Macbeth's Ambition Research Paper

850 Words4 Pages
macbeth is a tragic story of a man and his wife that will do what ever it takes to get to the top. Shakespeare seems to have a wide understanding of what some ambitions can cause a person to do. Macbeth’s ambition is to want to be king which then by the way he went about succeeding at this ambition he ended up going mad buy his own guilt and conscience. Reality comes in to play in different ways, to show that in reality the end doesn't always justify the means. All that Macbeth And Lady Macbeth have wrongfully done to gain power, in reality just destroyed them. Macbeth was a noble man, one Duncan’s(the King) right hand man. Macbeth was a man of his word, he was very kind and was a man of high class. He was someone that you could trust. Macbeth…show more content…
Macbeth with hearing of the prophecy wants to be king as soon as possible. The only way for him to be king and lady macbeth to be queen is if Duncan dies and macbeth takes the thrown. Since macbeth is of high morals, he doest feel like it is right to kill Duncan. “Macbeth- We will proceed no further in this business.He hath honored me of late, and I have boughtGolden opinions from all sorts of people,Which would be worn now in their newest gloss,Not cast aside so soon(Shakespeare, I.VII.31-35)”. Macbeth is already feeling guilty about his plan. The conscience of Macbeth is already coming into the play and Duncan is not dead yet.This is wear we start to see Lady Macbeth in a big way. She seems to almost be driving this ambition of theirs more than Macbeth wants. “Was the hope drunkWherein you dressed yourself? Hath it slept since?And wakes it now, to look so green and paleAt what it did so freely? From this timeSuch I account thy love. Art thou afeardTo be the same in thine own act and valorAs thou art in desire?Wouldst thou have thatWhich thou esteem’st the ornament of life,And live a coward in thine own esteem,Letting “I dare not” wait upon “I would, ”Like the poor cat i' th' adage?(Shakespeare, I.VII.35-45)”. Lady Macbeth here is esseintly calling him a big baby,She is calling him out and calling him a wimp, not a…show more content…
“In the murder scene, we again see Macbeth tormented by guilt. Shakespeare has the murder happen offstage so that he can focus on Macbeth's tormented mental state(BBC)”. Shakespeare is focusing on this mental state of Macbeth because he wants to show the guilt and pain that this action of this ambition that they had.The first Action that the guilty conscience of Macbeth takes is the hallucination of the bloody dagger. “Methought I heard a voice cry, ‘Sleep no more!Macbeth does murder sleep’—the innocent sleep,Sleep that knits up the raveled sleave of care,The death of each day’s life, sore labor’s bath,Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,Chief nourisher in life’s feast(Shakespeare, I.VII.32-37)”. The guilt is now driving him mad. Macbeth is now going to have absolutely no sleep. The Guilt is in his head his conscience will not leave him alone. He soon becomes Paranoid that Banquo knows that he killed Duncan and decides to have him killed also. So now he has killed two people and the means of getting this end,the crown, is not looking to good.Macbeth ends up being killed by Macduff who had Realized how much of a tyrant king macbeth had become. Lady Macbeth’s Guilt is shown more through her actions. In Act Five Scene one She begins to sleep walk and trying to wash her hands. She is trying to wash her hands bc in her terrible nightmare her hands are covered in Duncan’s blood.
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