Role Of Ambition In Macbeth

The second and third witches also hail Macbeth by sharing their prophecies and stating “All hail Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of cawdor” and “All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!”(act 1, scene 3, line 49-50). The witches also predict that although Banquo will not become king, he “shalt get kings”(act 1, scene 3, line 67) meaning his “children shall be kings”(act 1, scene 3, line 86). The witches continue saying “lesser than Macbeth and greater”(act 1, scene 3, line 65) when referring to Banquo and that he is “Not so happy, yet much happier”(act 1, scene 3, line 66). The use of paradox here both describes the characters and foreshadows their fate.

The three witches’ prediction revealing the future of Macbeth and Banquo created a deep desire inside of Macbeth. {Insert Quote about witches’ prophesies} If Macbeth would not have been told that he was to be King, Duncan’s death could have been avoided. When Macbeth learns that Banquo’s sons would become king, and

Throughout the story of Macbeth, Macbeth’s ambition for power, provoked by his significant other, Lady Macbeth, and the witches’ prophecies consumed his life. At first he committed murder against King Duncan so he could become king himself, but the one murder had a domino affect. Although ambition can be a positive attribute for someone to acquire, Macbeth’s ambition began in Act One and proved dangerous as his death approached in Act Five. In Act One of Macbeth, Macbeth and Banquo meet three witches that tell them three prophecies. One at a time, each witch mentioned a prophecy, “All hail Macbeth, Thane of Glamis!

In our world, manipulation takes place in everyday life as a natural impulse for both men and women. In Macbeth, manipulation is centralized around the mask of ambition displaying dominance over humanity. Certainly the witch’s, Lady Macbeth, and our fallen hero Macbeth become puppets of Manipulation it self. Consequently the witch’s power to influence decision-making causes the initial deterioration of Macbeth, along with Lady Macbeth’s influential desire for the throne, and thus Macbeth use of manipulation to create a new embodiment of a mask suffused in ambition for his own cruel deeds. After the victory of Banquo and Macbeth against the king 's traitor Macdonwald the witches presence contract the vibe of manipulation seeking Macbeth as its next victim.

The witches, in act I called Macbeth Thane of Glamis and Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth was already Thane of Glamis and he had been given the position of Thane of Cawdor but he didn’t know about it. Also the three sisters told Macbeth that he would be king. After hearing this prediction his mind got totally tempted to kill the king. His interpretation of what the witches said was that he needed to kill the king so he could become king.

Macbeth contemplates killing the king; “If good, why do I yield to that suggestion whose horrid image doth unfix my hair, and make my seated heart knock at my ribs, against the use of nature?” (1.3.134-137) It is evident that Macbeth’s ambition is getting the best of him because he is already considering committing regicide to get what he wants. “The Macbeth witches are essential to the plot of Macbeth because they provide Macbeth’s ‘call to action’. Their prophesies drive his thirst for power and enable Lady Macbeth to pursue her own ambitions.” (Jamieson n.p) As outlined in this quote, the witches are the ‘fuel to the fire’ and directly use his susceptibility to suggestion to drive his motive to be king. The witches take advantage of Macbeth’s character and uses his flaws to lead to his death. Although the three weird sisters do not explicitly tell Macbeth to kill the king, they tempt him in a non direct way.

Prophecies can often cause one to take poor and erroneous decisions. In the play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, the three witches are morally responsible for King Duncan’s death as they prophesy to Macbeth that he will become the king of Scotland and ultimately results in protagonist to take a series of misguided actions. Macbeth would not have chosen the action of murdering King Duncan for the fulfillment of his ambition without the witches’ prophecies, and the tragedy occurs when Macbeth foolishly trusts the witches and believes in the ambiguous information that witches provide him. One of the factors that the three witches are morally responsible for King Duncan’s death is that they awakens the evil side of Macbeth’s mind by prophesying

Second of all, foreshadowing the event that did not happen was another function of the supernatural things. The witches' prophecies made the audience predict how the story was unfolded. Macbeth was affected in a great deal with these prophecies. He told his wife, Lady Macbeth, of a prophecy that he heard. This made them start to have ambitions towards the crown, and to kill King Duncan.

In Macbeth, Shakespeare utilizes the motif of appearance vs. reality to emphasize how a limited perspective of something or someone will most likely lead to the destructive nature of deception. This is shown in the first act of the play where Macbeth and Lady Macbeth hold false appearances to keep their plans a secret and later in the play when Macbeth is king and dealing with the guilt of killing the king and Banquo’s death. In the first act at the start of the play the motif is introduced by three witches chanting “fair is foul, and foul is fair”(1.1.12). This sets up one of the main themes of the play. Macbeth discovers from these witches that he is fated to be the king of Cawdor.

Macbeth soon admits to his dark lust for power and status beyond his capability. At first these thoughts remain hidden, but when the witches approach him with their predictions his desires reform his character. The witches wait for Macbeth and tell him series of predictions. The specific prediction, “All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!” (1.3.51) causes Macbeth’s desire to become more intensified. Their prediction that he would become king brings a change in his character.

It is true that Lady Macbeth and the three witches were partially responsible for his downfall; however, Macbeth’s selfish desires are what cloud his thoughts in the first place. Macbeth’s life and destiny is really in his own hands. Though fate plays a significant part in the play shown from the witches prediction on Macbeth 's rise to Thane of Cawdor, it is his own wicked thoughts with the influence of Lady Macbeth that leads him to kill the king, and that decision is what ultimately lead to his downfall. Although the witches mention to Macbeth that it is his fate to take the throne, Macbeth is the one to make it occur. Thus, his fate was in his own hands, just like it is in everyone else’s as

However, when making these choices to further his own prosperity, there may be some other sources that affect his thinking. When Macbeth makes the decisions to murder and torture the people in his way, he gets some influence from the witches and his wife; nevertheless, Macbeth’s choices that lead to the tragedy of the story were completely all on his part. In the very beginning of the production,

But if a reader becomes inclined to dig deeper, they can clearly see that she is only carrying out the witch 's prophecy. She is stating that she will do all she can do to gain the power the witches predicted her husband would achieve. The supernatural clearly causes her to pressure Macbeth into murdering