The Power of Ambition For many individuals pride is the driving force behind motivation and ambition but when one’s pride gets the best of him or her it can cause the individual to break down and self destruct. Every human has a little pride in them but when that pride becomes selfish and done for personal benefit that is when it can become dangerous, taking focus away from the things that really matter like honor, love, family, friends and integrity. In his play, Macbeth, Shakespeare suggests that if one’s motivation is selfish and pride-driven, eventually honor and integrity are lost leading to one’s destruction. Initially, when one’s selfish ambition and motivation is just starting to grow, one is able to maintain honor and integrity.
His wife, Lady Macbeth, wanted him to be a king after hearing his so called prophecies that she manipulated him and belittled him into thinking that if he didn’t go through with the murder of Duncan then he was a wimp. She created a monster of a man after talking him into committing that first crime. After the first one, Macbeth had the mentality that he was already going to hell so why stop now. He killed his best friend next because he started to suspect Macbeth for the murder of the beloved King Duncan; from there on out anyone and anything that got in his way of his throne had to go. He wanted to be the King so bad that he stopped having the emotions of a normal human being and saw anyone in his way as a future target; because of this he no longer was the man that everyone knew him as before, he had changed
Macbeth was so focus on his power as king that he did not care when he heard that his wife was died. Macbeth became power hungry. He started taking people out just because people told him too. He let other people make the decisions that shape the person that he became. This is what led to his downfall in the end.
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!”
Macbeth was working toward being the king of Scotland in the beginning after meeting the three wired sisters. And being told that he was king to be, so it inspired him to do anything that he had to to become king. It did not matter the circumstances he would do it. Even if that meant killing his best friend. He down was cause by him killing Macduff’s family.
The murder theme leads into the next subject on how greed/temptation can corrupt. The greed/temptation in both of these stories has resulted in bad karma for everyone. Macbeth’s had an ambition to become king and his ambition took over his life resulting in horrible decisions with the amount of pointless killings he went through to gain all this power, turning him into a psycho having a hallucination at his feast where he sees Banquo’s ghost and assuming everyone else in the room can see it. Macbeth also went through all these
Almost everybody that reads William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth will agree on one thing: guilt is the main force that drove Macbeth and his Lady to insanity, and later, death. If the text is analyzed to a further extent and the theme is reconsidered, however, greed can be seen as what leads to Macbeth’s downfall, not guilt.
Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, is a tragic story about man’s faults. While fictional, Macbeth shows many true aspects of man, such as pride and corruption. Pride is shown in almost every act of Macbeth. It shows that even men whom are considered the best, most loyal men, can fall folly to the pride of life. Shakespeare uses Macbeth to show how pride is destructive, sin corrupts the mind, and that not all counsel should be taken.
Greed for power leads corrupt leaders to pursue power through ruthless and violent ways, putting their countries in an unstable state.
First, Lady Macbeth uses her advantage over Macbeth to make him kill Duncan. Second, the witches use their prophecies to destroy intrude Macbeths thoughts. Lastly, Macbeth uses false information to convince two men to kill
This led to him going insane. Macbeth didn 't have to do this, he had already been promoted and had a better job than he had had beforehand. he was very well off and did not need the responsibilities of a king. he could have moved on and lived his life but, he killed the king. This event in the movie was portrayed with much more emotion than expected.
Blind Ambition and Greed The play “Macbeth”, by William Shakespeare illustrates many themes through the characters from the beginning to the end of the story. But the main central theme introduced is Ambition and Greed. As the play goes on we read how Macbeth permits his Ambition and Greed to dictate the outcomes and tragedy’s that occur to himself and others.
Lady Macbeth puts on a fierce and intimidating front but proves incapable of the egregious act of murder. Macbeth, however, actually commits murder and determines to do any vile deed to fight for the crown. He holds this disposition even until the point of death, unlike Lady Macbeth who dies repentant. Macbeth’s murderous actions and attitude prior to death ultimately demonstrate that he is the worse villain of the
One of these changes is his relationships and trust between many of his trusted and best friends. After achieving the throne, Macbeth recalls the prophecy saying that Banquo’s children will eventually take the throne and so, Macbeth's ambitions rise once more, “Both of you know Banquo was your enemy, So is he mine”(3.1). Macbeth, even after feeding his ambitious thoughts for his first goal of achieving the throne, his ambitions grow even more with new goals to secure his position for good. However,once again, there are those who stand in his way of his goals to securing his title, and so, Macbeth must again kill for the sake of his ambitions. Ambition has very different effects on those who are good and those who are bad, the ambition that takes hold of Macbeth is so strong, that he is unable to resist it and is even willing to kill his own best friend to satisfy his ambitions.
As a human race, we have all had instances where we have been experienced greed, the intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food. It is extremely unlikely, even impossible, that there is a person in the entire world that goes their entire life without a single thought of greed, no matter if it is significant or not. The best the average person does in response to their greed is mask it with exaggerated generosity to “cancel out” their greedy thoughts. There are many examples in literature that help convey the effects that greed can have on a person, one of the most well-portrayed ones being the main character in William Shakespeare 's well-known play, Macbeth.