How Does Shakespeare Present Ambition In Macbeth

When Macbeth receives his prophecy he acts on it immediately, interpreting the prophecy as an excuse to act on his ambitions and greed. In scene three, Act One, the witches are approached by Macbeth, and they present him with a prophecy, “All hail,” the Third Witch cries, “Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!” (I.III.50). The diction the witches exhibit when talking to Macbeth purposefully makes Macbeth feel empowered and confident. They use words like “hail” to lift him up and make him feel above others, and call him a “king” alongside his other titles to boost him even more. This revelation Macbeth has about his future leads him to concoct radical ideas about how he plans to achieve this future. His newfound ideas use his own misinterpretation

Macbeth is thought to be mad before his wife, Lady Macbeth, excuses his delusions as a symptom of disease. However, Macbeth's guilt and paranoia still lingers after the dinner. He can’t seem to get his misdeeds out of his head, he tells the ghost, a materialization of his fear of being found out as a murderer, to “avaunt,” and “quit [his] sight” in an attempt to get rid of his guilt and paranoia, but it fails. He is terrified of being pushed out of power and killed for his crimes, which only fuels his madness. As Macbeth grows more familiar with murder, he is plagued with spouts of insanity and insecurity in his struggle for power. Macbeth believes he’s indestructible because of his prophecies, he continues to manically slay his enemies, leading to his unexpected demise. When Macbeth meets the three witches again, he asks for another prophecy, so the witches agree and reveal their last prophecy to Macbeth: “Laugh to scorn/The power of man, for none of woman born/Shall harm Macbeth.Macbeth shall never be vanquished until/Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill/Shall come against him” (IV.I.90-92 &

The witches' words made it seem like nobody could challenge Macbeth, as everyone was born from a woman, and the forest can’t move, therefore he deemed himself unkillable. But the witches never said Macbeth would be unkillable, they merely gave him warnings of how his demise would happen. Macbeth, again, misinterprets the prophecy, ignoring the bad parts and focusing on his success. His confidence skyrockets and his guilt and paranoia dissipates, he’s no longer scared of death. In the final battle of Macbeth, Macduff uses branches from Birnam wood to hide the volume of his army, although Macbeth is told of this occurrence, he doesn’t panic. He’s still convinced he’s invincible. In his face off with Macduff he confesses “[he] bear[s] a charmèd life, which must not yield/To one woman born,” to which Macduff reveals he is in fact not woman born, his mother’s womb was ripped (V.VIII.15-16). Macbeth, although shaken, hangs on to his delusions and fights Macduff, but predictably dies in the battle. Macbeth was confident until the end, claiming he had a “charmed life” from the witch’s