Many people would consider the term ambitious a compliment. You can look at some of the most powerful and successful people in the world and most all of them contain this envied trait. But there is a point however when ambition, the very thing that takes one to the top, causes an ultimate downfall, an end to a once great power.
In Shakespeare's play Macbeth, in relation to Macbeth as a character, Macbeth's ambitious nature further continues my argument. With his already impressive title of Thane of Cawdor, his unexpected desire to become more illuminates that seed of ambition within him. Macbeth reveals through his wandering thoughts that "I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself and falls on th'other" (1.7. 25-28). This image of the ambition of a horse and his rider jumping too far, wanting too much, and eventually falling in the end, foreshadows Macbeth's eager efforts and tragic downfall. When Macbeth kills Duncan to get what he wants, one might think he already went too far. However, Macbeth keeps burying himself deeper and deeper into evil acts and lies. An example of this is when he kills his own friend Banquo. This act is made clear when Macbeth says that Banquo's soul will find heaven tonight (3.2. 161-162). Is this ambition? Is it ambition because he has such great persistence? Or does it just sprout from selfish acts to save
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This implied desire is not a bad thing, in fact, it can even be a good thing. But it is the way one gets to the desired destination that distinguishes the small, but significant gap for when ambition crosses a line. Macbeth clearly crosses this line as he violated any and all acceptable ways to become king. He became king through murder, revealing that his ambition went too