When in a relationship, one's quest for power, can result in an endless effort to satisfy this desire, producing a tragic outcome. In the tragedy of Macbeth, William Shakespeare explores how greed and ambition has an influence on one’s actions, leading to the occurrence of a tragedy. In the case of Macbeth, greed and ambition results in Macbeth becoming a highly manipulative, and dangerous individual. The dominant status Lady Macbeth owns, allows her to influence Macbeth into committing harmful acts. When Lady Macbeth’s dominant status begins to deteriorate, Macbeth begins to mature, gradually becoming the more dominant individual within their relationship.
As humans, the power to control is one of the most dominant feelings that ignores the harm it can cause others. The greed for more power brings out the selfish and merciless side of someone, leading them to their eventual downfall and the destruction of everyone around them. In the play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, the story begins with Macbeth, who is King of Glamis, and Banquo, King of Lochaber, meeting with the Three Weird Sisters to hear a prophecy they foretell. Macbeth learns he will be crowned King of Scotland and the idea of him becoming king slowly consumes him, becoming his focus throughout the play. For them to control the throne, Macbeth and his wife form plans to kill everyone and anyone in their way, starting with King Duncan
Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ and Oliver stones ‘wall street’ set in distinct time periods, explore the concept that one’s longings for ambition can become overpowering and eventually lead to one’s moralities being recognised. The texts both illustrate that greedy ambition will lead to one’s downfall, that ambition causes people of weak character to behave corruptly to attain their goals, and that ultimately ambition comes with a price. Firstly, in Macbeth ambition is portrayed as seductive yet ethically destructive, in the text both characters who are frail are charmed to pursuing their ambitions at the cost of their own humanity. In ‘Macbeth’ this is shown through the protagonist and how the ambition due to the influence of the witches takes over the like of Macbeth.
Everyone wants power. Even the most humble among us can be caught cutting in the line at Starbucks, cheating on a test, or using a tiny white lie on a resume to set ourselves apart. We all want to stand out and feel superior to the average Joe. Shakespeare’s Macbeth shows how fast a person can change as a result of the desire for power.
At the beginning of the play when Lady Macbeth receives a letter from her husband, Macbeth, saying that the three witches have prophesied that Macbeth is in line to become king. She is immediately filled with greed and ambition. Lady MacBeth expresses her greed for Macbeth to become king and her ambition to make that happen as soon as possible, when she says, “Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here and fill me from the crown to the toe top - full of direst cruelty” (1.5.30-33). We see that Lady Macbeth has a lot of greed and ambition at this time in the story. Near the end of the play, Lady Macbeth is racked with guilt and she becomes insane: “Out, damned spot!
Macbeth’s motivation throughout the play is not just a lust for power, it’s also a fear of what he did that follows him and guides him through his actions. His lust for power and fortunate prophecy in the beginning is what drives him to commit his first murder, but it is the madness from this action that keeps him going down this path. Lust for power is mirrored in our society by government officials and even people in our work force that can become just as power hungry as our tragic hero. In the beginning of the play, Macbeth is told by the witches that he will become a king and that his friend Banquo will have kings in his family line.
It is human nature to want power, to be at the top of the pyramid, to be king/queen, but that comes at a price as shown in Macbeth. In the play, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth will do anything to have absolute power and nothing stands in their way. From killing to going completely mad, they will become the next king and queen at all costs. The ambition and the want for power is so high that they kill many, they do whatever they can to be one step closer, and they go completely insane, all because they want that absolute power.
Power is always coveted in any society and the world of Shakespeare’s Macbeth is no different. In the play, Macbeth, a noble lord, shows his hunger for power with thoughts to remove an heir to the throne from power. Macbeth’s impatience to be king leads him to stain his honor by using murder. Macbeth travels further down the path of evil by arranging the assassination of a friend.
While most characters in Shakespeare’s Macbeth tend to stay static and have the same values as they did at the beginning of the play, Macbeth deteriorates because of his greedy and selfish nature into an abyss of gluttony. The reason behind this can be attributed to the witches, who predicted for both Macbeth and Banquo’s son to take the throne in Scotland. This put the greedy thought of power into Macbeth’s malignant mind. Macbeth begins the play as a well-off guy who is loyal and well-liked, but as greed and the urge to obtain power get pounded into his head by his wife, he slowly dwindles and he eventually becomes a savage that will do anything to maintain his power.
It’s safe to say that everyone has a natural ambition. And, many people know that ambition is a natural motivator, so most can agree that ambition is not necessarily a bad thing. Ambition is a motivator for self-improvement. However, without keeping yourself in check, too much ambition can quickly turn into greed. And eventually, if you don’t keep the right intentions greed can become too much greed.
The Civil War. The Napoleonic Wars. The Hundred Years’ War. The Vietnam War. The Korean War.
Blind Ambition and Greed The play “Macbeth”, by William Shakespeare illustrates many themes through the characters from the beginning to the end of the story. But the main central theme introduced is Ambition and Greed. As the play goes on we read how Macbeth permits his Ambition and Greed to dictate the outcomes and tragedy’s that occur to himself and others.
As humans, the desire to want control or influence is natural. However, some people may go to greater extremes than others to obtain this power. For instance, in the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Macbeth was characterized as a good man, well renowned for winning a battle. His wife, on the contrary, Lady Macbeth, has a strong urge to obtain power and she is willing to do anything to acquire it. She implemented the thought of destroying everyone who stood in the way along the path to reach royalty in Macbeth’s mind by making him feel like he as though he is less of a man if he decided not to.
Is it not weird how ambition for power corrupts one corrupt and leads them to their destiny? Ambition for power is lust which tempts one to be corruptive to acquire and protect it. However, in William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, it is evident that ambition for power ultimately leads to corruption when Macbeth’s ambition for power causes the assassination of King Duncan, when Macbeth’s ambition for power compels him to execute those who obstruct his inheritance to the Scottish Throne, and finally, when Lady Macbeth persuades Macbeth to assassinate the people who impede his Kingship of Scotland out of lust for power. Macbeth’s ambition for power is the root cause to King Duncan’s assassination.
What drives apparently good men to become ruthless, ambitious, jealous and greedy? We see an example of this in the play “Macbeth” performed at Pop Up Globe, directed by Tom Mallaburn, was written originally by the well-known author, William Shakespeare. Macbeth is based upon a big tragedy, where the two main characters, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, inevitably were forced to do evil things due to their ambition; taste the sweetness of victory and then downfall again. Although the play was written by an English author, Shakespeare smartly sets his story based upon the idea of ambition, a concept that relates to all of us, no matter where we are from. We have to admit that in our minds, the concept of power and ambition is linked to men.
