Vaulting Ambition In Macbeth

At the beginning of the play, Macbeth was a noble and loyal person, but by the end of the play, his “vaulting ambition” had taken over him. This caused him to become malicious and nihilistic and above all murderous, Macbeth portrays a tragic hero. Shakespeare portrays a tragic hero as someone who is noble and valiant but turns out to have a tragic flaw and Macbeth portrays this by fighting for his country and king but then murdering the king because of his hamartia, “his vaulting ambition”. Macbeth is greatly responsible for his downfall, but the witches have an impact on Macbeth’s actions. In Greek tragedies characters face a point in which they turn towards death, almost all plays have someone die and, in the end, justice prevails.

Macbeth,

A key reason for why Macbeth killed King Duncan is because of the manipulation and control from Lady Macbeth, ‘that I may pour my spirits in thine ear and chastise with the valour of my tongue ‘. This quotation influences the reader and shows us that that Lady Macbeth wants Macbeth to get back, so she can ‘pour’ all her ideas and thoughts into his mind. Lady Macbeth is encouraging her husband to disregard his chivalric code of honour. The code of chivalry was a moral system that went beyond rules of combat and made qualities like bravery, courtesy and honour more idealised, but because she knows Macbeth is so honourable she, like the witches, tempts Macbeth with power. At the beginning of the play, we believe that Lady Macbeth is strong and very masculine, but by the end of the play, her guilt has taken over her, a quotation that conveys this is, ‘Out, damned spot! Out I say!’. This quotation is referring to the hallucination of blood on her

He changes from trustworthy, courageous and brave to feeling guilty, afraid and unreliable. We find out that Macbeth is transitioning from bad to evil wen he kills Banquo, his loyal partner, when Macbeth killed Banquo, he, became guilty, and started hallucinating of Banquo sitting in his chair. After the death of Banquo, he finds out that Macduff is helping Malcolm build an army, so he sends his murderers to kill Macduff’s Family. At the end of the play, he says ‘Out, out, brief candle, life’s but a waling shadow. Here Macbeth is considering whether life is meaningful. Macbeth’s character changes greatly throughout the play, from a respected thane to a king who people want dead. Macbeth gives in to his ‘vaulting ambition’ and, encouraged by the witches and Lady Macbeth, he murders King Duncan for the power. The guilt from this greatly affects him, he thinks he should carry on this path as he is almost at the