Similarities Between Macbeth And Macduff

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The Ambition for Power
“Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principles which direct them” (Napoleon Bonaparte). To have ambition and drive is a very great thing to have in life. Having goals, aspirations, and dreams are essential points to a person’s life, however, it is what factors lead these goals and dreams and what exactly motivates the dreams and ambitions. In Shakespeare's play, “Macbeth”, both Macduff and Macbeth had the ambition of gaining power, Macbeth having a negative ambition of power that eventually led to his deterioration and Macduff’s positive ambition of power that led him to his uprise! Both Macbeth and Macduff are similar in …show more content…

So meek, hath been so clear in his great office” (I.vii.16-19). Macbeth realizes and is informed that King Duncan is truly a very humble leader, is free of ALL corruption and that there is no correct or true reason to kill him. He understands that Duncan is a great leader and king and thus wants to stay loyal to the King! Similarly, Macduff is somewhat considered a loyal subject as well! Following the murder of king Duncan, Macduff looked for the king. Once Macduff entered Duncan's chamber, he cried out, “O horror, horror, horror! Tongue not heart cannot conceive nor name thee” ( II.iii.58-59). Macduff weeped upon the king’s death and the death of a great and innocent man. Macduff is loyal to the king because of his weeping and feeling very sorrow upon the death of his gracious king. Afterwards, Macduff goes to England to Malcolm to discuss the terms on how to save Scotland from Macbeth. Malcolm, the son of Duncan, thought that Macbeth was a traitor and was not loyal. Malcolm told false and malicious things about himself to Macduff in order to test if Macduff would be trusted and still be on his side. At last, Malcolm understood Macduff’s character qualities and “reconciled” his thoughts “to thy good truth and honor” ( IV.iii.116-117). …show more content…

Macbeth’s strong ambition is to become king of Scotland. After the war, Macbeth and Banquo both walked and came into contact with : witches. The witches told prophecies that Macbeth will “Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!” and then “shalt be the king hereafter” (I.iii.48-50). The witch’s prophecies were the first step into motivating Macbeth to be in power of Scotland. Macbeth’s promotion to Thane of Cawdor, made him believe the fact that the prophecies from the witches of the future are true. Macbeth soon wanted to have more power and so he wanted the stars not to “light” his “black and deep desires” (I.iv.50-51). Macbeth had evil and negative ambitions to become in power of Scotland and thus did not want anyone to know that he was going to have plans to kill the innocent king and his closest friends. While Macbeth was deciding whether to kill or not to kill Duncan, he states that the only thing motivating him is “ambition” which makes “people rush ahead of themselves toward disaster” (I.iii.25-28). Macbeth's plan of killing king Duncan was his strong desire because he would succeed into power. He was willing to do anything just to be in power and thus decided to kill his gracious king Duncan and his closest friend Banquo. His ambition of power led him to commit such a terrible and cruel action. Macbeth's blinding ambition led him to take a

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