Essay About Tragic Ambition in Macbeth
In Macbeth, by Shakespeare, the author highlights the effects of chasing one’s ambition and the sinful actions that come with it. Due to his actions, Macbeth contemplates heaven which is looked at as a place where people experience bliss, and hell which is seen as the place where people suffer. Shakespeare’s use of light and dark imagery depicts the choices made by each character throughout the play, and the use of heaven and hell imagery conceptualizes each of the character's fate.
Through the contrast of light and darkness imagery, Shakespeare is able to illustrate the characters based on their wrong or right doings. In act 1, Macbeth, despite all Duncan’s kindness and unwavering loyalty, still wants to murder Duncan to get to the crown. Talking to the stars, Macbeth says, “stars, hide your fires; let not light see my black and deep desires''(1.4.48-53). Macbeth contemplates murdering Duncan in order for himself to become king, but the only thing that was holding him back was that he knows it would be immoral. To kill someone who has been so loyal to someone such as Macbeth is horrible, and he knows that his actions are dark in addition to evil. He asks the stars to go dim so not only can heaven not observe, but others around him won't be able to see Macbeth’s actions. After the sun doesn't rise, Ross raises his concern by stating, “by th’ clock ’tis day/And yet dark night strangles the traveling lamp. Is ’t night’s predominance or the day’s shame/That darkness does the face of earth entomb/When living light should kiss it?”(2.1.8-12). Shakespeare is able to personify the “dark night” as a killer strangling the bright sun; this exemplifies when Macbeth, the dark night was able to strangle Duncan and kill the bright light. He also speaks about the darkness “entombing” the earth when “living life should kiss it” which represents how Macbeth entombed Duncan way before he was supposed to. The author uses this language and imagery to describe how darkness coexists with the dark events in the play, such as the murder of Duncan. Towards the end of the play, Lady Macbeth is sleepwalking with a candle when the doctor asks why she has a candle, the gentlewoman replies, “why, it stood by her/She has light by her continually. ’Tis her command”(5.1.23-25). By committing immoral actions, Lady Macbeth has trapped herself to a hell bound fate. While sleepwalking, she carries a candle by her side religiously because she is afraid of the darkness that now pursues her. Lady Macbeth tries to keep the light which represents the last goodness she has to escape from the darkness.
Based on the actions in the play, Shakespeare uses heaven and hell imagery to portray the destiny of each character. In act one, Lady Macbeth has plans of murdering Duncan though she knows the deed is evil and cries out,“nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark/To cry “Hold, hold!””(1.5.60-61). In this quotation, Lady Macbeth is asking the night sky to shield her sinful actions with its darkness, so heaven can't see. She doesn't want heaven to “peep” through because she knows her fate would be destined for a one way ticket to hell. Lady Macbeth feels as though if no one were to see her participate in these unjust acts, then it won't be held against her and she won't have to carry guilt for it. Later in the play after Macbeth has killed Duncan, Banquo, and Macduff’s family the Young Siward in the midst of a fight describes Macbeth’s name by saying, “the devil himself could not pronounce a title/More hateful to mine ear”(5.7.10-11). The devil is one of the most hated entities for being a personification of evil, and for Macbeth to surpass that level of hatred, it shows others no longer care for him and his future as king won't last. In the beginning, Macbeth’s intentions are pure and others predict he will go to heaven, though as his actions become immoral their perspective of Macbeth changes. In the final act, Lady Macbeth sleepwalks and hallucinates because of the guilt she is filled with. Trying to diagnose her, a doctor and gentlewoman listen in, but frightened by what she hears, the gentlewoman replies “she has spoke what she should not/ I am sure of that/Heaven knows what she has known”(5.1.50-53). Trying to persuade herself that she is innocent and washing off the blood on her hands to try to keep herself clean, Lady Macbeth lies to herself. God watches over each individual, meaning He knows what she has done to her husband. With the remorse catching up to her, Lady Macbeth ruins her chance of having a paradise filled future because she spoke about what she did and heaven knows everything.
Shakespeare uses light and dark to describe the morals of each character by the actions they make, in addition to heaven and hell to convey the extreme bliss or suffering a character is faced with. Similar to regular life, a person is often tempted with rewards that sound good on first thought, but like most things come with a catch. Macbeth was a loyal fighter until he was tempted with ambition in which he yearned for more. After killing his way to the top and ruining his chances of ever going to heaven, Macbeth finds himself filled with so much guilt that he doesn't even want to live anymore. This shows that chasing after a never ending ambition doesn't always end in happiness, but living with light and being satisfied with what you have is the true success of life.
