Ambition in Macbeth Macbeth by William Shakespeare is a play that follows the main character, Macbeth, on his journey to be king. Even though Macbeth was written long ago, its ideas about ambition are still extremely relevant, and can be used to teach an important lesson. In Macbeth, Shakespeare uses Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s actions to show that when left unchecked, ambition can quickly turn into violence and greed. In Macbeth, Shakespeare writes Macbeth a lot of monologues that help readers or audiences understand more of what is going on inside his head. Macbeth’s thoughts are often plagued with desire, and later, guilt. Shakespeare uses Macbeth’s thoughts and actions to show that when left unchecked, ambition can quickly turn into greed …show more content…
In a monologue, Macbeth speaks directly to the audience, saying “[t]he greatest is behind”, showing his ambition to be king and excitement that he is one step closer to that goal (I.iii.125). This shows the audience that Macbeth greatly desires to be king, and gives a preview to the great lengths he is willing to go to to achieve this dream. Shakespeare furthers this motif after Macbeth talks to Duncan, where he tells the stars to “let not light see [his] black and deep desires” (I.iv.58). Macbeth is afraid of his desires to be king, prophesying his later intent to kill Duncan. This shows that Macbeth’s ambition becomes too powerful, and it eventually leads to violence in the form of murder. Later in the book, Shakespeare again mentions Macbeth’s ambition—when Banquo hints at how Macbeth’s ambition led him to kill Duncan, saying he fears that Macbeth “played most foully for [king]” (III.i.2). Macbeth’s ambition at first was to be king, but once crowned king, his ambitions continued to grow. In most of the later part of the book, Macbeth is focused in trying to get rid of Banquo and his son, because he wants his sons to be king and not Banquo’s. This shows that if ambition is