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Macbeth's ambition and its effect on his life
Macbeth character analysis
Macbeth as ambitious
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Macbeth's ambition and its effect on his life
Macbeth character analysis
Macbeth as ambitious
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
In English, I felt listless and ready to fall asleep. I glanced out the window. Once again rain was thrashing outside, and the sky was a surprising, saturated shade of dark blue. Ms. Valentine was turned, faced towards the whiteboard and began writing. We had returned to our reading of Macbeth, and despite my fondness for literature, I couldn’t be any less enthusiastic.
The Tragic Flaws of Macbeth Macbeth wanted to be king so badly he would not let anything or anyone stand in his way. In “The Tragedy of Macbeth” by William Shakespeare, Macbeth receives a prophecy that he will become king of Scotland, leading him to kill those who stand in his way, and ultimately resulting in his death. People become desensitized to their wrongdoings because their flaws alter their judgment. This can be seen in Macbeth within his tragic flaws: insecurity, ambition, and greed.
In play Macbeth, Shakespeare reveals that an individual’s great desire for power will lead him/her to perform consequential deeds that will scar his/her conscience and change the outcome of his/her life eternally. Macbeth is informed by three witches that he is going to become king and this initiates Macbeth’s thought of becoming powerful. Macbeth doesn’t act on his thoughts until he tells his wife, Lady Macbeth, that he could become king. Lady Macbeth is extremely power hungry and does all she can to convince Macbeth to be just as desirable as her. Together, they come up with a plan to murder King Duncan, so that Macbeth can become king like the witches foretold.
In William Shakespeare's play 'Macbeth', the lead character Macbeth illustrates the terrible consequences of succumbing to tragic flaws. Macbeth indeed does have control over his destiny, despite the external influences of the witches and Lady Macbeth, who instead are secondary contributing factors that help to push him to his downfall and commit tragic murders, rather than being fully culpable. In the early 16th century, Jacobean era, there was widespread belief in witchcraft; there was also a lack of stability regarding the political climate due to the ascension of James the VI and I to the throne. Shakespeare integrated factors, inspired by these tumultuous events, such as manipulation of the great chain of being and the conspiracies of
When we are first presented with the character of Macbeth he is pictured as a noble and loyal warrior. However, once his future is presented to him by the witches saying that he, Macbeth, is to become the next great King of Scotland, he begins to lose focus and makes the wrong decisions. Macbeth begins to only make choices that will benefit only himself and to gain power. Becoming almost unrecognizable to the person he once was. After confronting his wife, Lady Macbeth, he isn't the only one with a lust for power.
Greed for power leads corrupt leaders to pursue power through ruthless and violent ways, putting their countries in an unstable state. Macbeth commits murders and violent acts to earn his absolute power, but his corrupt mindset of yearning power leads to instability in the Scotland. After hearing from the witches, Macbeth admits 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.”
Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, is a play that mainly focuses on one common theme of insanity. Macbeth gradually becomes plagued by intense guilt as his desire for power drives him to attain his goals by any means necessary, including committing murder. He kills Duncan in cold blood in order to become King, has Banquo killed by three murderers because he wishes to maintain his position as King, and finally, he has Macduff’s family slaughtered. Each of these occurrences takes place because of Macbeth’s will to be King, or they are a result of his guilt. Nonetheless, they are all completed of his free will, which is what causes him to deteriorate mentally.
At the beginning of William Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ the protagonist Macbeth is described as ‘brave’, ‘noble’ and ‘honourable’, however Lady Macbeth’s and Macbeths desire for power consumes them. Macbeth’s ambition overrides his conscience and transformed his greatest strength into his greatest weakness. Macbeth’s inability to resist temptations that led him to be greedy for power, Macbeth’s easily manipulative nature which allowed his mind to be swayed, Macbeth having no self control and his excessive pride was what allowed him to renew his previously honourable and celebrated title into one of an evil ‘tyrant’. Macbeth is led by the prophecies of the witches after they foretell he will become the Thane of Cawdor. Not only the witches, but also his wife easily manipulate Macbeth as she attacks his manhood in order to provoke him to act on his desires.
At the end of the play Macbeth ambition was too big and it made him went to the wrong path which led to his death. First reason, Macbeth was thinking about murdering the king and it’s not a good choice. Then he finally did his unforgivable move which is kill the king when the king was visiting his castle. He couldn’t control himself because his ambition was getting too big and it swallow him. A quote in the play said ”
“ I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself And falls on the other” (I, vii, 26-28) Macbeth's fatal flaw is too much ambition and he even says it himself. This quote is very ironic because he says that ambition will make people rush into disaster, which is exactly what happens to him later on.
Macbeth is the Shakespearean play that features the triumphant uprise and the inevitable downfall of its main character. In this play, Macbeth’s downfall can be considered to be the loss of his moral integrity and this is achieved by ambition, despite this, Lady Macbeth and the witches work through his ambition, furthering to assist his inevitable ruin. Ambition alone is the most significant factor that led to Macbeth’s downfall. The witches are only able to influence his actions through Macbeth’s pre-existing and the three witches see that Macbeth has ambition and uses it to control his action. Ambition alone is displayed throughout the play to be the most significant cause for Macbeth’s downfall.
For Macbeth, he is motive by the fulfill of the prophecies, which facilitate the growth of ambition. “He will be fooled into thinking he is greater than fate, he will mock death, and he will think he is above wisdom, grace, and fear.” (Crowther.3.5.2). As Hecate, the head of the witches suggests, the prophecies are made to fool Macbeth and lead him into the completely wicked way of killing people in order to satisfy his intrigued ambition and paranoid thoughts. In other words, the deterioration of Macbeth’s character and all the immoral practice done by Macbeth and her wife predominantly provoked by the prophecies, which in fact, only contains one piece of real information, possession of The Thane of Cawdor by Macbeth.
Macbeth’s failures are the direct result of the poor choices he makes when influenced by outside forces. The external influences of Lady Macbeth’s forcefulness, the witches’ prophecies, and his own blind greed conspired to ruin him. This demonstrates that people can be easily manipulated into self-depriving choices. Macbeth’s first failure occurred when the witches influenced him with their prophecy.
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).
That tragic flaw is his ambition to be king. He wants to be king so badly that he will murder if that is what it takes. Macbeth allows Lady Macbeth to manipulate him into killing Duncan and his desires are so strong that he acts on them. He gets extremely guilty and starts to hallucinate voices, people and objects. “I 'll go no more.