Macbeth's Ambition Of A Rider

Ambition of a Rider
A highly ambitious character that fails is a literary motif throughout literature. When most people hear ambition, they usually think of someone having strong will to succeed. The term “ambition” is referred to as a positive entity, where a person has a strong drive to accomplish something. Too much ambition can lead to extreme needs and can result in greediness and self-destruction. Someone who is too ambitious can lose track of their principles and be easily influenced by a psychopath. There is a list of characteristics and behaviors that prescribe a person as a psychopath. Psychopath’s can often be violent or make irrational decisions. Their personalities can lack remorse/shame, be untruthful, and have many more flaws.

In William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, Lord Macbeth is influenced by his ambitions and the psychopath Lady Macbeth leading him to show no impulse control and lacks empathy for those around him.
Early on, Macbeth’s ambition hits a peak when he meets three witches. They show him his prophecy which says; “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis!, All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Cawdor! All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!”(Act.1 Sc.3 Line 50-53). When Macbeth first hears this from the witches, he does not think much of it. Banquo repeats it to him and says how it is such a great prophecy. Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth about his findings, and she sees it as huge step to her becoming queen. She uses her motives to cloud Macbeth’s thoughts with the ambition of becoming King. Her ideas lure Macbeth into losing empathy and putting his focus on making his prophecy a reality.
Macbeth’s ambition continues to grow as he is influenced to go on and murder the king. Macbeth’s plan is to take out Duncan and in the beginning he shows no signs of impulse control and no rational thinking and does not think twice about his decisions. Macbeth wants to kill Duncan and says; “Which now suits with it. While I threat, he lives. Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives. I go, and it is done. The bell invites me. Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell that summons thee to heaven or to hell” (Act.2 Sc.1 Line 73-77). Macbeth is telling himself that while he is waiting Duncan is still breathing. He tells himself he need to act now! The sound of the bell is telling him he must go, if Duncan doesn’t hear the bell then it is his own fault for his murder. Macbeth says something truly profound - he is the judge of whether Duncan goes to heaven or to hell. Most people think many times before they do something significant. Not once does Macbeth talk about the consequences or whether killing the king is perhaps a bad idea. He is certain that killing Duncan is the right thing to do and he wants to get the job done. Macbeth has decided that it is done his choice has been made, there’s no turning back, he has to fulfill his prophecy. Macbeth’s ambition is driven, he forgets about his principles/morals, and turns into a sociopath. Lady Macbeth creates the rationale for Macbeth to fulfill his prophecy and make it become a reality.
Macbeth’s ambition was very dangerous, he lost touch of humanity.

He wants a perfect world where everything can go his way, forgetting about other people’s existence. As a result a common trait with psychopaths is that they lack empathy; Macbeth does not care for the general population very much. He states that; “Had I but died an hour before this chance, I had lived a blessed time; for from this instant. There's nothing serious in mortality, all is but toys. Renown and grace is dead. The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees is left this vault to brag of’’ (Act.2 Sc.3 Line 110). Macbeth wishes that he died before the king was murdered, so he can say he lived a perfect life. He believes that nothing else in life matters, and compares humans to inanimate toys. The king is dead, so happiness all over the world is gone and the world is in ashes. Macbeth is being very stoic when the king dies, lacking empathy saying one man's death is the ruins of all civilization. A psychopath does not care if other people are hurt, they only care about accomplishing their goals. Macbeth says that all happiness is gone to him; he wishes he died before this event just to say his life was perfect. Macbeth is saying that everyone he has murdered, or deaths around him have no meaning. But Macbeth was the one that did this to Duncan, and he is guilty of this crime. Macbeth is angry at the world, acting like he cannot take responsibility for his actions. He says that the king's death is worth all

lives around him, and nothing less. It is Lady Macbeth that drives him to make decisions that he will later regret.
Macbeth had it in him to be psychopath, but I believe that Lady Macbeth charges him up to become more violent and influences him to make irrational actions or choices.

Lady Macbeth even says that she would do the same for him if he did things for her; “Does unmake you. I have given suck, know how tender tis to love the babe that milks me. I would, while it was smiling in my face, have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed the brains out, had I sworn as you have done to this” (Act. 1 Sc.7 Line 62-67). Lady Macbeth talks about how she has taken care of a child before etc. But then Lady Macbeth brings up that while the baby is feeding from her happily, she would throw it against a wall and kill it, just to prove her loyalty to him. Lady Macbeth would kill an innocent child, just to prove a point that she is candid with him. Lady Macbeth persuades Macbeth, and motivates him, like she is a puppeteer. Macbeth has it in him to be a psychopath with the demon inside him; Lady Macbeth was able to get it out of him and now the demon is free and it is making irrational decisions and he is reacting sociopathic. Lady Macbeth is his partner in crime, but instead of helping him, she motivates him to pursue bad motives, reassuring him that what he is doing is right. Macbeth could have been a different story if Macbeth had not been with Lady Macbeth. He could have hidden his treacherous ways and been a generous king and less violent. Perhaps another story would be; if Macbeth

was not in the royal family, and instead was born a commoner and known as Macbeth the sociopath pig farmer. He would raise pigs and then slaughter them, using his lack of judgment and frustrations on a good business. These alternatives could have saved Macbeth, but instead he was written after the path that was chosen for him by Lady Macbeth, and her manipulative ways.
Macbeth was too ambitious, and the environment around him, Lady Macbeth, and certain events that happened led to him being an ill person. Macbeth had no impulse control nor did he have any empathy, but began to regret after he realized who he killed and what exactly he has done. He did not care for the mass population of people, and only cared for his goals to fulfill his prophecy of being a king and slaying all in his way. From the start of the story, it was obvious that Macbeth had problems, he did not have control of his actions and did things without a second thought. Macbeth was acting sociopathic temporarily, after murdering Duncan, and realizing what he had done. Macbeth then understood the actions he had executed were terrible, and was in far regret. People often say “money is the root of all evil” and in Macbeth’s case power was the essence that made him too ambitious to realize he was becoming a sociopath. Lady Macbeth’s persuasion and Macbeth’s own ambitions caused him to lose empathy and impulse control, making the Macbeths acquire power, but quickly lose it all; the dynamic duo of edacity.