In the tragedy Macbeth by William Shakespeare. It's about a soldier named Macbeth who let his greed for power cause him to abandon all his morals. Which brings destruction to the kingdom he seeks to rule. Humans always struggle with the choice of doing what they know is right vs what they want to do. In this Shakespearean tragedy, Macbeth battles back and forth between the choice of doing what he knows is right against doing what he feels needs to be done to achieve his goal. For instance, In Macbeth, William Shakespeare shows the aspects of the good and bad of ambition and power. Some of the key aspects are greed and selfishness. Macbeth couldn't accept the fact that Banquo's descendants will become kings, Macbeth tries to do everything that he could to prevent that from happening. He even …show more content…
The text states “Macbeth’s actions illustrate contrasting examples of praiseworthy and censurable ambition. An example of virtuous ambition is when he fights valiantly and receives the title of Cawdor for his martial valor.” (Unhae Langis). This piece of text evidence shows it’s the best of virtues and the worst of virtues. By encouraging Macbeth to murder to achieve their goals. He fails to see how his ambition leads him to cross multiple moral lines that’ll lead to both his and his wife’s downfall. The text also states “When he kills Duncan asleep as a guest in his house, Macbeth’s ambition violates fundamental rules of conduct in a nation slipping into a brutal contest of power, clinging to a semblance of moral order.” (Unhae Langis). This also shows that Macbeth’s greed and ambition violated all his morals, and promises to the King and his kingdom. Macbeth violated all these rules just so that he could replace King Duncan on the
Macbeth made questionable, unethical choices in order to gain his hierarchy. For example, with Lady Macbeth’s pressure, he was persuaded to kill King Duncan, thus becoming King of Scotland. Though this may be perceived as an influenced choice instilled by Lady Macbeth, it was Macbeth’s own thoughts that were allowing him to finalize that decision. Another example, proving his unethical methods, is in the following quote, “...With barefaced power sweep him from my sight and bid
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.
His greed leads him to commit sins such as murdering the well-liked King. All in all, Macbeth’s ambitious actions drive him to destruction through his
Macbeth’s actions are driven by ambition, and he is willing to sacrifice his own moral principles
Lady Macbeth, after finding out about the prophecy given to Macbeth, would push him greatly to kill the king and take his predestined position as king, “ Hie thee hither, That I may pour my spirits in thine ear And chastise with the valour of my tongue All that impedes thee from the golden round, Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem To have thee crowned withal.” (Mac,1.5.28-33). Lady Macbeth is the only reason he followed through with the murder. We have further proof of this when Macbeth describes Duncan before killing him, “Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been. So clear in his great office, that his virtues.
Macbeth killed Duncan to take the throne for himself, he assassinated Banquo, had a target painted on Fleance's back, murdered Macduff’s entire family. All these tragic deaths were all because of Macbeth’s selfishness to keep the crown to himself. Macbeth also said, “I have no spur to prick the side of my intent, but only vaulting ambitions which o’erleaps itself and fall on th’other,” this provokes that Macbeth is willing to do anything to achieve his goals, even if it is murder which Macbeth explicitly shows. (Shakespeare 1.7. 25-28)
While there is some truth to Macbeth's words, we must not forget that he is the one who killed Duncan in the first place. If he truly means what he says, why did he kill him? With the use
Murdering Duncan is not enough for Macbeth and he feels that there is still something stopping him from reaching the top. He still feels unsettled which leads him to want to commit more violent acts to hold power. Macbeth goes through many dilemmas which require him to make a choice. The idea of being in charge and having control influences his behavior and causes him to make poor
The concepts I will be exploring is the use of ambition, the fight between fate and free will and the appropriate use of power. These concepts taught audiences important lessons in shakespeare's time and these lessons are still applicable in modern times. Human ambition is a concept used in Macbeth, unchecked human ambition is shown through Macbeth's actions who lets his ambition rule him. His ambition and thirst for power leads him to kill King Duncan and even attempt to kill the Banquo’s son. Macbeth himself talked about his ambition as Let not light see my black and
At the beginning of the play, he is hailed as the brave warrior who fought with his friend Banquo and, due to his act of bravery, was given the title “thane of Cawdor!” (1.2.65-67). However, it does not take him long to show his most noticeable character trait, ambition, which leads him to murder King Duncan. His insatiable desire for power and a fierce determination to be king drives Macbeth to continue to deceptively plot against his friend and commit terrible acts of violence and betrayal. It causes him to spiral out of control quickly, and he goes from a reluctant murderer to a sinister and brutal killer.
Macbeth’s impatience for power leads to drastic actions. He murders the king in the belief that “this blow might be the be-all and end-all” (1.7.5). This assassination could never “trammel up the consequence” (1.7.2-3), as Macbeth believes, but only leads to more trouble. Although Macbeth seizes the throne, Macbeth had to betray his loyalty to the king whose “virtues will plead like angels” (1.7.18-19), and his morality has paid the price. Macbeth has now lost all sense of what honor is by using such dishonest ways to become king.
In Act II Scene II, when Macbeth kills King Duncan, it is to fulfil his duty as a man by pursuing his ambition. However, by killing the king, he has set the precedent that any ambitious man who wishes to become king and can attain that role by killing the current king, must do so otherwise they are not a man. This dangerous paradigm set by Macbeth ties in to much of his paranoia and is the reason for his tyranny; he is afraid other people will kill him to go after the crown so he acts ruthless and stomps out any possible conflicts before they even have a chance to happen. Furthermore, In Act I Scene VII, Macbeth says "I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself and falls on th' other." (Line XXV)
He now perceives that in order to become king he has to step over some people, kill them. For all intents and purposes, how can he become king if Duncan is already running the position? Executing Duncan was the only option in order for him to become king, at least to his regards. Despite his bad ambition, Macbeth is not happy about committing murder, not to the slightest. It's like if he'd close his eyes and reopened them (hoping to see things differently)
Even after listing all of the reasons why not to kill Duncan and coming to the conclusion that it is only ambition driving him, he still quickly succumbs to Lady Macbeth’s
In the first part of the play, Duncan changes the rules for the throne so his son Malcolm can keep the crown. After Macbeth and Lady Macbeth heard the news they became furious because the ambition they had for the power was greater than the loyalty. That is why Lady Macbeth convinced Macbeth to kill Duncan for the crown so they could have absolute power. Knowing that it may lead to their self-conviction, and the betrayal of all Scotland.