Example Of Ambition In Macbeth

Shakespeare positions his audience to witness the fall of a man, from a position of power to tyranny. To maintain his power, Macbeth commits a series of murders to protect himself. As he commits brutal murders, he becomes amoral and anti-humanitarian and reaches a point of no return, which eventually leads him to corruption. The playwright epitomise these through hamartia, peripeteia and anagnorisis. Ambition empowers Macbeth to face guilt, greediness and great oppression. His excessive ambitious motivation of becoming king leads himself to his own downfall.

Praised and heroic to all, Macbeth is introduced as a courageous and brave soldier. Shakespeare intends to shape Macbeth initially as a good character to epitomise the effect of his corruption. Evidence of this is seen in Act 1, when the Captain describes Macbeth as brave and “…well he deserves that name (Act 1 Scene 2).

The weird sisters’ prophecy incentivises Macbeth’s ambitious thought of becoming king and makes him vulnerable to not act like himself. Dictating the actions of her husband, Lady Macbeth questions Macbeth’s masculinity and deprives him of his manhood. Through simile, she calls him a coward and compares him to a cat that is uncourageous: like the poor cat I’th’adage? (Act 1 scene 5). Macbeth is triggered by his wife’s criticism and in this sense it can be seen that Lady Macbeth ignites his ambition and desire for power.

Through soliloquy, Macbeth contemplates the consequences of his action but