Examples Of Ambition In Macbeth

William Shakespeare’s Macbeth (1606), “an unruly chaos of strange and forbidden things” (William Hazlitt), introduces us to crucial lessons through examples of how one’s ambitions, when left unchecked can wreak havoc on their life. Macbeth further highlights the consequences of regecide and other evil acts by exposing the array of abnormal affairs associated with guilt.

Macbeth displays the consequences of one’s ambition as an array of sacrilegious concepts and events which corrupt his mind, eventually leading to his demise. This notion is expressed through Macbeths’ plot against King Duncan to usurp the throne, a condemned act in the Elizabethan Era as it disrupts the Great Chain of Being and symbolises a rebellious act against God. Shakespeare

However, these thoughts are fuelled by Macbeth’s growing greed, illustrated during his soliloquy when he sees “A dagger of the mind, a false creation, proceeding from the heat-oppressèd brain? Thou marshall’st me the way I was going.” Which is a representation of his strong desire to kill King Duncan and reveals how his ambition has caused him to experience unholy hallucinations which distort his judgement. This is further demonstrated through Macbeth’s alliteration when he decides, “From this moment, the very firstlings of my heart shall be the firstlings of my hand.” highlighting the influence of an unbridled aspiration and how his pursuit of power has led him to abandon all reason and judgement. The consequence of such reckless ambition is portrayed when Macbeth reflects, “Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no

Shakespeare portrays this notion through the murder of King Duncan, reprimanding act of regicide to appeal to King James I, who had experienced many attempts on his life. This is shown through the personification of “light” and “stars” after Macbeth discovers he is now Thane of Cawdor, “Stars, hide your fires; let not light see my black and deep desires” emphasising how even the thought of regicide is a sinful and deplorable act which goes against his morals and the heavens. However, he proceeds with King Duncan’s murder and exclaims, “Me thought I heard a voice cry ‘sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep.” Macbeth uses the motif of sleep to symbolise sanity and peace, emphasising that his actions have situated guilt in his mind, leading to fractures in his sanity beginning to emerge. The effects of guilt on one’s sanity is further represented when Lady Macbeth exclaims while sleep walking, “Out, damned spot! Out, I say!” The motif of sleeplessness appears once again to explain the physical and psychological effects of guilt through Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking and the reliving of her evil deeds. This blood represents her sins and how she will never be free from her guilt and actions. This notion is further represented through the Doctor’s personification of strange events, “Foul whisp’rings are abroad; unnatural deeds