Macbeth is a short tragedy written by Shakespeare and during this play there were four main repetitive themes. Ambition, free will, fate and power were shown in different scenes. Ambition is defined as a strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work. Within this play, ambition is portrayed as corrupting through the main concepts of mental state, supernatural behaviors and betrayal. Macbeth has great ambition and desired a lot of things, but the intensity led him to his own misery. Being Thane of Cawdor was not enough for Macbeth, he wanted to become king and he would not let anything in his way. The three witches prophecies and Lady Macbeth helped the ambition he was feeling, he killed the king so he could take over. Ross announces, “Everything about this is unnatural! What a stupid ambition, causing a son to kill the father who supports him. Then it looks like Macbeth will become king” (II, iv, 37-39). Macbeth’s ambition led him to commit treason and murder as he kills Duncan. Macbeth then decides to kill his best friend, Banquo because he knew what Macbeth had truly done. After the murderer returns, Macbeth discusses “There’s blood on your face. Then it must be Banquo’s. I’d rather see his blood splattered on your face than flowing through his veins. Did you finish him off?" (III, iv, …show more content…
They predict the future, this could mean that all of the events in Macbeth's life and his actions, too, have already been decided. But, even Macbeth considers that he has a choice when he says "If fate wants me to be king, perhaps fate will just make it happen and I won’t have to do anything" (I, iii, 147). He shows in this line that if his destiny is already determined, he does not have to take any action at all for it to come true. But, he still does this the murder, which shows that he freely decided on getting to the position of king with his own action put into
In the play of “Macbeth”, Shakespeare gradually and effectively deepens our understanding of the themes and most importantly the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. The main theme of Macbeth is ambition, and how it compels the main characters to pursue it. The antagonists of the play are the three witches, who symbolise the theme appearance and reality. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s relation is an irony throughout the play, as most of their relation is based on greed and power. This is different from most of Shakespeare’s other plays, which are mostly based on romance and trust. There is also guilt that leads Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to the final consequences of the play. As the progresses, the constant changes in Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are exposed.
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.
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.
Where is there a page in William Shakespeare's tragic play Macbeth which does not present the selfish virtue of personal ambition. This paper addresses the problem of ambition in the drama.
Napoleon Bonaparte once said, “Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principles which direct them.” The main character of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth, is filled with ambition. Macbeth is a Shakespearean play in which Macbeth is given a prophecy by three witches which tells that he will eventually become king of Scotland. Macbeth, filled with ambition to fulfill these predictions, let’s nothing get in his way. The principles within Macbeth direct him and his ambition to perform very bad acts. Between Macbeth and his wife, the theme of ambition without morales leads to absolute destruction is abundantly present, especially as the play progresses.
...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.
Dictionary.com states that ambition is an earnest desire for some type of achievement or distinction, as power, honor, Fame, or wealth, and willingness to strive for its attainment. Ambition becomes unchecked ambition when someone can’t control their desire and ends up going crazy. Macbeth allows his ambition to surprise him and becomes a murdering maniac. Abigail, in the crucible started out to be a good person, but she let her ambition get to her.
Ambition and desire are double-edged notions present in all who crave success and power. While ambition is most often associated with unfavorable greed and overwhelming need, people who express this desire are simultaneously praised for being goal-oriented and steadfast in achieving their goals. In the play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, this duality of ambition is explored through the character of Lady Macbeth. In the play, Lady Macbeth’s husband, Macbeth, is prophesied to be king, and in order to expedite his path to the throne and their combined rise to power, Lady Macbeth plots to murder the current King Duncan. Throughout her Act I soliloquy, Lady Macbeth reveals not only her malevolent and scheming nature, but also profound determination
Just like any of us, Macbeth’s ambition caused him to be easily influenced. Based on the text, the witches say to Macbeth and Banquo, “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!” “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee Thane of Cawdor!” “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, that shalt be king hereafter!” After the witches speak his prophecy, Macbeth with great interest and desire then asks to here more about what the witches have to say. Soon after Macbeth was given the name Thane of Cawdor, he believed what the witches said had some truth to it causing his ambition to be influenced by the wicked weird sisters. When Macbeth tells his wife, Lady Macbeth about the prophecy, Macbeth’s ambition then faces Lady Macbeth’s influence. According to the
Macbeth is a human just like another and like other humans he has feelings, weaknesses, and strong points. As humans we all tend to love and want attention and are determined to be the center of attention, to be more important than others , whether it’s being a leader or the captain of a crew that feeling is what people strive for. Macbeth was one of those people and did anything to get him to that point, he did awful things such as Bribed, threatened and even went as far as murder, he hurt so many people in so many ways just to get what he wanted. So thought the whole short story you see Macbeth going from someone loyal, trustworthy and strong to someone who is completely insane.
Macbeth shows how greed and ambition can bring down a person as well as others and how the changes of power occur because of loyalty and betrayal. Macbeth is the play’s main unhappy character. The play tells of Macbeth's greedy thirst for power is a dangerous trait.
Seeking for greater power, Macbeth murders Duncan who is the king at that time, which caused a great pain for the kingdom. Duncan is a great king, but just not a so good human reader. He has never been aware of Macbeth. He never have a thought that Macbeth might be a danger, who is willing to kill him for the throne. On the other hand, Macbeth does not accept to be just a general for the rest of his life. He wants a greater power, higher position than he is having at the time. Because of the suggests from the trio witches: “ All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!/ All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!”(1.2.49-50), Macbeth has the thinking about killing the king to take his throne. By calling Macbeth the Thane of Cawdor, they give Macbeth the thought that being a king is his fate. On the night Macbeth is planning to murder Duncan, the Old Man see many strange events: “And Duncan’s horses (a thing most strange and certain),/ Beauteous and swift, the minions of their race, /Turned wild in nature, broke their stalls, flung out/ Contending ‘gainst obedience, as they would/ Make war with mankind” (2.4.14-18). It creates a scary feeling in the kingdom, and means something bad will happen to the kingdom.
Everyone has ambitions. Some people's ambitions are far crazier and harder to accomplish than others, but everyone shares the commonality of having ambitions. Everyone, also, is a little bit greedy. Some people are more greedy than others, but everyone is a little greedy too. So where is the difference maker between greed and ambitions? While ambitions are just the goal and desire to accomplish something, greed is the selfish desire to accomplish something. Either way both greed and ambitions end up leading to success. In the Greed and ambitions lead to power. In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare the theme, ambition and greed lead to power, is present. Shakespeare shows this by using conflicts between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, where Macbeth
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.
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.