Ambition in Macbeth

Ambition in Macbeth

1. Act one

   • 'My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,'
     • Macbeth is showing murderous instints from the very beginning of the play, maybe he is truly a brutal person, I mean he is a solider
     • Macbeth begins to think about murder before Lady Macbeth has even read the letter, and so he clearly does have the desire to kill of his own accord, the murder of Duncan cannot be fully attributed to lady Macbeth
   • 'Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires.'
     • These desires are clearly not something that would be acceptable to the rest of society, hence why Macbeth must keep them hidden
     • Black and deep certainly indicate that these are not exactly the most inncent of thoughts, and this is another key sign of Macbeth clear intent from the beginning
   • Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness To catch the nearest way.
     • Lady Macbeth does show ambition here, but not for herself, she instead shows an ambition for her husband, and a concern that he is not ambitious enough to fulfil his destiny
   • 'Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself And falls on the other'
     • Macbeth acknowledeges that the only reason why he wants to kill the king is for his own power, and makes the decision not to'

2. act two

   • 'Thriftless ambition, that will ravin up Thine own lives' means!'
     • This quote from ross is right in the fact that it tells us that ambition will be the downfall of society, and will have serious consequences for everybody
     • this also shows that suspicion towards Malcolm and donaldbain after they left, everyone is suspicious that they killed the king
   • and I fear Thou played'st most foully for't.
     • Banquo expresses fear that macbeths ambition has taken over him and that this has lead to him killing the king
     • is there anything foul about ambition, if it doesn't;t lead to dire consequences?

3. Act four

   • 'Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! Beware Macduff! Beware the Thane of Fife! Dismiss me. Enough.'
     • Macbeth has gone to see the witches in order to assess how much risk he is in, and wether he is in danger of being dethroned and killed

4. Act five

   • 'Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day To the last syllable of recorded time '
     • Macbeth realises that all of his ambition all of the work he has put in to become king was pointless in the end, because after the death of his wife he has a newfound sense of the fragility of iife, and the pointlessness of his pursuits

5. Act three

   • 'For mine own good All causes shall give way. I am in blood'
     • Macbeth has made it very clear that he did this for himself and for nobody else, shows his internal selfish

6. Trends throughout the play

   • The theme of ambition is very prevalent in the beginning of the play, but as the play goes on and macbeths happiness and success falls apart ambition gets less and less prevalent