In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the story started with Macbeth being a loyal and brave thane to King Duncan. After the three witches had told him that he was eventually going to become king, he was over taken by ambition and power, which led to the kings’ death and Macbeth taking over the throne. There are many arguments about whose ambition led to all the murders and events in the play. The actions and words of Lady Macbeth could have led to the encouragement of Macbeth, which made him act upon his feelings, which ultimately led the murders and everything else that had happened around those events. The words of the witches could have also driven him to act upon everything. Undoubtedly, Lady Macbeth had a playing part in the ambition …show more content…
Lady Macbeth is said to be the most ambitious in the play and that definitely shows throughout. At the beginning of the play its easily shown that Macbeth was heavily influenced by his wife’s ideas. Further into the play, Macbeth was kind of reluctant about going through with killing Duncan because if he did that, he had the risk of losing the positive opinions people had about him. His wife knew what his weak spot was and once she heard about his hesitance about killing Duncan, she went straight to attacking his courage. She says that she herself would kill her own child in order to achieve her own goals. She then proceeds to say that,” But screw your courage to the sticking-place, and we’ll not fail.” All of which she says eventually convinces Macbeth that he should go through with the murder in order to show his masculinity. This shows how much she truly influences Macbeth in the decisions he …show more content…
If you look at everything, it does make sense that Lady Macbeth could have been the driving ambition, but it also looks like the witches could have played an extensive part also. There’s not just one driving ambition, everything in the play pieced together to push Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to go through with all of it. The witches and Lady Macbeth’s own ambition worked together to show Macbeth his own desires and lead him through the dark. Without all four of them, Macbeth would not have been able to kill all the people that he did. He had no desire to do so since he had no idea that later in his life, he was going to become
Macbeth is also one of the most ambitious character as he does many crimes to achieve the power and become the King. Macbeth’s ambition started when the witches told him about the prophecies because of these prophecies he killed King Duncan and planned to kill Banquo. Before Macbeth killed the King, even though he was really ambitious he still thought before killing Duncan this shows ambition in a positive way. However, he still killed King Duncan this shows ambition in a negative way. The first time Macbeth met the witches one thing they said to Banquo was that his son will rule the world in the fear that someone will take his kingship he tried to kill Banquo’s son.
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.
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.
However, his ambition also did play its role in the whole act. His ambition to be the King of Scotland was born when he became Thane of Cawdor and thereafter started dreaming of being the King of Scotland. “They met me in the day of success; and I have more in them than mortal knowledge. When I burned in desire to question them further”. This statement echoed the intensity of Macbeth’s greed and ambition beyond the peak of a mountain.
Of all the failures human beings experience none are as crushing as those that are a result of following someone else’s desires. In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, the protagonist self-destructs because of his external forces as well as his own poor choices. An external force that influenced Macbeth includes Lady Macbeth’s strong goals, which she forced on her husband. Additionally, the witches impacted Macbeth’s choices by offering him their tricky prophecies. The blind greed that took over Macbeth’s life also impacted his choices.
Lady Macbeth easily convinces Macbeth to proceed and King Duncan is killed. While waiting for Macbeth to return from the king’s chamber, Lady Macbeth shows some of her own ambition, “That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold” (2.2.1). By successfully pressing drink upon the guards, Lady Macbeth is emboldened. Success turns many people overly ambitious, by seeing what the human race is capable of changes many people into power hungry ants. Lady Macbeth is one clear example of this fault.
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.
To conclude, ambition is a powerful force. It can be fueled by visions of power and lead people to change. This is best seen in MacBeth's character dynamic character. He changes from a good person, to someone who will kill anyone in his way to
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).
Is it not weird how ambition for power corrupts one corrupt and leads them to their destiny? Ambition for power is lust which tempts one to be corruptive to acquire and protect it. However, in William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, it is evident that ambition for power ultimately leads to corruption when Macbeth’s ambition for power causes the assassination of King Duncan, when Macbeth’s ambition for power compels him to execute those who obstruct his inheritance to the Scottish Throne, and finally, when Lady Macbeth persuades Macbeth to assassinate the people who impede his Kingship of Scotland out of lust for power. Macbeth’s ambition for power is the root cause to King Duncan’s assassination.
She is malicious not only in words but also in her intent. Her sole object is to obtain power and wealth, with its attendant treasures. Lady Macbeth lacks humanity and regrets that she was not born as a man. She understands that power and violence are synonymous with manhood and bravery. Additionally, Lady Macbeth interests’ and ambition, override her love for even her husband, Macbeth.
At the end of the play, Macbeth’s ambition caused him to lose Lady Macbeth to suicide and to no longer have moral sense. Ambition led to Macbeth’s downfall because Lady Macbeth and the witches caused him to make brainless decisions that caused his collapse. Macbeth’s ambition led to his downfall because of Lady Macbeth's ambition. Lady Macbeth had
The witches played a colossal role in Macbeth’s downfall and ultimately, his death. Since the first part of the prophecy stated Macbeth as being the new Thane of Cawdor, he believed he could continue to become king as well. In knowing his prediction, Macbeth also realized that since the king was in good health, so he would have to kill the king himself. For the rest of his prophecy to come true he would have to kill the king for himself. “All hail, Macbeth that shalt be king hereafter!”
In August 1606, the play Macbeth – written by the ultimate playwright William Shakespeare- was published. Macbeth discusses how murder and greed can be altered to a point where it becomes a person's way of acting and thinking. Lady Macbeth is the leading character in the play of Shakespeare. Her ambitions and power is the main reason for her corruption. She used her position to gain power and stay strong enough to support her husband and lord, Macbeth, however it drove him to evil, causing him to murder and cause distractions.
Macbeth is also a power hungry man who would do just about anything to achieve his goal of becoming King. When Macbeth first hears the prophecies from the three witches he instantly became invested with the journey to become king. Similar to Lady Macbeth, nothing was going to come between him and his potential power, “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, shakes so my single state of man. That function is smother'd in surmise, and nothing is but what is not” (1.3.52-55). This quote exemplifies how Macbeth’s initial solution to becoming king was murder.