Corrupted Form of Ambition in Macbeth Essay Sample

“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 principle which directs them,” a quote by Napoleon Bonaparte. In many daily lives, ambition is a necessary driver for one to overcome obstacles and a factor in increasing one's degree of determination. While it may be used in a healthy and positive way to assert thoughts and values that may differ from the mainstream culture such as standing up for one’s beliefs, ambition may fuel individuals to the point where thoughts of violence, chaos and mass killings are beginning to develop. These barbarous thoughts later become the sole alternative to reach an individual’s goal. This corrupted form of ambition is portrayed in the Shakespearean tragedy, Macbeth. Characters such as Macbeth, the main character, and Lady Macbeth, Macbeth’s wife, portray the infectious and maddening form of ambition as they will kill anyone that comes in their way of their desires. Throughout this tragedy, William Shakespeare illustrates the idea that the unruly and uncontrollable form of ambition corrupts nurtured and developed one's mind and can cause one's downfall of others.

Lady Macbeth is portrayed as a composed and stoic person whenever she is in the presence of others. However, she can be excited whenever she hears of anything that benefits her and her family. When she discovered that Macbeth was prophesied to be King of Scotland by the three sisters, Lady Macbeth knew that King Duncan needed to be killed to satisfy her lust for power and greatness. However, because Duncan reminded her of her father, Lady Macbeth turned to Macbeth to murder Duncan while he was sleeping in Inverness, the Macbeth castle. But yet, Lady Macbeth felt that Macbeth lacked the self-ambition when she stated “Yet I do fear thy nature. It is too full of the milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great, art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it. What thou wouldst highly, that wouldst holily; wouldst not play false, and yet wouldst wrongly win….” (Act 1, Scene 5, 14-20). In order for Macbeth to assassinate Duncan in his sleep, Lady Macbeth knew that she needed to convince Macbeth to do it. After much assertive-aggressive persuasive behavior from Lady Macbeth, she convinced Macbeth to assassinate King Duncan at Inverness. After the coronation of the Macbeth family at Scone, Lady Macbeth mentioned the murders of Macduff’s family, Duncan and Banquo while she was sleepwalking. These murders are a result of her overdriven ambition for her and Macbeth to become royalty. She mentioned Macduff’s family when Lady Macbeth stated, “The Thane of Fife had a wife. Where is she now? What, will these hands never be clean?” (Act 5, Scene 1, 36-37). She mentioned Duncan as she attempted to remove a “spot of blood” from her hands. This is a direct referral to Macbeth as he struggled to wash off Ducan’s blood after Duncan’s assassination. Lady Macbeth also mentioned Banquo when she said, “... Banquo’s buried. He cannot come out of his grave.” (Act 5, Scene 1, 55-56). These referrals to the murders while she was sleepwalking discusses the fact that Lady Macbeth’s early ambition has caused an immense amount of guilt that she doesn’t convey while fully conscious. Because of the guilt from the murders as a result of her ambition, Lady Macbeth killed herself as the guilt accumulated so much to the point where killing herself was the only solution to forgive her hunger for power. Through Lady Macbeth, the search for power fueled by ambition can result in corruption of one’s mind.

In the tragedy, Macbeth is labeled as a dynamic character as he undergoes a great change in character in this play. During the aftermath of the war between Scotland and Norway, Macbeth encounters the three witches along with Banquo. The witches prophesied that Macbeth will become the Thane of Cawdor and King of Scotland and that Banquo will create the start of a line of kings of Scotland. As said by Lady Macbeth, Macbeth lacks the ambition and determination to claim a title that doesn't belong to him as he chooses not to cheat. After he killed Duncan, Macbeth began to feel that rush of ambition as he now rules Scotland. After his coronation at Scone, Macbeth speaks with Banquo regarding the prophecy. Thereafter, Macbeth claimed “He chid the sisters when they put the name of king upon me, and bade them speak to him: then prophet-like they hail’d him father to a line of kings. Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown, and out a barren sceptre in my gripe, thence to be wrench’d with an unlineal hand, no son of mine succeeding.” (Act 3, Scene 1, 63-70). This means that the crown won't be in his family name for generations to come and eventually Banquo’s descendents will take the crown and continue the line of kings. After this realization, Macbeth knew that Banquo and his son, Fleance, needed to die, however, Macbeth enlisted the assistance of three murderers as he couldn’t cope with killing another close companion of his. When the murderers portrayed skepticism in the killing of Banquo and Fleance, Macbeth’s ambition fueled his arguments in attempts to persuade the murderers to assassinate them when he stated “Both of you know Banquo was your enemy….So he is mine, and in such bloody distance that every minute of his being thrusts against my nearest of life, and though I could with barefaced power sweep him from my sight and bid my will avouch it, yet I must not, for certain friends that are both his and mine, Whose loves I may not drop, but wail his fall Who I myself struck down. And thence it is that I to your assistance do make love, masking the business from the common eye for sundry weighty reasons.” (Act 3, Scene 1, 131, 133-143). This means that Macbeth’s power can be used to instantly kill Banquo and Fleance, however, the power bestowed on the King can’t be hidden from the eyes of the Scottish commoners which is why Macbeth requested the murders to do his wish as they can do the assassinations secretly. Consequently, the murders have decided to assassinate Banquo and his son. With Banquo murdered and the attempted assassination of Fleance, it indicates that ambition is morphing Macbeth’s once pure and innocent character into one that abuses his power to get what he desires.