Macbeth Ambition Essay

As the play continues, Macbeth's desire for the throne amplifies, ultimately leading him to murder the king and manipulate those around him to secure his maintained his crown. The prophecy becomes self-fulfilling as Macbeth's ambition drives him to carry out terrible acts, which in turn causes his descent into tyranny and, eventually, his tragic downfall. Through this clever foreshadowing, Shakespeare illustrates the corrupting nature of ambition and

He hears a prophecy about power he will have in the future, and listens. Doing this in spite of the fact that the witches are evil and should not be trusted. Despite the witches being evil, their prophecies do begin to come true. Starting with Macbeth become the Thane of Glamis, then Thane of Cawdor, and finally, King. After the first two come true, Macbeth starts to question his beliefs of the witches this is show when Macbeth says

Nevertheless, to become king, Macbeth realizes that in order to attain the throne, he would have to murder King Duncan. This soliloquy further foreshadows Macbeth’s over-ambition and how his character develops into one more corrupt throughout the play. Moreover, Macbeth’s selfishness highlights him as a relatively evil character. The murders of King Duncan and Banquo have already transpired, yet Macbeth still believes that his position as king is being threatened by others. Macbeth states, “Blood will have blood.

To begin, Macbeth demonstrates desperate and ruthless choices as he reaches for power which doesn’t belong to him. For example, when Macbeth is talking to himself about what he should do about the second part of the prophecy. Banquo, one of Macbeth's friends, also received a prophecy that his children would be their heirs to the king. Wanting to keep the power of the throne he says “Given to the common enemy of man/To make them kings, the seeds of Banquo kings./Rather than so, come fate into the list,/And champion me to th’ utterance”(3.1.74-77). Macbeth is not willing to take any chances when it comes to keeping the power he has been handed.

Macbeth starts out being an excellent warrior in the battles that he is fighting in for the good. He is spilling blood over the right reasons and in doing so he earned the title of Thane of Cawdor. However, this all begins to change once he and Banquo, his right hand man in battle, meet the three witches and they get their prophecies told to them. This begins the downfall of Macbeth, causing corruption, greed, and guilt coming from the actions after the prophecies are told to them. Immediately after Macbeth’s mental state switches as a result to the first prophecy coming true already, he begins thinking that he has to kill King Duncan in order to fulfill the rest of them.

Macbeth decides he needs to take action to keep his crown, “Given to the common enemy of man/ to make them kings, the seeds of Banquo kings/ Rather than so, come Fate into the list” (3. 1. 70-72). After seeing that all of his prophecies come true Macbeth thinks about Banquo and fears losing his crown. Macbeth hires murderers to go and kill Banquo and Fleance so that he remains king.

Macbeth in a very significant aside remarks, “Glamis and Thane of Cawdor: / The greatest is behind.” (I iii 117). He then begins to dream of being King, that in order to do so he has to kill Duncan, to whom he had been loyal so long is swept aside as a necessary deed. Macbeth is aware of the dangers of overzealous ambition: “I have no spur / To prick the sides of my intent, but only / Vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself / And falls on th’other” (I vii 25-28). But the temptation to render the witches’ prophecy into reality ultimately proves to be too strong for Macbeth to curb his ambition”(Afzal 319).

When the prophecy starts proving itself true, Macbeth starts to act on the witches prophecy. Because of this, Macbeth becomes increasingly obsessed with maintaining power as he disregards others, even the ones he’s closest with. Eventually Macbeth realizes what is driving him by saying, “I have no spur/to prick the sides of my intent, but only/ vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself and falls on th' other” (1.7.25-28). This quote demonstrates his understanding in which he knows that his own drive is fueled by the lust for power. After some time, his ambition and drive leads him down a path of destruction causing him to commit terrible acts.

When the first part becomes true, Macbeth takes the prophecy as a fact, and begins his violent and bloodthirsty quest to make the prophecy true. Macbeth is an ambitious character, who establishes at points in the story that he truly does want to become the king, and ensure his children have a future as royalty. Despite this, he is a man conflicted between ambition and conscience, showing that he does have a sense of morality. However, Macbeth chooses to abandon his principles because he feels justified in achieving his goals. This leads him to commit terrible atrocities in the name of ambition.

As human beings, people always want to achieve more and more, to be above everyone else, or what we call greed, and it is a natural part of who human beings are. But this doesn’t mean people should put themselves above anyone else to achieve what they want which is the case for Macbeth throughout the play. Macbeth got the prophecy of being the future king and thought about the idea of killing King Duncan to achieve the goal: “ My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical” (Act l, Scene lll, Line 141). Macbeth had just witnessed another one of the prophecies come true and he instantly thought about a cruel and selfish way to obtain the last prophecy. The prophecy may have come true if Macbeth didn’t try anything but his greed got the better of him and he ultimately followed through with it, bringing other people down to obtain his goal.

On the other hand, Macbeth’s ambition eventually have lead him to some disastrous action. “Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis! Hail to thee, Thane of Cowdor! All hail,Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!” He believe these prophecies from the weird sisters without question and his ambition are already takes

Therefore, it is Macbeth’s interpretations of the prophecies that triggers his ambition and is the cause of his betrayal towards the King who trusted in him. Undoubtedly he has yet another encounter with the witches, which leads Macbeth to believe he is invincible after they say to him, “Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until / Great

“If good, why do I yield to that suggestion[killing Duncan]/Whose horrid image doth unify my hair” (I, III, 144-145). This quote indicates that the force of ambition is so strong within Macbeth that even he himself cannot understand why it is making him think of killing Duncan. Likewise, Macbeth’s ambition to become king is further emphasized after Duncan names his son Malcolm as his successor. Here, Macbeth says that he will have to “oerleap,/For in my way it [Malcolm] it lies” (I, III, 55-57).

After achieving the title of the King of Scotland, Macbeth wants to secure his position as the king and desires to inherit the Scottish throne to his ancestors. His aim was showed in “To be thus is nothing, /But to be safely thus” (III, i, 52-3). This quote reveals that Macbeth not only wanted to become the king but also wants to secure his position as the King of Scotland for the welfare of his upcoming generation. This reveals Macbeth’s is implying the witches’ prophecies; as long Banquo’s sons live, Macbeth’s throne would not be able to inherit down to his ancestors. As the play progresses, Macbeth’s hires murderers to kill Banquo and his son, Fleance, as represented through, “Banquo, thy soul’s flight, /If

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.