Ambition and Macbeth

Ambition is an "earnest desire for some type of achievement or distinction, as power, honor, fame, or wealth, and the willingness to strive for its attainment." (Random House Dictionary, 2013) In The Tragedy of Macbeth, the reoccurring theme of ambition is brought up in many different ways throughout the entire play. Shakespeare follows the two main characters, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, and their twisted quest towards being King and Queen of Scotland. Their willingness to do whatever it takes in order to attain their goals just goes to show how far ambition can take someone. The quality of ambition is what makes a person work towards the lattermost achievement of their goals, but ambition can also be the tragic flaw that will eventually drive a person to madness and his/her ultimate downfall.

Macbeth's ambition becomes perverse once he gets a taste of the success that it could possibly bring him and eventually results in a catastrophic thirst for power. Even in Shakespearian society, most individuals with a yearning to be successful and an exceptional work ethic, could usually achieve whatever they wanted. Macbeth's deepest desire right from the start was to journey to the top of royalty and his accomplishments both in the castle and on the battlefield already modestly awarded him the honorable position of Thane of Cawdor. By Macbeth acclaiming this role, it proved the first prophecy of the wëird sisters to be true. Due to the accuracy of their first conjecture, Macbeth appeared confident that any other prediction that they foresaw was imminent. This was where his ambition went from healthy and motivated to evil and devious. The idea of being king and even better, the idea that this goal was attainable, was so extremely appealing to Macbeth that he brainstormed, "My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,/ Shakes so my single state of man/ That function is smothered in surmise, and nothing is /But what is not" (I. iii, 142-145) Murder was certainly the most convenient way for Macbeth so that he could become king and with this knowledge he waited for nothing to get it over and done with. Macbeth's willingness to sacrifice any bit of morality that he possessed was startling but honest. He openly realized that what he planned to do was wrong and although, at first he might have not been okay with it, he held his breath and performed an impulsive crime that would change the mental consciousness that would later determine the fate of Macbeth. He simply could not pass up an opportunity to gain more power even with difficult obstacles standing in his way and this was seen in Macbeth's aside where he expressed, "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 my light see my black and deep desires. The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be /Which the eye fears when it is done to see" (I. iv, 50-55) Macbeth saw Malcolm, because he was Prince of Cumberland, as a threat and understood that in order to acquire the position of king, he would either have to find a way to step over him, or give up. Since quitting was completely out of the question for Macbeth, it was clear to him what he would have to do in order to get to the point that he wanted to be at. He would have to "get rid" of Malcolm in the same manner that he did to Duncan. Completely disregarding the friendship that these two men shared, Macbeth once again, completed his deed and just hoped that his eyes would not see what his hands were doing.

Lady Macbeth's lust for power is what