Ambition In Macbeth Essay

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The Contribution of Ambition to Negativity In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, one of the main overarching themes of the play is ambition and how it affects people. Ambition can be defined as the determination to go further, or the strong want to be successful. It can lead people to do great things, to complete their life goal, or to completely destroy the person and the lives of people around them. Macbeth clearly shows, that although a positive characteristic in most, ambition CAN become a negative characteristic. During Macbeth’s visit with the king, Duncan proclaims that he will pass on his crown on to Malcom, NOT Macbeth, even though the witches foretold that Macbeth would be king. Towards the end of the scene, Macbeth says, “Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desire.” (1.4.57) Macbeth is already contemplating murdering the king by this line. His heart is not set on it, but the thought does cross his mind. This quote is basically saying that Macbeth wants the fires of every star to go out so no one may see his dark desires. Those desires would be to kill Duncan. The way Macbeth says, “…my black and deep desires”, with …show more content…
To me you speak not. If you can look into the seeds of time, And say which grain will grow and will will not, Speak then to me…” (1.3.56) This entire quote said by Banquo to the witches, and the only thing he is saying throughout all of this is essentially, ‘you gave Macbeth a prophecy, so where is mine?’ Despite the fact that Banquo is being very kind about it, one might come to the realization that Banquo is getting jealous of Macbeth. Although more obscure and not directly shown by this quote, ambition can lead to jealousy, which can be either passive or aggressive. Jealousy is not necessarily a bad thing, however, if gone untreated, jealousy can lead to negative thoughts and even

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