Ambition In Macbeth

Macbeth is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare which was first performed in 1606. It discusses the effects that political ambition has on those who seek power. The play begins with the presentation of three witches. Macbeth and Banquo would meet these witches that would then give them their prophecies. Following the witches’ prophecies, Macbeth becomes overly ambitious for power and takes part in the killing of King Duncan, Banquo, and Macduff’s wife and children. The play comes to a close with the killing of Macbeth by Macduff, and Malcolm being crowned the new King of Scotland. The general argument made by William Shakespeare in his work, Macbeth, is that ambition can lead to destruction. More specifically, Shakespeare argues

His ambition causes him to begin to have thoughts of murdering King Duncan: “If good, why do I yield to that suggestion…Present fears / Are less than horrible imaginings. / My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, / Shakes so my single state of man / that function is smothered in surmise, / and nothing is but what is not” (Act 1, Scene 3, lines 144, 147-152). Macbeth’s first thoughts of murder appear in this aside. He is wondering how the witches’ prophecies could be true. Although Macbeth has horrible thoughts and images of murder in his mind, he does not plan on acting upon those thoughts. But, his wife, Lady Macbeth, manipulates and convinces him to go through with it. She even comes up with the plan for Duncan’s murder. Holloway (2009) claims that, “Therefore, in choosing to suppress some of his desires, she is acting, she believes, to secure what he most deeply desires” (p. 10). Holloway is suggesting that Lady Macbeth is acting upon Macbeth’s desires, so Macbeth can get what he most desires, to be king. Lady Macbeth would act on his desires by manipulating him into believing that he is not a man if he does not kill Duncan. Lady Macbeth’s prodding of Macbeth causes Macbeth to act on his desires because he wants the power and to prove himself a man to his wife. All of these forces would lead to Macbeth’s character change in the end of the

At the end of the play Macbeth is no longer known as the courageous, noble, and brave man and soldier that he was known as in the beginning. He is now known as a brutal and devious killer. He also is regretting some of his past decisions, including murdering King Duncan. According to Favila (2001): “Of course, in the end, Duncan's murder will destroy both Macbeth's wish and conscience, his present and future. From the moment Macbeth kills the king, he is beset by anxiety, fear, [and] guilt” (p. 4). Macbeth kills to gain power and to keep his secrets hidden. Not only has Macbeth killed King Duncan, but also he hires murderers to kill Banquo and his son Fleance. When speaking of Banquo, Macbeth states: “To be thus is nothing, / But to be safely thus. Our fears in Banquo / Stick deep, and in his royalty of nature / Reigns that which would be feared” (Act 3, Scene 1, lines 52-55). Macbeth orders their deaths because Banquo had heard the witches’ prophecies, and Banquo had grown suspicious of Macbeth following the murder of King Duncan. Macbeth continues on a few lines later stating that the only person he fears is Banquo since he knows the truth. He decides to get rid of the one person that could expose him. He ordered the murder of Banquo’s son, Fleance, because in the witches’ prophecies they state that Banquo would father kings, and Macbeth did not want to see this part of the prophecy come true. He