The Ambition Of Power In Macbeth By William Shakespeare

He was guaranteed to become very powerful… but how Macbeth got there was up to him. When we look at the tragedy Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, we ask many questions pertaining to this notion of power. What happens when we take an alternate path to where we’re supposed to be? How did Macbeth rise to power? I believe it is because, not only was he given the knowledge of his fate, but the temptation, to use the multiple opportunities to alter the way he achieved that power. As seen in I.iii, Macbeth was notified of his fate by the three witches, but Macbeth was skeptical until I.iv in which one of the prophecies came true, building up the belief that there was truth to what the witches said. Macbeth did not pay attention to his temptation, that …show more content…
Sometimes, when we are consumed by power, we gain a huge influx of ambition, but most of the time, the ambition is unchecked, and too much for our minds to handle. Macbeth clearly shows this in I.v, when Lady Macbeth convinces her husband to carry out a despicable act. After the deed is deed is done, Macbeth receives a boost in his ambition… the only issue is that it is unchecked, and unmediated, which unfortunately, leads to many horrible acts in the later stages of the play. We have seen the implications of unmediated ambition, but what is it? Unmediated or unchecked ambition is when the drive for something is so great that it cannot be controlled. It usually happens when we are drawn in by power and if it isn’t mediated at some point, can cause a variety of things. It may not even be detrimental to others around us, but just to ourselves. In Macbeth’s case, it is clear that this drive for more and more power influenced him into doing terrible things to innocent people, as well as, in IV.i, becoming overconfident in his ability to not be killed by “man of women born,” and thus, becoming more and more ambitious. Even Macbeth couldn 't control this drive for more and the side effects it had were destructive to his entire society. One of the things that we should strive for is to be assertive and self confident so that we don 't get pulled over to the side …show more content…
Sometimes, the people who we are around don 't always reflect the people that we esteem, and sometimes, the qualities of these people subliminally soak into us. This is extremely visible in the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. As seen in I.v, Macbeth is completely influenced by Lady Macbeth when proposed the idea of murder, to get the place of power that they both wanted. This turned out great in the short run, but in the long run, becoming a tyrant for a little while turned into becoming a full on tyrannical ruler whom was feared by everyone. Though he got his power, it was shortly removed in V.vii. The behavior of Macbeth was partially due to being surrounded by just one person, Lady Macbeth, who’s values of power over life drastically seeped into Macbeth. In modern day, we can see that people just turn into the people who they choose to keep close. In the example of cliques, most members involuntarily conform to the general standard, or exhibit the general behaviors of the people in the group. The deep psychology of this is because humans are social creatures and belonging and feeling as though we are fitting in to a group gives us a fair amount of gratification. Sometimes, we lose or burry the things about us that are the most influential to others, or the parts of us most likely to impact the world in a positive manner. I think that when we look at Macbeth, we should try to stay