Unrestrained Ambition: A Downfall in Shakespeare's Tragedies

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After Marcus Junius Brutus kills Julius Caesar he explains his reason was because of Caesar’s ambition: “As Caesar loved me, I weep for him; as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it, as he was valiant, I honour him; but, as he was ambitious, I slew him”(Shakespeare III.ii). Brutus and his people believe ambition make individuals weak and cause their downfall. In the 17th century tragic play Macbeth, William Shakespeare uses blood to express how unrestrained ambition may lead to madness, which causes an individual to change completely and commit wrongful deeds.
When an individual falls too far into ambition he or she will start to think irrationally and rush into decisions. Shakespeare reveals that too much ambition makes individuals rush and …show more content…

Shakespeare describes the delirious state Macbeth falls in, to expose what guilt can do to an individual: “A dagger of the mind, a false creation proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?” (II.i.50-51) The acts ambition drives individuals to execute can cause the after effects to drive them mad with guilt and remorse. Guilt will weigh an individual down so far he or she will succumb to a mental breakdown. Paranoia and stress will constantly surround the individual, causing him or her to lash out at peers and bring them harm. Shakespeare uses the rain to represent the bloodshed and madness that threaten to spill out like droplets of a storm: “It will be rain tonight. Let it come down!” (III.iii.23-24). When Banquo dies the rain comes, depicting how macbeth lost control and let ambition and greed change him completely. Unrestrained ambition surpasses what individuals consider normal ambition and creates an obsessive idea that will dominate an individual’s life. Individuals’ relationships will deteriorate and they will never feel satisfaction, keeping them in a solitary and …show more content…

Due to Macbeth’s crimes, the whole country suffers in pain and fear. Shakespeare expresses that when bad deeds occur, the individual must also think of those around him or her. When individuals do not restrain their ambition they destroys stable relationships with others for selfish goals. Shakespeare urges individuals to act mindful with their actions because they have an effect on someone else's life.
In Macbeth, William Shakespeare presents ambition as a dangerous quality and urges individuals to restrain it. It brings individuals intellectual chaos, causing them to become the victim of their own ambition. Individuals who lose themselves in ambition may destroy stable relationships and lose their morals. When people commit terrible deeds, that act will forever mark and taint them and forever change them to a point of no return. Ambition also prevents one from thinking rationally and making the correct

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