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Macbeth Ambition Research Paper

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Fabian Garibay Ms. Burk English 12-1 12 March 2023 Macbeth Essay Ambition is something that everyone has. It helps drive them and can even make a person’s decisions. For the most part, ambition is good, but can it ever be harmful? The answer to that is yes. This is especially shown in the play, The Tragedy of Macbeth. In this five act play each character has an ambition, these ambitions all vary from character to character. But for Lady Macbeth, her ambition gets the best of her. Lady Macbeth’s intent is to kill King Duncan, King of Scotland. This all started after three witches appeared and told her husband Macbeth that he would become king. Upon hearing this, she decides they are going to kill King Duncan. Lady Macbeth convinces her husband to …show more content…

This just goes to show he knows what he did was wrong. Many people can try and argue that Macbeth didn’t want to willingly kill his own friend, but was instead forced to do so. His wife heard what the witches said and forced him to. Lady Macbeth tested her husband’s loyalty the whole time. This led to Macbeth doing what he did. Although he was pressured by his wife, he could have stayed loyal to his friend, but he wasn’t forced entirely. Macbeth had already had these thoughts of killing his friend and it is mentioned in the summary of ACT 1 when it says, “Motivated by the witches’, Macbeth considers killing Duncan” (Tragedy of Macbeth 281). This goes on to show that Macbeth’s actions were not fully influenced by his wife. Although it was stated he still didn’t have to kill his friend, he was showing loyalty to his wife, but he could have also shown loyalty to his friend by not letting his toxic ambition take control. Ambition in this play is really shown throughout the whole thing, and it is even shown within the characters. Some showed more ambition than others did, and those characters either let it hurt them, while others didn’t let it affect

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Unlike his wife, Macbeth does not instantly assume he must do something as drastic as murdering the King of Scotland for his own political gain. In addition to this, Macbeth had serious doubt on murdering Duncan, as he held so much respect for him. His doubt is displayed in this quote, “But in these cases / We still have judgment here, that we but teach / Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return / To plague th' inventor: this even-handed justice/ Commends the ingredients of our poisoned chalice / To our own lips.” (1.7, 7-12).

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What Macbeth essentially says here is that his only motivation for killing King Duncan is his ambition. Many would argue that it was not Macbeth’s ambition that caused him to kill King Duncan but instead was his wife using her femininity in order to charm Macbeth into doing as she says . However, Macbeth’s hunger for power was already seen when King Duncan gives Malcolm the title of Prince of Cumberland. Macbeth tells himself that he must not reveal his true intentions: “Stars, hide your fires! Let not light see my black and deep desires.”

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The events that occur in Shakespeare’s Macbeth are extremely gruesome and dark. This is part of the reason that it is considered one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies. When looking for an explanation as to why these proceedings happened, the only true thing that is to blame is ambition. Ambition is defined as “a strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work.” The ambitions of Macbeth and Lady macbeth is what drove them to murdering their friends and colleagues.

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“The Science of Ambition: Why Some People are Most Likely to Succeed” article provides great examples of how ambition works and how it affects success. A story of two brothers who come from wealth but are eventually cut off by the parents so they turn a modest health club into a “luxury facility where private trainers could reserve space for top-dollar clients. It is clear that the two brothers are different and have a drive for success, this is ambition at its finest. Their main difference is that they are not “content to accept whatever life gives them” so these two go out of their way to be different. The poem “Ambition” puts forth the idea that a man with ambition has endless possibilities.

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Ambition is an important trait to have as an individual, it is what pushes you to strive for success. In life, an individual will encounter many obstacles which alter their ambitions and desires, which is often done due to the influences of others. When ambition and goals change, so does identity and character. This can have a positive effect or negative consequences. The noble Macbeth is seen as having little ambition at the beginning of the play.

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he'd still want to kill Duncan for his position and he absolutely hates that. On the other hand his wife, Lady Macbeth, she has been plotting a way to dethrone, if not, kill Duncan since the beginning of the play. This one was evil from the start. Instead of pushing his husband away from developing a corrupted mind like her own, Lady Macbeth instead guides him to killing Duncan. A key thing to remember is, Lady Macbeth only provided a small role to his husband's corruption psychologically, but overall what truly initiated his unethical mind was the witches prophecy.

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He feels that because the witches said it that it must be true no matter what the consequences in the future are. This is a leading factor that causes Macbeth to decide to murder King Duncan. Macbeth consciously makes the decision to commit treason and knows that it will have consequences. He even ponders the fact that although he will have a prosperous life on

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In Macbeth, a tragedy by William Shakespeare, Macbeth goes to the extreme, murder, in order to seize his place on the throne. Macbeth’s ambition for murder becomes ignited when he realizes the only way for him to quickly be the successor to the crown is to kill the current king, Duncan. As the play proceeds, he becomes increasingly paranoid about his place on the throne that he goes on a killing rampage, killing Duncan, his best friend, his best friend's child and his fellow nobleman including his family. Macbeth’s efforts proved nothing, ultimately being killed in the battle between himself and Malcolm, the rightful heir to the throne. Macbeth’s attitude toward pursuing his ambition transforms from willing to sacrifice his wellbeing, to thinking

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Macbeth committed murder to King Duncan for his love of his wife. Lady Macbeth wanted her husband Macbeth to commit murder for her own evil ambitions. She wanted her husband, Macbeth to kill Duncan so Macbeth will become king of Scotland and she will become queen (Act 1, Scene 6, Lines 16-31) She manipulates her husband into killing King Duncan by calling her husband a coward .(Act 1,Scene 5, Lines 44-50)

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A man, goaded by his wife, murders time and again to satisfy his hunger for power, slowly driving himself into insanity through his ambition. Ambition, both a blessing and a curse, lead Macbeth to a series of betrayals and murders of and by those closest to him. Conspiring with his wife in Act 1, Lady Macbeth had convinced Macbeth that by killing Duncan, King of Scotland, he could become the next King. He and Lady Macbeth planned the whole thing; who they would frame, how they would get past the guards, which one of them should be the one to do it, and how would they hide the knives once the deed had been accomplished. At the last second, Macbeth appeared to have a change of heart, but then his wife taunted him, insulting his manhood.

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Macbeth evidently undergoes a mental process by which he come round to the idea or murdering Duncan. He does this as a result of his wife’s manipulation, her leverage being his manliness. Without the role of Lady Macbeth, the murder of King Duncan would never have occurred in the play. Lady Macbeth had already been plotting for the murder since she received the letter concerning the three prophecies by the witches. Although Macbeth had sinister thoughts about having the throne, Macbeth would have never dared to take it upon himself to kill King Duncan and steal the throne from

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this could easily help persuade Macbeth to do what his wife wants much more easily. Other than that, his wife is still Attempting to make him commit the biggest crime possible. If someone can justify committing the biggest crime you can commit you might want to rethink their credibility. Macbeth is to blame for all of his death, actions, and all side effects of

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Macbeth’s ambition is what is causing him to intervene with his prophecy and pursue his goal (rather than leave it to chance). In a way, it is Macbeth’s own “black and deep desires” that make him kill in the first place as the witches never tell him to do so. Furthermore, apart from ambition, it is Macbeth’s own weak will and moral system that causes him to do the actions that result in his downfall. Macbeth’s weak will is undeniable and is illustrated before killing Duncan. “I have of spur/To prick the sides of my intent, but only/Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself/And falls on the other” (I, VII, 25-28).

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