Ambition In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

Ambition is an important aspect in life. It allows people to develop goals and to strive for something that will benefit them such as a position of power or reuniting with a past lover once again. However, becoming obsessively determined on one objective can lead to negative consequences, even death. In the novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the protagonist Jay Gatsby is a wealthy man who is in love with Daisy, a past lover. Gatsby’s main ambition is to gain Daisy’s love back. Therefore, he becomes rich and tries to impress her, but she is now married to another rich man by the name of Tom, which she now loves instead of Gatsby. In Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the protagonist Macbeth a scottish general, receives a prophecy from

One factor that his ambition is driven by is Lady Macbeth’s influence on his actions. “ What beast was’t then, That made you break this enterprise to me? When you durst do it, then you were a man; And to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man. (Shakespeare 1.7.57-58) Lady Macbeth insists that Macbeth kills the current king in order to take his place but Macbeth starts to contemplate whether he really wants to commit the murder. Lady Macbeth steps in to convince him to do it. “I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps

Gatsby is trying to gain the attention of Daisy he once had, while Macbeth’s ideal was to convince his wife he is a man of courage and will. "He and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter. That's one of his little stunts. I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and I wasn't far wrong."

Daisy’s husband, Tom, reveals that Gatsby was a bootlegger in an attempt to expose Gatsby’s criminal background to Daisy. However, Gatsby acquired most of his wealth from his criminal activity which was driven by his ambition for Daisy. This is similar to how Macbeth earns his position as king in order to impress Lady Macbeth. “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be

What thou art promised. Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness To catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great, Art not without ambition, but without The illness should attend it.” (Shakespeare 1.5.15-20 ) Lady Macbeth believes that Macbeth can earn the throne but he is “too full o' th' milk of human kindness” which means he is too full of goodness. This influences Macbeth to become the evil, harsh man that Lady Macbeth wishes for in order to impress