How Does Shakespeare Present Ambition In Macbeth

In the play Macbeth  written by William Shakespeare, there is a deep relation to ambition. Macbeth's ambition started after the witches told him that he was going to be king after Duncan died, so then Macbeth and Lady Macbeth just decided to kill Duncan. After this first murder he then decided that he would do anything to keep his crown, since he was so hungry for power. Guilt soon got the best of him which then led to his demise.

Macbeth was not always the ambitious person that he became. Without the help of Lady Macbeth, Macbeth would have never killed Duncan and would have never became the king of Cawdor until Duncan died of a natural death. “But screw your courage to the sticking place and we’ll not fail.” (1.7.70) Lady Macbeth is telling Macbeth the plan and telling him that he plan will not fail. She is the one who came up with the plan, therefore she is the ambitious one now,

but soon Macbeth will turn more ambitious than she. Without Lady Macbeth, Macbeth would have never killed Duncan and would have never became ambitious in the first place. Lady Macbeth however was not the only one to tell Macbeth to kill Duncan. The three witches told Macbeth “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!” (1.3.52) This put in Macbeth's head that he was supposed to be the Thane of Cawdor. Since he heard this witches tell him this prophecy he didn’t think that killing Duncan was wrong because he was supposed to be the Thane of Cawdor, not Duncan. This two things eventually lead to the ambition of Macbeth to kill Duncan and then after that keep killing the people that got in his way of power.
Macbeth then get the ambition to kill Banquo and Macduff's family because he thought that they would get in the way of him keeping his spot of king. He will do whatever he thinks it takes to keep anyone from taking this spot of power from him. “Scarf up the tender eyes of pitiful day and with thy bloody and invisible hand…” (3.2.54) Macbeth wants to kill Banquo with their own bloody hands to further prove to the people of Cawdor that he will stop at nothing to keep the power position. Macbeth thought that Banquo was getting to close to the power position so he hired a murderer to go kill him. He did the same with Macduff, but instead of killing Macduff himself Macbeth decided to kill Macduff’s family instead. “He has killed me, mother. Run away, I pray you.”(4.3.96) Again the murderer that Macbeth hired has killed the target he was sent out to kill. With every kill that Macbeth orders he is become more and more on edge about him being able to keep the power position and becoming more and more ambitious.
Shakespeare also uses motifs in order to prove his point that too much ambition can be a bad thing and take away from the human side of you.

You can see this when Macbeth comes home after killing Duncan and he is full of guilt due to the fact that he still has a human part in him and taking the life of another person pains him. The blood on the daggers that he used to kill Duncan remind him that he did kill someone. Macbeth can’t get that image out of his head for the time being, but after time he becomes more ambitious and loses the human side of him. All he is worried about now is getting everyone and everything out of his way. He doesn’t care about the blood that has to be shed or the lives that have to be taken. If he can stay in the power position then he is happy. You can also see this theme in Lady Macbeth when she says “..Making the green one red.” (2.2.81) Lady Macbeth ones to become evil and lose the human side of her just like Macbeth is. This allows her to arrange killings without feeling bad about it and gives he an excuse for the murders her and Macbeth are

committing.
Ambition plays a huge role in the play Macbeth because of how it dehumanizes both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth by the end of the play. Macbeth becomes too ambitious for his own good while Lady Macbeth wants to become evil for the sake that she has something to blame all of her wrong doings on. Both of this characters changed throughout the course of the play. Macbeth went from a normal citizen of Cawdor to a power hungry man that would stop at nothing to get what he wants. Lady Macbeth went from wanting power to having power, which then led to her downfall after ordering Macbeth to kill Duncan. The guilt finally caught up to her, which ended up causing her death.