a goading, emasculating figure to Macbeth pressuring him into things he wouldn’t normally act on. This is highlighted when Macbeth starts to change his mind about the murder, "hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been, so clear in his great office" In contrast, Lady Macbeth shows optimum strength in this scene. She undermines Macbeth and provoking and questioning his manhood. "And live a coward in thine own esteem" this makes the audience infer of Lady Macbeth's corrupt ambition and the extent to which she would go to, in order for her to satisfy her needs. “ look like th’innocent
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 vigorous desire to achieve and willingly attain something holds the capability to greatly affect one's life. William Shakespeare's play Macbeth establishes the immense effect and influence of ambition. After gaining power over his country Scotland, the protagonist, Macbeth, experiences an internal downfall as he battles between his wants and moral judgement. He struggles to maintain stable relationships with others as his selfish desires and goals hurt those around him when achieved. In addition to clashing with himself and others, he is seen as a tyrant leader and is slowly turned against by Scotland's nation as well as England. Shakespeare's play Macbeth provides the reader with a clear understanding of ambition's corrupting power in Shakespeare's tragic character Macbeth, through his inner conflicts, struggle to maintain stable relationships with those surrounding him, and clash with society.
Words are the basic elements of the English written language. With words, one can say precisely what one wants to say, a skill that Shakespeare has mastered. In Macbeth, he carefully chooses each word so as to say exactly what he wants to say, and often leaves these words open to the reader’s interpretation. One such carefully chosen word is the word “slave,” a simple word meaning “someone entirely under the dominion of a person or an influence” (Random House, 674). Although this word appears only four times within the play, it’s importance should not be underestimated. Every time that Shakespeare chooses to use the word “slave” he is using it to show a “slave of ambition,” an important symbol within the play.
Macbeth written by Shakespeare, is a tragic and historical thriller play filled with action-packed murders and the fall of man. The characters are portrayed to have personal ambitions. Shakespeare displayed these ambitions to both be destructive and constructive. Which unchecked ambition has detrimental impacts as shown in the main characters and checked, cautious ambition can help influence and encourage others. Ambition is an overarching theme found common in the play and could also be shown for the sake of justice and a positive characteristic. These ambitions were either presented as fatal flaws shown
...rn day society, illusive ambitions can be incredibly detrimental, just as they are demonstrated to be in Macbeth. Ambitions, if they are untamed, can be an impediment to free will; they can overpower your good conscience, possibly leading you into causing death and destruction. They can also corrupt one’s mental health, while practically morphing that person’s perception of reality into something demonstrably wrong and twisted. Finally, they can boost ones ego to a point where that person is engulfed and imprisoned in the vehemence of their own denial, which can ultimately bear fatal consequences. If one’s hopes and desires are innately destructive, then it logically follows that that one’s ambition is also innately destructive; be wary of one with an immense ambition.
Political ambition undermines man’s loyalty. In the play, Macbeth decides to kill his king because of his ambition for position. At the beginning of the play, he portrays himself as a noble person. He fights in the battle against Norway and proves his loyalty; however, as soon as the witches prophesize that Macbeth “shall be king hereafter'; (1.3.53), he is not longer trustworthy. Ambition for power starts creeping into his head. After Macbeth’s internal conflict over whether or not to kill Duncan, he decides to do it quickly (1.7.3) in order to hasten the predictions. He decides to kill the king because he wants to extend his power all over the country by becoming the new monarch. He desires to be more wealthy and respected by the nobility as well as by the common people. Becoming king represents the highest rang in the political pyramid. The act of murdering is the only way to make his dreams come true because Duncan’s fair and prosperous rule over Scotland experience the support of the whole population. As Malcom and Donalbain fly to England, he automatically takes possession of the throne. Macbeth displays political ambition first of all because of his wife. After she reads her husband’s letter about his meeting with the witches, she suggests for Macbeth to kill Duncan so she could be queen. At the beginning Macbeth hesitates to talk about such a thing and even lists the reason not to kill: he is his king, his uncle and his guest. Not completely sure about it and victim of his own desires for power he finally accepts Lady Macbeth’s plan for murdering the ruler of Scotland. This decision portrays Macbeth’s dirty morality and easily manageable personality.
Lady Macbeth and the witches have both planted the seed of ambition inside of Macbeth Because of Lady Macbeth’s wicked behavior, which resulted in Macbeth’s evil transition; he was led to become a murderer. Macbeth should not be held accountable for his actions completely since she is the one who lead him towards committing both crimes. The major theme ambition and greed for power have played a key part in Macbeth’s fall from a great Scottish general to a murderer. People should be content on what they have and not strive for things which destroy a person even if we are influenced. In this case Shakespeare’s thought proving play of Macbeth.
In conclusion, Macbeth directly focuses on the universal and powerful themes of ambition and insanity. These themes are considered most confronting for audiences due to their unanimous relevance. Throughout the play audiences are encouraged to see that ambition should only be achieved through ability or good fortune, otherwise it will be the cause of disaster; in this case the cost of ambition was life.
shadow … It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury