Example essay: The Theme of Ambition in Macbeth.

Macbeth has natural ambition but this is reinforced by his meeting with the Witches and by his wife's persuasive powers. Lady Macbeth is ambitious for herself but also on her husband's behalf.

The one thing he does have is ambition, which he compares to a horse and rider who overestimate their ability to leap over an obstacle, and end up falling down. The passage describes the tension between Macbeth’s unwillingness to move ahead with his plan, and his acknowledgement that his ambition is leading him down a dangerous path.

In William Shakespeare's dramatic tragedy, 'Macbeth,' the Scottish Nobleman Macbeth is overcome by his own desire. His eventual downfall and destruction was a product of his blind ambition. The regal ambitions of Macbeth began a tragic downward spiral from which the tragic hero could never recover. Macbeth's vaulting, escalating ambition is his.

Ambition is described by Merriam-Webster as “something that a person hopes to do or achieve,” and as “a particular goal or aim.” In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, you could say that ambition is what drives the story and what causes a series of events to occur that could lead to that ambition being found.

Though ambition tends to coincide with success, in this play it leads to the self destruction of many, including Lady Macbeth, Malcolm and Macbeth himself. Lady Macbeth is a deeply ambitious woman who strives for power. She is the one who initially convinces Macbeth to kill King Duncan. As soon as she learns of the witches' prophecies and.

Lady Macbeth has more ambition than Macbeth. When Lady Macbeth has received the letter from her husband, Macbeth, telling her about the three witches’ prophecies and the future king Macbeth, she decides to make it come true immediately.

Lady Macbeth clearly has both the ambition and evil necessary to commit regicide as opposed to Macbeth who is portrayed as also ambitious but weaker at this point in the play. Later in the play, Macbeth’s ambition is clearly presented as his fatal flaw which ultimately leads to his downfall from the “worthy gentleman” to “hell-hound”.

Also Lady Macbeth drives Macbeth to action to kill King Duncan. The witches also play on Macbeth’s ambition. Furthermore, Macduff has ambition to kill Macbeth after Macbeth murdered his family and lastly, each murder in the play, has part of ambition.

Macbeth is a play about subterfuge and trickery. Macbeth, his wife, and the three Weird Sisters are linked in their mutual refusal to come right out and say things directly. Instead, they rely on implications, riddles, and ambiguity to evade the truth. Macbeth’s ability to manipulate his language and his public image in order to hide his foul.

Macbeth himself is mindful of the possible consequences saying “ I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself And falls on th’other (1.7)” This is not only is an example of foreshadowing in the play, but also a direct presentation of ambition, Shakespeare is directly warning us about.

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Ambition is one of the most important and salient themes in Shakespeare's 'Macbeth'. Help your students analyze this theme critically by using the essay prompts in this lesson.