This is the highest point
Macbeth reaches;
it's all downhill from here
Theme of Ambition in Macbeth
Jeopardies of
untamed desires
As a result of his actions, Macbeth suffers poorly:
- His ambition impacts on his behaviour and mental state
- He suffers under insomnia and poor appetite
- Macbeth loses control over himself which raises discontentment and suspicion
Quote
Act 3 Scene 4 Lines 135-38
Macbeth says: "By the worst means, the worst; for mine own good, all causes shall give away. I am in blood, stepp'd in so far that should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o'er."
- Macbeth compares his situation to wading through blood. He is saying that he has stepped in blood, through murders, so deep that returning to where he started from would be just as tedious or boring as continuing forward on the path of killing and gaining power.
Repercussions
- Power-hungry and determined Macbeth now also kills the drunken guards to cover up his sin.
- His ambition next led him to kill Banquo, a trustworthy, noble, and moral friend. This murder shows how out of control Macbeth had gotten. At this point, he is no longer under the influence of Lady Macbeth and began to view Banquo as a threat to his advancement instead of an asset to the wellbeing of Scotland.
- Finally, Macbeth conducts his last major act of violenve by murdering Macduff's family after he is warned that Macduff is in England assembling an army against Macbeth. The killing was purposeless.
Back to the tricky witches...
Macbeth decides to go back to the witches for advice as he sees it as his best option. This witches show him three somewhat misleading apparitions:
- Beware Macduff, beware Thane of Fife
- None of woman born shall harm Macbeth
- Macbeth shall never be vanquished until the
forest of Great Birnam Wood itself comes to high Dunsinane Hill against him
This makes Macbeth ambitious and overconfident once again. He is assured that no one can kill him.
Macbeth kills King Duncan
Blind ambition and Lady Macbeth's persuasion leads Macbeth to overcome his strong sense of guilt and take action on the witches' prophecies by murdering the king at his own castle.
This is the beginning of a series of events depicting his transformation from a noble thane to power hungry tyrant, ultimately leading to his downfall all because of his ambition to gain power and position.
Macduff and Malcolm join forces against Macbeth
- Macduff has arrived to join forces with Malcolm and English soldiers so together they can invade Scotland and defeat Macbeth
- Macduff learns that his family has been killed. He is now absolutely distraught and wants to kill Macbeth at any cost
Vaulting ambition defeats innocence
Act 1 Scene 7 Lines 25-27
Macbeth says: "I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent,
but only vaulting ambition which o'erleaps itself."
- Macbeth compares his situation to riding a horse.
- He is saying that there is no valid reason to kill the king, he is a good king, Macbeth's guest and his relative.
- However, Macbeth does have one and only reason to conduct regicide and that is because of his own ambition of becoming king which is at its peak- it is so strong that it over leaps itself and falls to the other side of the horse. His ambition will leap too far, this could be foreshadowing as well.
Lady Macbeth is deeply afflicted because of her ambition. She suffered from tremendous guilt as a result of her greed and ambition. She id found sleepwalking, trying to wash the 'blood' away from her hands, and eventually she killed herself over it.
Quote: Act 5 Scene 1 Lines 31-36
Lady Macbeth says: "Out, damned spot! Out, I say! One, two. Why then 'tis time to do't. Hell is murky. Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier, and afears? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account? Yet who would have thought the old man to have had to much blood in him?"
- Here, she is guilty of her actions and is basically committing to her crime.
Lady Macbeth and her persuasion
Quotes
Act 1 Scene 5 Lines 18-19
Upon reading the letter sent by Macbeth, Lady Macbeth says: "Art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it. What thou wouldst highly, that wouldst thou holiliy..."
- Lady Macbeth is saying that you (Macbeth) want to be powerful, and you don’t lack ambition, but you don’t have the courage to cheat or take the wrong way to achieve it.
- Her ambition does not allow this to happen and so she surrenders to the evil spirits to give her courage to persuade Macbeth and talk him out of whatever’s keeping him from going after the crown.
- After all, fate and witchcraft both seem to want Macbeth to be king.
Act 1 Scene 3 Line 138
Macbeth says: "My thought, whose murder is yet but fantastical."
- Macbeth is saying that I am thinking about murder but it is still a fantasy in my mind. At this point, his thoughts are provoked but lack motivation.
Act 1 Scene 5 Lines 48-50
Macbeth says: "The Prince of Cumberland: that is a step on which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, for in my way it lies."
- He we see his hopes and desires of becoming king. After the disappointment of not being selected, Macbeth accepts that he must eliminate whoever lies in his way of becoming king.
- Here we see his strong ambition for the first time to the extent that he is resolved to commit a crime like that.
Death of Macbeth
Macbeth, too, was impacted by his ambitions and the deeds that followed. He was now an overconfident tyrant and instead of giving up, he goes out to fight Macduff and his army, believing that he cannot be killed, as the witches had professed.
Quote: Act 5 Scene 5 Line 9
Macbeth says: "I have almost forgotten the taste of fears."
He is saying that he is not afraid of anyone anymore and is
overconfident.
Thesis
However, it turns out that the witches only spoke half the truth. Macduff was cut open from his mother's womb and is the one who kills Macbeth the tyrant. Macbeth's trust on the witches and their prophecies led him to being overly ambitious which led to his tragic death.
The Witches and their prophecies
The undeniable power of uncontrolled ambition and its consequences are extensively portrayed within William Shakespeare's tragedy, Macbeth.
Within the play, ambition is portrayed as a corrupting and unquenchable force.
Macbeth's ambition is the essential reason why he turned from a noble thane to a violent and bloody tyrant. However, Macbeth's ambition is highly influenced by other characters like the witches, Lady Macbeth and Banquo.
Throughout various scenes, the prophecies of the witches are quickly unraveled before the audience and are a driving force for the tragedies that take place as the play progresses.
When Macbeth hears about what is to come for him and since one of the witches' prophecies comes true early in the play, he trusts the witches and starts to become highly ambitious. He is already thinking about being king and gaining power.
The implications of unrealistic, unreasoned and deceitful power and ambition
- Betrayal, murder, madness, and his own demise are all means and consequences of Macbeth's ambition to become King, provoked by the witches and Lady Macbeth.
- Macbeth's mind and decision making were manipulated by the power he gained through ruthless advancements but power and ambition ultimately commenced to lead him down a slippery, murderous downfall.
The message Shakespeare wants to deliver is: "Know your place."