Power And Ambition In Macbeth

William Shakespeare was the most influential writer who ever lived. For more than four hundred years, people all over the world have been reading, watching and listening to the plays and poetry of the famous writer. Years and years after his death, his works have continued to have a miraculous life of their own. So what is it about the centuries old stories that still resonate with audiences and how do we keep Shakespeare’s work so alive and well after four hundred years? Wright has the right answer.

Even those who haven’t read his plays still know his words, from ‘to be or not to be’ to ‘wherefore art thou Romeo,’ but his influence goes way beyond quotable phrases. Macbeth was written by Shakespeare in the early 1600’s, one of the greatest tragedies ever written. As Shakespeare’s most popular play, Macbeth tells the tale of a man driven by greed and deceit, his work has stood the test of time. Macbeth is deceived by three witches who predict he will be king. Spurred on by his adoring and ambitious wife, he schemes and sets about the immense sin of regicide – the violent murder of a king – leaving the blood stained couple to wrestle with its monumental consequences. Containing a dark story of guilt, terror and murder, Macbeth establishes the concept of power and ambition.

While it is difficult to claim that Shakespeare is saying ambition in itself is bad, it is clear that ambition unchecked by a sense of morality and humanity can be a corrupting influence. While Roman Polanski’s 1971 film interpretation captured

many similar features of the original play, Geoffrey Wright’s 2006 adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth invites viewers to better accept the concept of ambition and power. Wright has successfully represent...

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..., being the most influential writer in all of English literature, is specifically memorable for exploring the concept of power and ambition thoroughly in the story of Macbeth. Ambition makes Macbeth susceptible to the exhortations of Lady Macbeth and the schemes of the witches. It causes him to turn his back on what the modern world might call his ‘moral compass,’ and do things considered fundamentally wrong. As conveyed in Shakespeare’s original text, Macbeth is not just highly ambitious. He embraces ambition over his other virtues and morals, and Wright has successfully grasped this concept in his 2006 version of Macbeth. For years we’ve wondered how it is at all possible to keep Shakespeare’s work alive and thriving in the present century, considering he wrote many of his plays including Macbeth in the early 1600’s. All along, Wright had the right answer.