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Analysis of Macbeth play
Shakespeare's influence
Analysis of the play Macbeth
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Analysis of Macbeth play
Shakespeare's influence
Analysis of the play Macbeth
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
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.
Macbeth feels regret and guilt after murdering King Duncan. He is beginning to understand the consequences of his actions and the disruption of the natural order that he has caused. Macbeth’s guilt shows that he still has some understanding of the natural order, but his ambition and desire for power are clouding his judgment. “I am in blood / Stepp’d in so far, that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o’er” (3.4.136-138).
Impact Of Ambition on Self and Others Ambition is often defined as the driving force that pushes individuals to overcome or attain the impossible. Possessing the character trait is a milestone in one's path to success. However, ambition can become one's doom. It can corrupt individuals, impact their relationships or build a ruthless force leading them to catastrophic failure. Consequently, Shakespeare, in his play Macbeth, which features the conquest of a Scottish nobleman to become the king of Scotland, articulately highlights how ambition can be dangerous to both an individual and others around them.
As his mental ability deteriorates, he becomes more violent and more unprincipled due to ambition throughout the play. The honourable Macbeth is destroyed by his own mental deterioration and his infinite ambition. Moreover, Macbeth becomes a ruthless tyrant and loses people’s admiration since his
In Macbeth, while contemplating whether or not he should kill Duncan, Macbeth says. “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.25-28). Macbeth is saying that he has ambition to kill Duncan, but there is no good reason to except for him to gain power. At this point, Macbeth has little power, only ruling his own homeland, so when he does kill Duncan later in the story, he is able to keep his morals intact. He is doing something that, in his mind, he needs to do.
In Act 1 Scene 5 (14-29) it says “Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great, art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it. What thou wouldst highly, that wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false, and yet wouldst wrongly win.” Lady Macbeth says that he is too much of an coward to become king because, he usually backs out of whatever he has to do to become king and to stay as king. Even though Macbeth killed Duncan, it doesn’t make him more ambitious, because he didn’t want to kill Duncan. After he killed Duncan he started to regret what he did.
Macbeth’s ambition is advantageous here because it contributes to his awareness. In order for Macbeth to become king, he must be aware of people that stand in his way, like Malcolm. He must also be aware that he must not reveal his ambition to others. Keeping his desires secret is the key to getting away with killing Duncan. Without these awarenesses, Macbeth’s murder could have resulted in two different detrimental ways.
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.
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.
Is it not weird how ambition for power corrupts one corrupt and leads them to their destiny? Ambition for power is lust which tempts one to be corruptive to acquire and protect it. However, in William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, it is evident that ambition for power ultimately leads to corruption when Macbeth’s ambition for power causes the assassination of King Duncan, when Macbeth’s ambition for power compels him to execute those who obstruct his inheritance to the Scottish Throne, and finally, when Lady Macbeth persuades Macbeth to assassinate the people who impede his Kingship of Scotland out of lust for power. Macbeth’s ambition for power is the root cause to King Duncan’s assassination.
The choices we make reflect ourselves and represents what we have been through with our lives and what experiences we have with certain areas in life. In the play Macbeth, William Shakespeare uses the concept of ambition to explore its impact on Macbeth’s personality and thoughts. Evil motivation is one of the ultimate outcomes of excessive ambition. Motivation is always apparent when the reward for accomplishment is very appealing. For Macbeth, his drive to obtain more power through evil was his ultimate downfall.
like in scene one and two, is where we first see the desire of the power climbing to Macbeth. Which in reality Macbeth had no reason to kill Duncan, Duncan was just amazing at being king.as he being selfish and wants all the power for himself. Macbeth committing the murder of Duncan was under the influence if the three witches. Guilt cause him a grate a great deal og mental and anguish and leads him to hallucination’s. Now the motivation of Macbeth has grown more to have it all.
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.
Blind Ambition and Greed The play “Macbeth”, by William Shakespeare illustrates many themes through the characters from the beginning to the end of the story. But the main central theme introduced is Ambition and Greed. As the play goes on we read how Macbeth permits his Ambition and Greed to dictate the outcomes and tragedy’s that occur to himself and others.
Ambition is a natural part of human existence, every person has it at least a little. It is when ambition grows too large and takes control of us that it becomes dangerous. It becomes obsessive and soon nothing will stop the person obsessed. Just by looking around at our world today, one can clearly see the results of unchecked ambition. Unchecked ambition can be destructive to a society and cause the society's downfall.