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Ambition Theme In Macbeth

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One theme that is present in Macbeth is ambition. This theme becomes evident when the witches give the prophecies to the Macbeths and they do everything they can in order to fulfill their desires. The first account of when Macbeth allows his ambition to overwhelm him is when he kills Duncan. In ActⅠScene ⅶ, Macbeth is contemplating whether or not to kill the king by listing out the reasons against and he discovers that ambition is his only motivation to kill. He says “I have no spur / To prick the sides of my intent, but only / Vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself / And falls on th’other”(ActⅠScene ⅶ) Macbeth has enough self-awareness to realize the dangers of killing the king yet his temptation to complete the prophecy is too strong. Another example of ambition is when Lady Macbeth plans the murder of Duncan and continually urges Macbeth to do it in order to fulfill the prophecy and desire. Lady Macbeth puts aside her reasoning and lets her temptation run her actions. Ambition is what drives the both of them to commit such atrocities. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth wanted to be powerful so bad that they were willing to compromise their morals in order to be successful. The actions of the Macbeths prove that ambition ultimately takes over all …show more content…

The two themes work together to teach the audience that when ambition is unchecked by moral considerations it leads to disaster. The first example of this was when Macbeth killed Duncan. His better judgment told him not to yet his ambition overrode him and in result the night was faced with numerous encounters of chaos including the Earth shaking as if it had a fever. After this first endeavor, Macbeth continued to disregard his morals and let his desires run his actions. In doing so, he murders Banquo and faces an unnatural ghostly consequence. Ultimately these two themes work together to prove that obsession, desire, and ambition turn into chaos and

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