In the play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, there are various motivations that can lead an individual's course of action. The ambitions and motivation that an individual develop through life are the very factors that play an important role in shaping their identity and character. In fact, some of these factors have the potential to influence the minds and behaviours of many other individuals. William Shakespeare demonstrates how an individual can start off with a significant and meaningless purpose, but then become so altered by the environment that they are placed in, that they establish motivations and aspirations that radically impact both themselves and others around them. This motivation that he discusses in the play not only impact …show more content…
In the play, motivation is presented as a dangerous quality. It causes the downfall of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and triggers a series of deaths and downfalls. Motivation is clearly the driving force of the play. Furthermore, a central concept that shapes the intricate moral lessons in Macbeth is that of betrayal and its futile and impermanent nature. Though Macbeth is reluctant at first to commit the most evil deeds, he is wholly convinced by Lady Macbeth, a driving force of motivation within the play. Lady Macbeth plays a key part in driving Macbeth’s motivations and encourages Macbeth to overcome his strong sense of guilt and take action on the prophecies. Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth that he is “green” (I.VII.40) and “a coward” (I.VII.46) and that he resembles the proverbial “poor cat”. (I.VII.48) The willingness of Lady Macbeth to reach the epitome of betrayal is displaced that heightens the understanding of the overpowering and strong nature of Lady Macbeth as well as the deep and murderous motivations she wishes to impose on her husband. Shakespeare exposes to the audience to the persuasive and emotive techniques Lady Macbeth uses to manipulate and drive Macbeth's motivations. This
Shakespeare presents the theme of ambition in Macbeth. Ambition is a strong desire to do or achieve something, ambition can also be presented in a positive and negative way. Shakespeare presents ambition in a negative way through some characters who are Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and King Duncan. The reason these characters present ambition in a negative way is because they end up dying. Ambition is also present in a positive way through some characters who are Macduff, Witches and Malcolm these are the characters who survive in the play showing that you can be ambitious but not too ambitious.
Both greed and power, if not controlled, can lead to destruction. Throughout William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, Shakespeare uses both characters Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to demonstrate how ambition can change one’s personal relationships. As in the beginning of Act 1, Scene 7 Macbeth and Lady Macbeth do not share the same ambition, and it is because of this that their relationship lacks love and affection however through the use of persuasion and other means, Lady Macbeth is able to get Macbeth to pursue her ambition. This not only changes their relationship drastically but it also changes Macbeth’s attitude towards ambition. Throughout the play, Shakespeare shows us through Macbeth, the possibility for ambition to eventually turn into greed and how the lust for power may corrupt us.
Macbeth is the Shakespearean play that features the triumphant uprise and the inevitable downfall of its main character. In this play, Macbeth’s downfall can be considered to be the loss of his moral integrity and this is achieved by ambition, despite this, Lady Macbeth and the witches work through his ambition, furthering to assist his inevitable ruin. Ambition alone is the most significant factor that led to Macbeth’s downfall. The witches are only able to influence his actions through Macbeth’s pre-existing and the three witches see that Macbeth has ambition and uses it to control his action. Ambition alone is displayed throughout the play to be the most significant cause for Macbeth’s downfall.
Blind Ambition and Greed The play “Macbeth”, by William Shakespeare illustrates many themes through the characters from the beginning to the end of the story. But the main central theme introduced is Ambition and Greed. As the play goes on we read how Macbeth permits his Ambition and Greed to dictate the outcomes and tragedy’s that occur to himself and others.
Although introduced as a thoroughly hardened, ambitious woman, Lady Macbeth’s seemingly unbreakable character shatters when she is consumed by the demon of guilt. The guilt of Lady Macbeth seems nonexistent when she persuades Macbeth to kill King Duncan, but the heinous acts she and her husband commit throughout the play strain her slowly. Eventually, the guilt Lady Macbeth harbors emerges from her subconscious and crumbles her. The downfall of Lady Macbeth reveals that even the toughest, strongest, and most powerful people can succumb to guilt. At the commencement of William Shakespeare’s
Of all the failures human beings experience none are as crushing as those that are a result of following someone else’s desires. In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, the protagonist self-destructs because of his external forces as well as his own poor choices. An external force that influenced Macbeth includes Lady Macbeth’s strong goals, which she forced on her husband. Additionally, the witches impacted Macbeth’s choices by offering him their tricky prophecies. The blind greed that took over Macbeth’s life also impacted his choices.
