Macbeth Essay. By Xian.

Shakespeares Macbeth shows how ambition can affect the actions of an individual. Murder, betrayal, regret and anger were just some of the things that were caused by ambition. The witches put desires into the minds of Macbeth and Banquo. Then Macbeth becomes the stem of chaos in Scotlands nobles. Goals drove many characters to try to achieve them. Sometimes the strong will can suppress the evil determinations and stay positive. This kept the play going.

When the thane of Cawdor rebels and betrays the king he is defeated and quickly executed by the order of Duncan. He drove himself to overthrow the king. After Duncan gives his title and land to Macbeth, Macbeth immediately thinks of killing Duncan but feels guilty. Macbeth through his ambition murders Duncan and becomes king, but with the witches predictions this is not good enough for him. Banquos sons are supposed to become king and Macbeth knows this so he is determined to stay king. So through blind desire he hires murderers to kill his best friend Banquo and his son. Siwards son also has his own goals. He challenges Macbeth to a fight, and even though he lost he stayed and fought. His ambition to be a proud soldier, and him fighting a general and winning would have achieved

Macbeth Essay. By Xian.

his goal.

Unlike Banquo who doesnt give in to his dreams, Lady Macbeth gives completely in. Lady Macbeth drives her husband to do even worse things than he wanted to do. She convinces him that he is a coward if he doesnt follow his ambitions and act like a man. It Resulted in a dead king, and two dead chamberlains. Macbeths wife wanted to be queen more than he did king it seems. Even though she cannot handle the guilt of murder and kills herself. Banquo wants to achieve great things as well. The witches say that his bloodline is destined to be kings. He however, doesnt give in to the evil witches plots. He remains the loyal best friend to Macbeth even to the end. He uses his ambition to fuel a positive goal for himself. It was ironic that he wanted to find the man responsible for killing Duncan and yet the man was his best friend. Macbeth gives him the ambition to find the man who killed Duncan even though it was him. Macbeth had Banquo murdered, killing Banquos ambition.

After the evil king has Macduffs family murdered, Macduff makes it his personal goal to avenge the deaths of his family and kill Macbeth.

Macbeth Essay. By Xian.

This is a positive example of ambition. He uses it to challenge Macbeth and kill him. The witches knew that he would kill Macbeth because the predicted that Macbeth would kill the thane of fifes family. At this point Macbeth is starting to forget what he had desired before. He does not care whether he lives or dies during the defense of his castle. He loses touch with everything that he had murdered several people for because of everything that is happening. His queen kills herself, he is under attack and outnumbered. The only thing that keeps him going is the witchs prediction of no man born of woman can defeat him. When Macduff reveals his mother had a C-section Macbeth fights on but realized that he has been tricked and is certain to death. He subconsciously has one last goal, to die an honorably death by someone who he has wronged.

Ambition has many ways of showing itself. Some ways are revealed in an obvious way and others are harder to realize that they are there. Ambition itself is not evil, but how the different characters in the play go about achieving their goals. Desires can be found in the biggest and smallest of characters. Both good and bad desires take place;

Macbeth Essay. By Xian.

they fuel each other and Shakespeare uses it to force important events to take place.