Success is a desire. According to Dictionary.com, success is “the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors” (Dictionary.com). People may desire success, where success comes from gaining wealth, power, happiness, or freedom. The desire to succeed has been evident in the past and present. In the past, wars have been initiated by countries to attempt to gain freedom. As for the present, people aim to be highly educated so they may have a prosperous career in which they may be able to earn a large pay check, making them successful. In William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, the protagonist, Macbeth desires to succeed in becoming King and ruling Scotland, instead of being a loyal thane. In his plan to become king, Macbeth must kill the current king, King Duncan, and leads him to become paranoid. In comparison, Abegail Jakop is a high school student living in the little town of Fergus, attending St. James Catholic High School in Guelph. She desires to succeed in life but on a much smaller scale, only hoping to be happy, intelligent and have a successful career, which would allow her to enjoy life. Although Macbeth and Abegail’s desires would produce different outcomes, they both show similarities of their desire for success through trust, emotions and actions.
To begin, trust shows that Macbeth and Abegail are alike in their desire for success. Firstly, Macbeth is quick to assume, making him easily lose trust in people. When Macbeth becomes King and reflects about Banquo being well-liked in Scotland and possibly seen as a better candidate to be king compared to Macbeth, so he begins to see Banquo as a threat, despite that he is Macbeth’s friend and is loyal to him. Macbeth’s quick assumption that Banquo may be a rival ...
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...erent situations, they will not reach their goals. Although, Macbeth can be more withholding compared to Abegail’s willingness to accept, their similarity still shines through. Whether their idea of success is rule Scotland, or just to live a satisfied live, Macbeth and Abegail still desire their opinion of success, just anyone else would. In ordinary life, people strive for desire, and some will strive for what they consider success. Desire is what keeps people going and provides a goal for people to aim for. Desire and success are key components in ordinary people’s lives since they help shape their future.
Works Cited
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Macbeth written by Shakespeare, is a tragic and historical thriller play filled with action-packed murders and the fall of man. The characters are portrayed to have personal ambitions. Shakespeare displayed these ambitions to both be destructive and constructive. Which unchecked ambition has detrimental impacts as shown in the main characters and checked, cautious ambition can help influence and encourage others. Ambition is an overarching theme found common in the play and could also be shown for the sake of justice and a positive characteristic. These ambitions were either presented as fatal flaws shown
Shakespeare, William. Tragedy of Macbeth . Ed. Barbara Mowat and Paul Warstine. New York: Washington Press, 1992.
Shakespeare, William. “Macbeth.” The Complete Works of Shakespeare. Ed. David Bevington. New York: Longman, 1997
Shakespeare, William. Tragedy of Macbeth . Ed. Barbara Mowat and Paul Warstine. New York: Washington Press, 2008.