William Shakespeare portrayed the character Lady Macbeth to be extremely ruthless, malicious and manipulative. Thus, being the reason she could easily convince Macbeth to do her will, yet still put on such a convincing performance in front of those who knew nothing of her and her husband’s actions. Lady Macbeth shows her complexity constantly throughout the story when she shares her view-point on masculinity by demasculinizing her own husband, when she strategically plans the murder of the King Duncan, and finally when she finally goes crazy because of the guilt she possesses for not only her own actions but also turning her own husband into a
A man`s ambition and desire influences his decisions in life. This is seen when Malcolm’s motivation in the play Macbeth by Shakespeare is his desire to be crowned king to get back his father’s throne. Throughout the play, it is seen that most of Malcolm’s decisions such as to escape Scotland, build an army, and gain support of others, are those that ensure that his family will get the throne back. Malcolm’s motivation is displayed when he builds an army against Macbeth. Once he goes to England, the “gracious England hath/ [l]ent
Often times in literature, the downfall of a character arises due to both external and internal forces. In Macbeth, William Shakespeare demonstrates that the downfall of Macbeth arises due to both internal and external forces, but among the two, internal forces have a greater influence on the outcome. The forces of Macbeth’s own nature, the supernatural and Lady Macbeth all contribute to his downfall but the true deciding factors are the forces within. The external forces that affect Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and the witches, prompt Macbeth into doing actions and making decisions that lead to his downfall.
William Shakespeare, playwright of Macbeth, shows the importance that power and corruption can hold on a person’s humanity. In order to prove the true effect of personal gains, he uses the main character, Macbeth, to show how evil people are willing to become. Personal power has the ability to be essential to greatness, but at the same time is able to destroy a person’s true nature. Believe it or not, Macbeth once was a man of honor. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth was loyal to King Duncan, a strong military leader, and a respected husband.
The play MacBeth has many themes throughout it. The theme I picked out is that your desire’s can blind your loyalty. This theme is expressed and expanded upon through the entire play, from MacBeth planning to kill King Duncan, to his death at the end because of the blind decisions he made. In this essay I will expand on this by showing how desires blinded the loyalty of MacBeth and Lady MacBeth in this play. From practically the start of the play, MacBeth is becoming corrupt when the weird sisters say he shall be “Thane of Glamis,” (1.1) which he already is, and “Thane of Cawdor,” (1.1) which a messenger is on the way to tell him he is, “Thou shalt be KIng” (1.1) which is very suprised at and he starts to become blinded to his loyalty to the KIng, Duncan.
In William Shakespeare’s tragedy, Macbeth, Shakespeare portrays that motivation allows individuals to thrive for their goals, but on the other hand side, it might lead to destruction. Many times, individuals perceive motivation to remove obstacles that prevent them from achieving their goals. In William Shakespeare’s tragedy, Macbeth, the character of Macbeth uses motivation to achieve his ambition to become the King of Scotland, after considering witches prophecies. Macbeth’s strong motivation and desire to become the king allows him to deceive King of Scotland, Duncan, because the King was the main hurdle that was preventing him from reaching his ambition.
At the beginning of William Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ the protagonist Macbeth is described as ‘brave’, ‘noble’ and ‘honourable’, however Lady Macbeth’s and Macbeths desire for power consumes them. Macbeth’s ambition overrides his conscience and transformed his greatest strength into his greatest weakness. Macbeth’s inability to resist temptations that led him to be greedy for power, Macbeth’s easily manipulative nature which allowed his mind to be swayed, Macbeth having no self control and his excessive pride was what allowed him to renew his previously honourable and celebrated title into one of an evil ‘tyrant’. Macbeth is led by the prophecies of the witches after they foretell he will become the Thane of Cawdor. Not only the witches, but also his wife easily manipulate Macbeth as she attacks his manhood in order to provoke him to act on his desires.
This play demonstrates that desire can be strong that people become overwhelmed with their own desires. What Shakespeare was trying to say in the play Macbeth that desire was the root of all greed and foulness. Shakespeare then demonstrates the power of greed and desire which is inspired by the witches chant to Macbeth. The chant drives Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to look past the consequences greed and to push towards what they believe is “fair” for
Macbeth, Crime and Punishment Macbeth, a warrior, earns the title of Thane of Cawdor early in the play. His wife, Lady Macbeth, wants him to become king like the witches prophesied. They make a plan to kill Duncan while Macbeth starts to kill other people. All this murder begins to weigh heavily on the Macbeth’s and they start going crazy with guilt.