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Overcoming Ambitions In Macbeth And The Odyssey

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Ambitions are strong desires to do or achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work.(Oxford Dictionaries, 2018) In Macbeth by William Shakespeare, and The Odyssey by Homer, both protagonists, Macbeth and Odysseus overcome obstacles on the pathway to chase their goals. Although Macbeth and Odysseus want completely different things, they share a similar drive, that they use to reach their goals. Odysseus wants to return home to Ithaca and visit Telemachus, his son, and Penelope, his wife, after 10 years of being away. He has a lot of things going on, and many challenges that can be distracting but at the end of the day he knows that he has to be focusing on getting home to his family. "I drove them, all three wailing, to the ships,/ tied them down under their rowing benches,/ and called the rest: All hands aboard/ come, clear the beach and no one taste/ the Lotus, or you lose your hope of home./ Filing in to their places by the rowlocks/ my oarsmen dipped their long oars in the surf,/ and we moved out again on our seafaring."(9.105-109) The ambition that Odysseus has makes him realize that being home with his family is what he really wants to do and that he needs to put …show more content…

Macbeth uses his ambition to chase his dream of being king of Scotland but it affects him in more of a negative way than a positive way. In Macbeth, ambition can be a good thing but at the

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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 play Macbeth involves a lot of ambition and negation. Macbeth was a great Scottish general. Macbeth comes along three witches and they tell him that he will be king. He listens to him and his strong leads him to wanting to become king. He will kill anyone that gets in his way.

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William Shakespeare used ambition as a tool to keep his audience engaged as they read Macbeth. Throughout the course of the play, Macbeth, has high aspirations about his future goals. The entire play is built around this war hero that desires the role of royalty. After Macbeth observed the witches’ prophecy he demanded the throne. The prophecy is interpreted by Macbeth as though no one can harm him.

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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.

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Ambition is a trait that all humans possess. Whether it be in work or personal life, one's ambition can help them climb the ladder of success. In the case of Macbeth, his abundance of ambition proves to be his greatest imperfection and in the end leads him to his downfall. The impact of his ambition is most clearly demonstrated in his killing of the King, the death of Banquo, and Macbeth’s reaction to his wife’s suicide.

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For example, in order for Macbeth to gain power, he must kill Duncan, the current king of Scotland, and take the throne: “I have no spur / To prick the sides of my intent, but only / vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself / And falls on th’ other–” (1.7.25-28). Macbeth is a perfect example of a person in society who is selfless and only cares for themself. Ambition is a very powerful thing, that it may even deceive the person with it, as it is thought anything is possible with ambition. Macbeth in this case, uses his ambition to the wrong extent which eventually leads to his downfall. For instance, Macbeth has started to realize how dangerous his ambitious thoughts can be: “I have supped full with horrors.

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Our ambitions are what push us to achieve our goals, but at what lengths would we take in order to achieve them?. Many people do or put themselves in positions that are unimaginable just to get what they want. Greed and constant craving of what we want is what many times causes us to lose ourselves. We then find ourselves thinking , was this all worth it at the end. In Macbeth, we see the main character Macbeth lose the person he once was, in order to become king.

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Ambition Ambition is a strong desire to do or to achieve something, requiring determination and hard work. In the play Macbeth ambition is dramatically used as a dangerous quality. In the way that Macbeth will even kill innocent lives, for example the guards, just to achieve what he has always wanted, which is to be king. Macbeth is willing to do anything so no one can take him out of power or over throw his throne. Although maybe his wicked ambition may not have been the best choice, ambition was the driving force of Macbeth.

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