What Is Ambition In Macbeth

Ambition can be the reason for one’s success or downfall. It is the driving force behind weather or not an individual prospers, or if their life succumbs to nothing. Everybody is ambitious, we all have desires in which we crave the life or object of our dreams. However there are instances where ambition can cloud the mind, and it is difficult to decipher one’s desire or their greed. In the play Macbeth written by William Shakespeare, the protagonist Macbeth allows his vaulting ambition to dictate his actions and muddle his reasoning. After receiving a prophecy about his future from 3 deranged witches, war hero Macbeth is left bewildered. They tell him he will become the Thane of Cawdor and eventually the king of Scotland, however he ponders how this divination will come true. With the help of his incredibly

However once in control of Scotland, Macbeth feels insecure about his position as king and decides to kill those he feels threatened by. As Macbeth’s tyranny escalated, a war eventually brewed between him and those opposed to his reign. The play follows the Macbeth and his actions eventually leading to his doom. Through the use of monologues, soliloquies, and supernatural forces, Shakespeare illustrates how greed creates the tendency to let one's ambitions overcome their sense of morality in order to obtain power.

Macbeth’s greed allows supernatural influences to dictate his actions due to his own vaulting ambition to be king. When someone potentially threatened Macbeth from inheriting the throne he took matters into his own hands. “The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires” (1.4.48-51). Macbeth is nervous, he knows that eventually he will become king