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The Role Of Ambition In The Elizabethan Era

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The Elizabethan Era (1558 - 1603) was a time period centered around the advancement of cultural and artistic expression in sixteenth-century England. William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), an English playwright, wrote a total of thirty-seven plays throughout the Elizabethan Era. Macbeth, a play written by Shakespeare in 1606, discusses the idea of ambition as a central flaw. Shakespeare uses the character Macbeth as an example of how humans are often controlled by their central flaw. In this case, Macbeth is a slave to his unchecked ambition and lets his ambition motivate his actions. Throughout the play Macbeth experiences an identity transformation, he starts off as someone with patience and self-control, and evolves into a person controlled by his unchecked ambition and corrupted by his guilt. Ambition drives Macbeth’s desires, grows, and subsequently leads Macbeth into experiencing a heroic downfall, through suffering the internal consequences of his treasonous actions.
Macbeth’s ambition feeds his desire to become the king of Scotland, resulting in Macbeth considering to murder Duncan and ultimately his ambition takes control and he follows through with …show more content…

Guilt builds up within Macbeth due to the actions his unchecked ambition convinces him to follow through with, which is why Macbeth experiences a heroic downfall. The transgressions made by Macbeth sparked the beginning of his mind becoming clouded with guilt and unease, because Macbeth knew what he was doing was wrong. When members of a society are guilty, we often choose not to confess, but to further our faulty actions. This continuation of our actions is driven by our need to protect ourselves. Humans are not able admit they are at fault; therefore, are overcome by guilt and stray further away from

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Macbeth’s personality as a dynamic character changes throughout the play as opposed to a static character like Lady Macbeth, whose fixed goal is to kill King Duncan. A dynamic character allows Shakespeare to create a tragic hero, since Macbeth is of noble birth, goodwilled and transitions to evil natured and faces his downfall. The alterations Shakespeare makes for King Duncan and the events that surround his demise, reveals Shakespeare’s feelings regarding the monarchy, which serves dramatic and thematic purposes. These changes exemplify Duncan’s kingly virtues and underlines the calamitous ramifications for slaying the monarch. Shakespeare’s

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Macbeth’s mental condition begins to dwindle as time goes on, starting with the murder of Duncan. At first, Macbeth is seen as a soldier that everyone aspires to be, strong, brave, and compassionate about his duties to the king. In act one scene two, Captain says, “...For brave Macbeth-well he deserves that name-...” This shows that he is a likeable person who has only the objective of serving his king. After meeting with the witches and hearing his prophecy, Macbeth starts to think about what it would be like to be king of Scotland.

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