Ambition In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

Ambition is an important aspect in life. It allows people to develop goals and to strive for something that will benefit them such as a position of power or reuniting with a past lover once again. However, becoming obsessively determined on one objective can lead to negative consequences, even death. In the novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the protagonist Jay Gatsby is a wealthy man who is in love with Daisy, a past lover. Gatsby’s main ambition is to gain Daisy’s love back. Therefore, he becomes rich and tries to impress her, but she is now married to another rich man by the name of Tom, which she now loves instead of Gatsby. In Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the protagonist Macbeth a scottish general, receives a prophecy from

three witches that reveals his to him his future as king of Scotland. Driven by his ambition for power, he kills the current king and takes his position. However, he is later avenged and murdered by Macduff, who had his wife and children murdered by Macbeth. In both works, the main characters strive to achieve their own goals and dedicate themselves to getting what they truly desire but their outcomes are negatively impacted by this and lead to some unfortunate events.
To begin with, in The Great Gatsby, Gatsby’s negative outcome is based on his ambition because of how focused he was on obtaining the one thing he wanted the most, Daisy’s love. “He talked a lot about the past, and I gathered that he wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy. His life had been confused and disordered since then, but if he could return to a certain starting place and go over it all slowly, he could find out what that thing was…” (Fitzgerald 110). Gatsby is constantly thinking about the past and the mutual feeling of love he once felt with Daisy. He is troubled by the idea of not having Daisy love’s anymore and is willing to do anything to get it back. However, Daisy is a selfish woman who shares similar traits to her new husband Tom, which she truly loves instead of Gatsby, making them suitable for each other.”There are only the pursued, pursuing, the busy,and the tired.”(Fitzgerald 79). Gatsby is a pursuing, ambitious man who then turns into a tired, hopeless man from being unable to fulfill his desires. His ambition does not impact him in a positive way.
In Macbeth, Macbeth’s negative outcome is mainly based on his egocentric ambition while trying to keep his power as king of Scotland.

One factor that his ambition is driven by is Lady Macbeth’s influence on his actions. “ What beast was’t then, That made you break this enterprise to me? When you durst do it, then you were a man; And to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man. (Shakespeare 1.7.57-58) Lady Macbeth insists that Macbeth kills the current king in order to take his place but Macbeth starts to contemplate whether he really wants to commit the murder. Lady Macbeth steps in to convince him to do it. “I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps

itself
And falls on th’ other.” (Shakespeare 1.7.25-28). Although Macbeth is partially influenced by Lady Macbeth, his personality is the main driving force towards his negative outcome. He is a cold-blooded tyrant.
The protagonists in the two works are criminals and determined men who both possess ambition and strive for success in trying to please, capture, and impress the women in their lives.

Gatsby is trying to gain the attention of Daisy he once had, while Macbeth’s ideal was to convince his wife he is a man of courage and will. "He and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter. That's one of his little stunts. I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and I wasn't far wrong."

Daisy’s husband, Tom, reveals that Gatsby was a bootlegger in an attempt to expose Gatsby’s criminal background to Daisy. However, Gatsby acquired most of his wealth from his criminal activity which was driven by his ambition for Daisy. This is similar to how Macbeth earns his position as king in order to impress Lady Macbeth. “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be

What thou art promised. Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness To catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great, Art not without ambition, but without The illness should attend it.” (Shakespeare 1.5.15-20 ) Lady Macbeth believes that Macbeth can earn the throne but he is “too full o' th' milk of human kindness” which means he is too full of goodness. This influences Macbeth to become the evil, harsh man that Lady Macbeth wishes for in order to impress

her.
To conclude, ambition is an aspect in both The Great Gatsby and Macbeth that greatly influences the protagonist’s outcome. Both protagonists die as a result of their carelessness and obsessive determination in trying to fulfill their desires. Ambition is important because it provides a feeling of optimism, but in many cases ambition can quickly turn into a deep, selfish obsession that only brings trouble.