Macbeth’s decision is heavily influenced by Lady Macbeth’s attack on his manhood. She discusses the power that Macbeth will possess if he is brave enough to do anything. “I am settled, and bend up/ Each corporal agent to this terrible feat.” (Shakespeare 1.7.79-80) Macbeth makes an impulsive choice that is very unlike his true character. He is at the point where he would do anything that will make him the King of Scotland, such as killing Duncan.
William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a testimony to the difference between greed and ambition, good and evil, and right and wrong. The story shows that when one becomes obsessed with power, they will often resort to methods of manipulation and retaliation to achieve their desired outcome. In the case of Macbeth, he is approached by the Three Witches who inform him that he will one day become Thane of Cawdor and the King of Scotland. Additionally, they inform Macbeth’s comrade Banquo that his sons will one day be kings.
Macbeth knows that if he kills Duncan, he gets the satisfaction in being king. Once Macbeth receives the position of “Thane of Cawdor” for his bravery so easily. “If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me without my sir”(1.3.143-144). So he begins to think that since he received this higher position with doing nothing, then maybe doing nothing can crown him king. Although he was a very nice person, down deep he wanted to become king.
At the start of the play, Macbeth is well respected among King Duncan’s army. He encounters three witches who give him a prophecy that he will become king. At first, Macbeth believes that fate and the natural order will lead him to become king, and he doesn’t have to do anything. Macbeth’s wife convinces him to kill King Duncan, which he eventually proceeds to do. Macbeth continues to commit murders to maintain his power, and he thinks there is no going back.
William Shakespeare is considered as one of the best play writers in history. One of his most well known plays is Macbeth where a Scottish general named Macbeth has a strong desire to be king which leads him to betray and murder his king, Duncan. He also kills the nobles who have been loyal to him in order to maintain his title as king. Throughout this play, Shakespeare uses the motif of ambition, guilt, and fate to characterize the characters, show the different themes present within the play, and how the motifs are still relevant today.
Sean Smith Mrs. Anthony Senior English 8 March 2018 The Danger of Ambition In Shakespeare’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth”, the author proposes a perpetual loop of struggle through his use of fate and imagery of the character’s deaths in order to express the consequences for one’s actions if they are foolish enough to make these decisions. “The Tragedy of Macbeth” is a uniquely portrayed concept of fate, internal struggle, and paradox; the story depicts a human with intentions to receive power.
At the beginning of William Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ the protagonist Macbeth is described as ‘brave’, ‘noble’ and ‘honourable’, however Lady Macbeth’s and Macbeths desire for power consumes them. Macbeth’s ambition overrides his conscience and transformed his greatest strength into his greatest weakness. Macbeth’s inability to resist temptations that led him to be greedy for power, Macbeth’s easily manipulative nature which allowed his mind to be swayed, Macbeth having no self control and his excessive pride was what allowed him to renew his previously honourable and celebrated title into one of an evil ‘tyrant’. Macbeth is led by the prophecies of the witches after they foretell he will become the Thane of Cawdor. Not only the witches, but also his wife easily manipulate Macbeth as she attacks his manhood in order to provoke him to act on his desires.
He feels that because the witches said it that it must be true no matter what the consequences in the future are. This is a leading factor that causes Macbeth to decide to murder King Duncan. Macbeth consciously makes the decision to commit treason and knows that it will have consequences. He even ponders the fact that although he will have a prosperous life on
“If chance will have me king, why chance may crown me, without my stir” (Shakespeare 144). Macbeth, a loyal subject to his king has an encounter that will change his fate with an ultimate effect on his free will. They claim three predictions, Macbeth will be the Thane of Cawdor and later crowned King but Macbeths lineage will not maintain the throne. After this supernatural confrontation, Macbeth questions this loyalty which will ultimately lead to his new fate carried out (LitCharts 1). Fully capable to act upon his own free will, Macbeth instead is driven by fate to his destruction which gives further insight of his character advancement.
In Shakespeare’s Macbeth the witches informs Macbeth of his fate that he will become the king in the future. Macbeth believes the witches words and Lady Macbeth persuade him to become the king and murder all the people that get in the way. Shakespeare shows us that fate is complicated by our actions, Macbeth will do anything to meet his fate that in the end lead him to his death because of his greediness.
Lady Macbeth is power hungry for the throne and she will do anything to achieve her goal. Her pleasure of having the thought of killing Duncan is revealed. These murderous thoughts that run through her mind shows how desperate she is to acquire power. Although it is the beginning of the play, her dark ambitions sets a dark tone for her character in the play. This coincidentally adds to the assurance of Macbeth’s prophecy which is that Macbeth will become king, but King Duncan is still alive.
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.
Macbeth’s ambition is what is causing him to intervene with his prophecy and pursue his goal (rather than leave it to chance). In a way, it is Macbeth’s own “black and deep desires” that make him kill in the first place as the witches never tell him to do so. Furthermore, apart from ambition, it is Macbeth’s own weak will and moral system that causes him to do the actions that result in his downfall. Macbeth’s weak will is undeniable and is illustrated before killing Duncan. “I have of 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).
The personality of Macbeth changes over the course of the play as Macbeth murders many innocent people like, Duncan, Banquo and Macduff's family. The death of these characters symbolizes the death and birth of something inside Macbeth and the beginning of his downfall. Macbeth, at the beginning or the play, a brave soldier only protecting his people and his king, to Macbeth a murderous tyrant only looking out for the greater good of himself. The death of Duncan symbolized the death of Macbeth's before anxious and confused self and birthed a Macbeth full of guilt and anxiety. After being led to Duncan by a floating dagger and murdering him, Macbeth returns to his wife crying, "One cried "God Bless us!"
and obtains the title, which trigger an arrogant and self-absorbed thinking leading to madness and finally, death. The play seems to bring up the question, whether Macbeth is fully responsible of his own destiny, or under control of fate. In the first glance, the play seems to take rather fatalistic direction, meaning that we are powerless to make decisions as they are inevitably determined by supernatural power (Hugh 1)) It is due to the presence of supernatural forces throughout the whole play that systematically fulfills the prophecy; therefore the witches represent the idea of fate in the play. However, Shakespeare seems to rather intertwine fate with free will and perhaps even promotes the second philosophy as the play evolves.
