The Theme of Ambition in Macbeth, a Play by. - GradesFixer.
Many are often pushed by ambition, as a motivational force, to acquire what they desire. Throughout William Shakespeare's play of Macbeth ambition is a prevalent theme in many of the acts. Though ambition tends to coincide with success, in this play it leads to the self destruction of many, including Lady Macbeth, Malcolm and Macbeth himself.
Macbeth’s ambition is such a force for disorder in the play and causes not only his downfall but that of many other characters and the whole state of Scotland. The greatest element of tragedy in the play is the spectacle of Macbeth slowly losing his mind as a result of his guilt over the crimes that he has committed in order to fulfil his ambition.
Macbeth And Ambition In Macbeth. One may try and argue that Lady Macbeth or ambition drove Macbeth to commit his murderous acts to become king, but they are missing out on the main catalysts of everyone’s actions including Macbeth; the witches. Without these three demonic figures, Macbeth would be a history rather than a tragedy.
Ambition is shown in Macbeth by many characters. For example Macbeth, he shows ambition that he gets from his wife to kill Duncan then Malcolm so they can take over Scotland. Macbeth is the most ambitious person in the play, he is a ruthless king who hires people to kill others so he can stay in power.
The one thing he does have is ambition, which he compares to a horse and rider who overestimate their ability to leap over an obstacle, and end up falling down. The passage describes the tension between Macbeth’s unwillingness to move ahead with his plan, and his acknowledgement that his ambition is leading him down a dangerous path.
Macbeth, his wife, and the three Weird Sisters are linked in their mutual refusal to come right out and say things directly. Instead, they rely on implications, riddles, and ambiguity to evade the truth. Macbeth’s ability to manipulate his language and his public image in order to hide his foul crimes makes him a very modern-seeming politician.
Furthermore, Macduff has ambition to kill Macbeth after Macbeth murdered his family and lastly, each murder in the play, has part of ambition. Firstly, it is clear that ambition is important to the Macbeth play because throughout most of the play, Macbeth does everything to protect his position on the throne.