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What Is Macbeth's Tragic Ambition

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Tragic Ambition

Julius Caesar once wisely reckoned, "If I fail it is only because I have too much […] ambition." The playwright William Shakespeare, if alive today, would earnestly confirm the truth of this quote, as demonstrated in his elegant tragedy, Macbeth. A tale of a thane named Macbeth and his quest for the throne, his life quickly spirals downward as he wholeheartedly believes and acts upon the prophecies revealed by the Weïrd Sisters regarding his fate. After betraying and brutally murdering several fellow royals, Macduff eventually returns the favor, taking Macbeth's life, restoring the Order of the Universe. Through this play, Shakespeare proves how harboring too much ambition is the root of selfishness, which lends itself to …show more content…

However, before succumbing to this demise, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth were simply selfish characters ambitiously vying for more control. Macbeth's primary goal in the play is to become Scotland's king, and he quickly realizes that there are a few people directly blocking his path to the crown. The clearest …show more content…

In Macbeth's concluding act, Lady Macbeth's life ends abruptly, so Seyton announces to Macbeth "The Queen, my lord, is dead," to which he responds, "She should have died hereafter […] Out, out brief candle!" (5.5.19-20,26). Lady Macbeth gets what she deserves for the role she plays in causing the deaths of many characters in this play: a physical death and the betrayal of her husband. As her husband harshly denies her with the phrases out, out and should have died, she suddenly loses the acceptance of the person that she loved and trusted the deepest. Her legacy is shattered as the primary person that would remember her fondly and pass down these memories through the generations, betrays her. Along with Macbeth's actions, his inactions equally prove his utter lack of respect for his deceased wife; he did not weep, fall to his knees, or react angrily. Lady Macbeth dies, and Macbeth promptly betrays her, destroying her reputation, which her actions certainly merit. In addition, in the dramatic final scene Macbeth's head is viciously chopped off by one of the surviving victims of his crimes, Macduff. After Macduff defeats Macbeth in a duel, the following stage directions say: "Enter Macduff with Macbeth's head. MACDUFF: Hail, king! For so thou art. Behold where stands th' usurper's curséd head. The time is free" (5.8.65-66). In this text,

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The play entitled Macbeth by William Shakespeare portrays Macbeth, a loyal and brave thane to the king. When a prophecy reveals he will become king, Macbeth is overcome with ambition and greed. Convinced of this prophecy and the encouragement from his wife, he is able to kill the king and take the throne. Although Macbeth was able to obtain the throne, he was was overwhelmed by power and guilt leading to internal conflict, which suggests that success is not desirable through cheating and corruption and ultimately cost more than its actually worth, Macbeth`s reckless pursuit of killing and becoming the king is representative of the power he has and what he is able to do with the power he's gained; therefore. His relentless ambition for king reveals the guilt behind power.

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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.

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He becomes so caught up in his ambitions that when Lady Macbeth dies he barely reacts, his first words are “She should have died hereafter.” Showing the dismissive attitude he now has when it comes to Lady Macbeth and how truly detached he is. It also contrasts with his earlier emotions as this quote clearly displays to us how he is incapable of

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In this five act play each character has an ambition, these ambitions all vary from character to character. But for Lady Macbeth, her ambition gets the best of her. Lady Macbeth’s intent is to kill King Duncan, King of Scotland. This all started after three witches appeared and told her husband Macbeth that he would become king. Upon hearing this, she decides they are going to kill King Duncan.

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Like all of Shakespeare’s other plays, “Macbeth’s” protagonist Macbeth is incredibly successful but suffers from one fatal flaw, his great ambition. His ambition will be the cause of his great success but ultimately also of his downfall. The man’s ambition drives him to seize every opportunity to promote his own agenda. His ambition hurts him the most when he decides to kill King Duncan and Macduff.

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In today’s society many people possess strong ambition when it comes to getting a job, following a passion and being immensely successful in life. Having an abundance of aspirations can have both successful and faulty outcomes depending on the situation and how individuals respond to the circumstance. For example, in the play **Macbeth written by Shakespeare, a prime example of an excessive amount of ambition is displayed through both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s actions. Essentially, Macbeth becomes power hungry and goes on a rampant killing spree that causes Lady Macbeth and Macbeth to be overcome with guilt. They both contain an excessive amount of desires due to their ultimate goal being for Macbeth to be crowned king.

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Macbeth is the Shakespearean play that features the triumphant uprise and the inevitable downfall of its main character. In this play, Macbeth’s downfall can be considered to be the loss of his moral integrity and this is achieved by ambition, despite this, Lady Macbeth and the witches work through his ambition, furthering to assist his inevitable ruin. Ambition alone is the most significant factor that led to Macbeth’s downfall. The witches are only able to influence his actions through Macbeth’s pre-existing and the three witches see that Macbeth has ambition and uses it to control his action. Ambition alone is displayed throughout the play to be the most significant cause for Macbeth’s downfall.

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There were numerous factors that led to the selfish acts that Macbeth portrayed, but, in the end, he only had himself to blame. One of the most prominent themes throughout the story is that ambition can lead to greed which can be problematic. After being awarded Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth is told, by witches, that it his fate to be king one day. Instead of Macbeth allowing fate happen as it should, he took matters into his own

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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.

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Shakespeare engineered a most impressionable character in Macbeth who easily succumbs to the extensive magnitude of opposing constraints. This character is Macbeth, who is the protagonist in the play and husband to a conniving wife, who in the end is the sole cause for Macbeth 's undoing. Conflicting forces in the play compel internal conflicts within Macbeth to thrive on his contentment and sanity as he his torn asunder between devotion, aspiration, morality and his very own being. He has developed a great sense of loyalty from being a brave soldier; however, his ambition soon challenges this allegiance. As his sincerity begins to deteriorate, his own sanity starts to disintegrate until the point where he cannot differentiate between reality

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To concluded, Macbeth through the whole play you can see his desire rising more and more. The witches’ prophecy dud wrong to Macbeth and made him ending up in a bad place which its death. Ambition didn’t leave anything good him. He committed murders and even lead him to lose everything

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Greed is the downfall of all man. Who said this? We don’t know, but one thing is for sure, any wise man would rephrase this when he hears of literature’s most notorious and sinister woman. There is little doubt behind every great man’s success, there is most likely a woman, but behind the great evils of Macbeth, there was a woman too; her name Lady Macbeth. Known for her way with words of manipulation and famed by her sinister masterminding of great King

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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.

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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.

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Macbeth, Crime and Punishment Macbeth, a warrior, earns the title of Thane of Cawdor early in the play. His wife, Lady Macbeth, wants him to become king like the witches prophesied. They make a plan to kill Duncan while Macbeth starts to kill other people. All this murder begins to weigh heavily on the Macbeth’s and they start going crazy with guilt.

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