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Macbeth Vaulting Ambition Analysis

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William Shakespeare’s Macbeth was first performed for King James I of England and VI of Scotland in 1606. James was descended from Banquo’s line, and through which he had become king. Shakespeare told the story of Macbeth with minor alterations to the historical tale; one such change was he portrayed Banquo as innocent and uninvolved in King Duncan’s murder. This left the blame entirely on Macbeth. Macbeth goes on to commit many murders throughout the play, but to what extent were these murders a result of Macbeth’s ‘Vaulting Ambition’? The phrase ‘vaulting ambition’ comes from Act I, Scene VII, from Macbeth’s soliloquy. He attempts to rationalize his future actions – committing regicide and assassinating King Duncan. To a Stuart audience like the one the play was first performed to, regicide was the worst crime a person could commit. This is a result of the belief in the Divine Right of Kings. The belief says that a king was chosen by God, and hence a crime against a royal was a crime against God himself. Macbeth acknowledges this, as he describes how ‘tears shall drown the wind’; even nature would cry if Duncan was killed. He also speaks of ‘this bank and shoal of time’. This could be in reference to the river …show more content…

However, this is not the first time the witches have mentioned Macbeth. The third Witch mentions in Act I, scene I, that the next time the three will meet, shall be to meet with Macbeth. This would all occur after ‘the battles lost, and won’. While this could be in reference to the battle in which Macbeth is fighting for Duncan against Norway, it could also be in reference to a metaphorical battle for Macbeth’s soul. This association also is shown in Macbeth’s unwitting echo of the witches ‘so foul and fair a day I have not seen’. This suggests that the Witches are heavily influencing Macbeth. However, it is the predictions they make that show the influence they

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Shakespeare presents the theme of ambition in Macbeth. Ambition is a strong desire to do or achieve something, ambition can also be presented in a positive and negative way. Shakespeare presents ambition in a negative way through some characters who are Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and King Duncan. The reason these characters present ambition in a negative way is because they end up dying. Ambition is also present in a positive way through some characters who are Macduff, Witches and Malcolm these are the characters who survive in the play showing that you can be ambitious but not too ambitious.

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The witches catch Macbeth at the opportune moment: when he is returning from battle and filled with pride from all the kills he made. They look exactly how you would expect witches to look: in tattered robes, unruly hair and speaking in riddles. Shakespeare most likely also added a supernatural element as King James I was said to have a significant interest in the subject. The witches also represent pure, unaltered evil as back in the Jacobean era they were associated with Satan. Wherever they go, there is thunder and lightning which signals a storm is coming; this foreshadows something dark and ominous.

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Did the Three Witches Control Macbeth’s Fate? “All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter.” (Shakespeare. I.iii.52). In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, Macbeth’s fate can be seen from two different viewpoints.

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Tamara Z. In Shakespeare's tragic play Macbeth , The named character finds himself in conflict with what he believes to be morally right and his lust for power. This burning desire leads Macbeth to make corrupt decisions which ultimately result in his downfall and the downfall of the kingdom . When Macbeth hears his prophecy he is swayed by the witches and later by his wife , who challenges his manhood and fuels his desire . Macbeth quickly takes matters into his own hands and disrupts fate and nature .

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(Shakespeare 1.3.52-55). Macbeth is influenced by his greed for power to use ruthless actions, in this case to kill Duncan to receive the crown he thinks he needs to earn that power. Overwhelmed by his greed, he is already thinking about the “murder” as he

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887 Words | 4 Pages

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” is a tragedy written by Shakespeare. The story is played somewhere between 1600 and was performed for King James 1.It is a tragedy about a man’s fall. It could be suggested that macbeth is responsible for the death of king Duncan. According to my point of view, Macbeth didn’t killed Duncan , banquo and macduff 's family because he wanted to be evil because he met the witches .He did everything because of ambition, jealousy , lust for power and because he was power hungry from the beginning.

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Macbeth is also a power hungry man who would do just about anything to achieve his goal of becoming King. When Macbeth first hears the prophecies from the three witches he instantly became invested with the journey to become king. Similar to Lady Macbeth, nothing was going to come between him and his potential power, “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, shakes so my single state of man. That function is smother'd in surmise, and nothing is but what is not” (1.3.52-55). This quote exemplifies how Macbeth’s initial solution to becoming king was murder.

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The witches tell Macbeth “that [he] shalt be king hereafter”(1.3.53), foreshadowing his impractical rise to power. As Macbeth prepares to kill Duncan, he draws his dagger and says,”Thou marshall'st me the way that I was going/And such an instrument I was to use”(2.1.54-55). This exemplifies Macbeth’s true and impatient motives as he was never told to kill Duncan, rather chose to out of his freewill. Killing Duncan wasn’t enough though, as Macbeth needed someone to blame the murder on, so he framed the guards who were there to protect Duncan. Lady Macbeth decides to “smear/The sleepy grooms with blood”(2.2.63-64), which Macbeth could have objected to, but still continued, which made him worse of a person, steering him into a disastrous path.

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Macbeth feels his destiny is to murder King Duncan and become the King of Scotland, which is why Macbeth promises Lady Macbeth achieve his destiny. Therefore, Macbeth’s ambition for power leads to the death of King Duncan. Moreover, Macbeth’s ambition for power triggers the massacre the ones who impede him from his pathway to the Scottish Throne. First, Macbeth has murderers kill Banquo to avoid obstructions in his plan to become the King of Scotland. Macbeth tells the three murderers hired: “…

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1288 Words | 6 Pages

Macbeth was the Thane of Cawdor but he wanted to be king more than anything. The witches had told him that he would one day be king but he did not know how long that would take so when King Duncan had been invited to stay the night at his house he exclaimed that “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,/ shakes so my single state of man/ that function is smother 'd in surmise,/ and nothing is but what is not”(1.3.52-55). He felt that if he were to kill King Duncan that he would have a better chance of becoming king. Though the witches had never told him that someone would need to get murdered for him to become king, his ambition tempted him to quicken this process the only way he felt he could. This was the beginning of the murderer that the witches had created with the fortune telling.

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688 Words | 3 Pages

What is ambition? Ambition is the determination to achieve one’s goals. In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare the protagonist, Macbeth, possesses ambition, which led to his downfall. In the play Macbeth’s ambition is driven by prophecies from witches and his wife’s aspiration. Ambition caused Macbeth to commit multiple homicides and after those wrongdoings Macbeth is left with nothing.

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780 Words | 4 Pages

Lady Macbeth is power hungry for the throne and she will do anything to achieve her goal. Her pleasure of having the thought of killing Duncan is revealed. These murderous thoughts that run through her mind shows how desperate she is to acquire power. Although it is the beginning of the play, her dark ambitions sets a dark tone for her character in the play. This coincidentally adds to the assurance of Macbeth’s prophecy which is that Macbeth will become king, but King Duncan is still alive.

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1241 Words | 5 Pages

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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1878 Words | 8 Pages

The next step the reader sees of Macbeth’s growing ambition is in Act II. Macbeth is writing a letter to his wife informing her of the prophecies made by the Weird Sisters, and also of the King’s intentions to visit their household that evening. Reading this, Lady Macbeth promptly concocts a plan to murder the King in their household. That night, Macbeth tries to draw off the plan, “We will proceed no further in this business” (1.7.31). This shows that Macbeth’s ambition has not become so strong as to kill someone, nonetheless, this does not last long.

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