Macbeth Ambition Research Paper

What Ambition Causes
Many fictional stories include a tragic hero, where the hero would also be considered a the leading character or protagonist. Tragic heroes look at themselves as honourable with high morals. They are often indeed people of good character. Though these “heroes” are portrayed in a good light at the beginning of the story, they often go through a downfall as the story progresses. Their downfall is due to their own character flaws. An example of a flaw that a character may have is ambition. Ambition is usually used in a positive context. However, being ambitious can often times lead to self destruction because the character strives to accomplish goals disregarding the risks involved. William Shakespeare's novel Macbeth demonstrates the main character, Macbeth, is an example of a protagonist that fits the definition of a tragic hero in the play, who also happens to be quite ambitious in the negative context of greed and the drive for power. …show more content…
However, his “ambitiousness”, the pursuit of power where ”the end-justifies-the-means” quality in his character led to feelings of guilt and ultimately, his self destruction. Macbeth committed murders to gain power. It was sinful to murder the King of Scotland and other innocent characters in the play. However, the guilt associated with these heinous acts became his own undoing, self-destruction from the feelings of guilt. Macbeth murders the innocent characters to gain power and maintain it. Macbeth fits the traditional definition of a tragic hero by possessing a character flaw of negative ambition with a strong desire to obtain power leading to his deep shame and remorse that led to his own