In Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of Macbeth, the main character, Macbeth, had many different characteristics, but the one that surpassed all others was his ambition. As the story progressed, there are many examples that can be seen where his ambition has influenced his perspective on right and wrong. His ambition consumed him to a point where he was more monster than mortal as seen when he went on a murdering spree. He then lost people of Scotland’s favor and they rebelled against him leading to his death. While ambition may not necessarily be bad, his blindness to the consequences caused it to become a pernicious trait.
In the beginning of the play, Shakespeare introduces three witches who give Macbeth three prophecies about his future. Up until this point Macbeth is the town hero who killed the King’s traitor. It wasn’t until the witches said “All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter” (1.3.50) that Macbeth thought of betraying his king. This prophecy is the catalyst of Macbeth’s blind ambition. Not wanting to wait until he became King, he had thoughts of killing Duncan, the current king. However, he didn’t want to go through
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While he had Banquo killed, Fleance was able to escape death. After hearing what happened, Macbeth started hallucinating and seeing Banquo’s ghost. He talked to the ghost denying having him killed by saying “Thou canst not say I did it. Never shake thy gory locks at me.” (3.4.50-51) .To get assurance that nobody would take his crown from him, he went to see the three witches. Upon arrival he was shown an apparition that told him to beware Macduff (4.1.71-72). Seeing as how Macduff was a threat to his reign, he sent murderers to have him killed. However, seeing that he wasn’t there, they killed his wife and son. Meanwhile, Macduff was in England with Duncan’s son, Malcom, trying to get help to overthrow