Ambition And Guilt In Shakespeare's Macbeth

Lady Macbeth wedded the Thane of Glamis in the play Macbeth. Macbeth received three prophecies from the witches who proclaimed his fate, telling him he would become king. This would give him, along with Lady Macbeth, power. Lady Macbeth took this as an opportunity to become queen and gain the power she had always wanted. Through the short journey of Macbeth's reign, Lady Macbeth portrays traits of ambition, power, and guilt.

Macbeth was an honorable and loyal soldier to King Duncan. As he stumbled upon the three witches and hearing their predictions. He began to question his future when King Duncan had given a higher rank to his son Malcolm. As if Malcolm was to become king Macbeth’s second prophecy of him becoming king wouldn’t come true or at least it would take a longer time for him to be king. His ambitions toward the crown grew and it slowly but surely began to corrupt his mind. Along with the help of his wife Lady Macbeth, who encouraged and convinced him to go through the plan of killing Duncan, his mind and soul slowly turned insane.

The namesake of the play, “Macbeth” is a man who faced a decision between his own personal passion and his moral obligations and duties. The two choices pulled at him and seemed to torment him even after he made a decision. Through the conflict that Macbeth felt because of his decisions, the reader can better empathize with him, and can obtain a more profound lesson from the story concerning decisions between personal passions and moral obligations.

First performed in the early 17th century during the reign of King James I, William Shakespeare’s Macbeth tells the tale of an ambitious Scottish general who, after receiving a prophecy from three witches that he would one day become King of Scotland, becomes consumed with greed and kills King Duncan in order to obtain the throne. Throughout the play, Macbeth actively conveys his thoughts and troubles. As they change, the audience also gets an inside look into Macbeth’s psychological and moral state, which ultimately carves the path to his tragic downfall. William Shakespeare lures the reader deep into the protagonist 's mind and mental state through the use of figurative language in Macbeth’s many speeches during the play, which makes it clear to the reader how his character evolves and sees himself on the world’s stage. In a soliloquy he has before killing Duncan, Macbeth hallucinates a floating dagger in front of him, ultimately hinting to the reader that he is mentally unstable as he ponders for the last time whether killing Duncan is the right move. In another speech found later in the play, now as King, Macbeth becomes extremely ruthless, to the point that his wife’s death doesn’t even phase him. Going from a brave hero-like general, to a disturbed and ruthless King, Macbeth’s overall character drastically changes throughout the play.

In Shakespeare’s play “Macbeth” Macbeth is seen to be as the one responsible for King Duncan’s murder, as Macbeth’s hands were the ones that actually killed King Duncan. However, while Macbeth may be thought of as ultimately responsible for his actions, but there are other influences that actually show on a closer inspection of the text, the three main influences to his decision are Lady Macbeth, himself, and the witches. This is (in my opinion) convincing evidence that Macbeth is completely responsible for the murder of King Duncan.

How can a man of trust and honor morally decline to the point of becoming a traitor and heartless murderer? The story of Macbeth clearly illustrates Shakespeare’s effective portrayal of sinful human nature. The tragic eroding of Macbeth’s character can be blamed on three primary factors: the prophecies of the three witches, the evil influence of his wife Lady Macbeth, and his continual determination to keep the throne at all costs.

How far are you willing to go for someone’s respect? Would you commit a murder of someone close to you? In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the character Macbeth goes to great lengths to become King of Scotland despite the great risks of the job. Macbeth murders King Duncan, which he was once opposed to because his reputation was at risk. Macbeth sees himself as ambitious and gets offended if anyone suggests that he is anything other than a good man. He cares gravely about the opinions of his wife Lady Macbeth, who wants to see him as king, those of the king himself, and those of his companions’. Macbeth wants to be king because he wants the approval of others.

The theme of ambition is clearly seen from the several hallucinations that Macbeth experiences throughout the play. Moments before the murder of King Duncan, Macbeth imagines a bloody dagger with the handle pointing towards his hand, and said dagger guides him into Duncan’s room before vanishing. While following the dagger, Macbeth says to himself, “I see thee yet, in form as palpable /As this which now I draw. /Thou marshall’st me the way that I was going; /And such an instrument I was to use.” (2.1.47-50) The dagger strengthens Macbeth’s conviction to murder the king. The dagger prompts Macbeth to hold its handle, guides him to Duncan’s room, and splotches of blood materialize to confirm that the king will die. Therefore, the actions

In William Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth, Macbeth truthfully expresses that life is ultimately repetitive and meaningless towards the actions that lead to death. Claiming that life is short and easily extinguished from his reaction towards Lady Macbeth’s apparent suicide. Shakespeare applies rhetorical elements to emphasize Macbeth’s responsiveness to the concept of life and death.

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. Moreover, this realization leads Lady Macbeth to think about murdering King Duncan for her and Macbeth to gain power. In addition to Lady Macbeth’s cruel character, she reveals her desirous thoughts towards the crown. Lady Macbeth continues her speech and mentions her unquenching thirst to take Duncan’s power. “Make thick my blood. Stop the access and passage to remorse, that no compunctious visitings of nature shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace with the effect and it!” (lines 33-37). Again, Lady Macbeth shows her lust for power. Her exceptional amount of greed continues to motivate

Of all of Shakespeare’s tragic tales and stories, one of the most devastating and bloody is the tale of Macbeth. The premise is simple. An average man, overtook by need for power, kills in order to receive it. What follows is a horrid chain of events, leading to many unnecessary deaths and a dreadful conclusion. From afar, this may just seem like a sad story with little meaning; however, on closer inspection, it may be worth asking the question. Who is to blame for all of this? The answer to this question is the idea of gender stereotypes.

Ambition is a strong desire to do or to achieve something, requiring determination and hard work. In the play Macbeth ambition is dramatically used as a dangerous quality. In the way that Macbeth will even kill innocent lives, for example the guards, just to achieve what he has always wanted, which is to be king. Macbeth is willing to do anything so no one can take him out of power or over throw his throne. Although maybe his wicked ambition may not have been the best choice, ambition was the driving force of Macbeth.

Often times in literature, the downfall of a character arises due to both external and internal forces. In Macbeth, William Shakespeare demonstrates that the downfall of Macbeth arises due to both internal and external forces, but among the two, internal forces have a greater influence on the outcome. The forces of Macbeth’s own nature, the supernatural and Lady Macbeth all contribute to his downfall but the true deciding factors are the forces within.

Macbeth was a great war hero who is shown as a great person , he is put in the spotlight and given all the attention. Macbeth is a great anobel hero who is faced with many decisions and prophecies, decisions and prophecies that may have made his fate come sooner than it should have. We are told of his intentions through side notes and mental thoughts this informs the audience of what he is planning on doing and it gives us clues as to what type of person he is. The person is his is also greatly influenced by his wife and the way and manner she presents herself gives us detail into their lives. The love that they share for one another is a love that is so deep that it really cannot be described in words but only in actions. Macbeth

Macbeth is initially displayed as an experienced man of most likely settled character, effective in specific fields of action, and appreciating an advantageous notoriety. One must not presume that every one of Macbeth 's activities is unsurprising. Macbeth 's character is made out of possibilities and nature, and nobody, not even Macbeth, can know the greater part of his extreme self-esteem. Macbeth is dictated by a yearning for worldly and impermanent great.