Ambition And Paranoia In Macbeth

Macbeth by William Shakespeare is a tale of overbearing ambition and paranoia set in Scotland in the middle ages. The drama is about a Scottish general named Macbeth, and he is told by three witches that he will be king of Scotland. Motivated by his wife, Macbeth kills the current king and then becomes king of Scotland. Macbeth then proceeds to kill more people out of pride and ambition. In Macbeth Shakespeare warns readers of the effects of pride by giving us an example of Macbeth’s downfall.

In the beginning of the play, Macbeth is expressed as a very kind character and he doesn’t want to do much harm to anyone. One example of this is, “Yet do I fear thy nature; it is too full o' the milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way.”(I.iv.16-18).

One illustration of this would be, “I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself and falls on the' other.”(III.2.37-39). Macbeth is describing his lack of inspiration, and the only thing propelling him at that time is pure ambition. You can see now that Macbeth is starting to evolve into a more complex character because he started off as a kind person to a kind and ambitious person. Nearing the end of act III and the beginning of act Ⅳ, Macbeth starts to become more prideful than ambitious, and he is letting his pridefulness take advantage of him and how he thinks. So consider the example of, “Come, go we to the king our power is ready; Our lack is nothing but our leave. Macbeth is ripe for shaking and the power above”(Ⅳ.iii.277-279). This is telling us how Macbeth is ready and strong, and that he wouldn’t give up easily. This is perceiving Macbeth as prideful because he is pushing forward with every decision and he won't let anything or anyone get in his

Macbeth has really evolved from being a kind and caring person to a really ambitious and prideful person. Nearing the end of act IV and the beginning of act V, Macbeth has really become a prideful person and he is starting to let the pride that he has, take advantage of him. One example of this is, “I’ll fight till from my bones my flesh be hacked. Give me my armor.”(Ⅴ.iii.38-39). This Manifests that Macbeth is a very prideful person and he is confident that nothing can stop him and that he is the strongest person on earth. Macbeth has shown that he is extremely prideful, to the point where he doesn’t care about anyone and that he won't let anything or anyone stop