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Macbeth's Ambition Essay

887 Words4 Pages

A man, goaded by his wife, murders time and again to satisfy his hunger for power, slowly driving himself into insanity through his ambition. Ambition, both a blessing and a curse, lead Macbeth to a series of betrayals and murders of and by those closest to him. Conspiring with his wife in Act 1, Lady Macbeth had convinced Macbeth that by killing Duncan, King of Scotland, he could become the next King. He and Lady Macbeth planned the whole thing; who they would frame, how they would get past the guards, which one of them should be the one to do it, and how would they hide the knives once the deed had been accomplished. At the last second, Macbeth appeared to have a change of heart, but then his wife taunted him, insulting his manhood. By Act …show more content…

After a battle with rebel forces lead by Macdonwald in Act 1, Macbeth and Banquo were on their way to meet Duncan to give him a full report of the battle. However, as they walked, they came upon the witches who greeted only Macbeth until Banquo bade them speak to him. They hailed Macbeth the Thane of Glamis, which he was, Thane of Cawdor, which he did not yet know, and hailed him to be the future King. After the visit from the witches, Ross and Angus ran up to them and hailed him Thane of Cawdor, a title that Duncan gifted him for his part in winning the battle. Once the witches’ prophecy began to come true, Macbeth was smitten by the idea of being King, though he didn’t really want to kill Duncan and his sons for it. Nonetheless, he was already under the Sisters’ control. I feel pity for Macbeth again here because the moment the witches’ prophecy came true, he wasn’t really who he used to be, and he wasn’t really in control of who he was anymore. An example of how he was a different person was his murder of Duncan. Before the witches’, Macbeth wouldn’t have even thought of something so traitorous! All he had wanted to do was serve Scotland as best as he

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