Ambition is defined as a strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work. It can cause someone to lose sight of what is morally right, and make rash decisions without thinking of the repercussions. However, what is ambition without determination to drive it forward? In Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, the character Lady Macbeth is filled with a passion for power, and will do whatever it takes to get it. In a society where women have little status, she is seen as fiendishly cruel, when actually she is just trying to get to the top of the social ladder with little help from others. Surrounded by people who disrespect and disobey her, she must do whatever it takes to make her fantasy of becoming a head …show more content…
If something is not going as planned, someone will take charge of the situation and make it go their own way. When explaining to Macbeth how he must act in a way that no one suspects he committed the murder, she says, “To beguile the time, / Look like the time. Bear welcome in your eye, / Your hand, your tongue. Look like th' innocent / flower, / But be the serpent under’t” (1.5.74-78). In order to deceive those around them, Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth that he should appear the way that people expect him to look; innocent. She explains how he must pretend to be virtuous, while hiding his devious ways. She understands that he would not have done this own, so she decided to take charge of the situation and tell him how it must be done. As the king starts making his way towards them, she says, “He that’s coming / Must be provided for; and you shall put / This night’s great business into my dispatch, / Which shall to all our nights and days to come / Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom” (1.5.78-82). She completely takes control of the preparations needed for the murder to take place that night, knowing that she is the only one who will do it the way she wants it. Acting as a “sovereign,” she lets him know that she will be in charge of what happens. She knows that the events which will happen later that night will change their lives forever, so she wants it to be done in the correct manner. Her deep ambition comes out her, and is backed up with motivation to do the job in a precise way, which only she