The Ambition In The Tragedy Of Macbeth

The tragedy of Macbeth is a Scottish play that was written by Shakespeare in the eleventh century. This tragic story contains supernatural elements and focuses on a lust for power and betrayal of friends. Macbeth’s ambition develops over the course of the text and helps advance the plot because his actions create horrendous domino effect.
Undeniably, Macbeth’s ambition develops more and more over time. in the beginning of the play, the author shows the reader that Macbeth is well respected and greatly honored. As the play continues Macbeth and his best friend Banquo, are walking in the forest when three witches appear. The witches tell him a prophecy, the text states “thane of Glamis, thane of Cawdor, king hereafter”. When Macbeth first hears this, his thought was “the thane of Cawdor lives. Why do you dress me in borrowed robes?”. Macbeth then proceeds to think about how impossible it is for him to become thane of Cawdor and even more impossible for him to become king. Minutes later, news comes that Macbeth is the new thane of Cawdor. This is where the reader begins to see his ambition grow. …show more content…
The author wrote, “the thane of Cumberland! That is a step on which I must fall down or else o’er leap, for in my way it lies. Stars hide your fires, the eye wink at the hand. Yet let that be which the eye fear, when it is done to see”. This shows that Macbeth’s ambition is pushing him to have dark thoughts and this advances the plot.
Additionally, Macbeth’s ambition helps advance the plot because it causes him to become vile and insane over a period of time. Macbeth starts to hallucinate and hear voices. Later in the story, Macbeth even goes as far as killing his best friend to maintain power. Darkness slowly takes over Macbeth’s mind and later there is no sign of the man he used to