The Power Of Ambition In Macbeth

Shakespeare’s Tragedy ‘Macbeth’ is about a man who comes into power through regicide and his descent into evil. ‘Macbeth’ explores the idea of corrupting power of ambition. This notion is shown through the character development of Macbeth. At the beginning of the play Macbeth is portrayed as brave and courageous. However by the end Macbeth has let his ambition take over his conscience and has lost his humanity. From Macbeths character change we see how unchecked ambition can lead to ones downfall.
At the beginning of the play Macbeth is thought to be a brave warrior, fighting for his King and country. This is shown when Macbeth is introduced to King Duncan by the Captain, “For brave Macbeth-well he deserves that name-“However, when Macbeth and Banquo encounter the witches we see the first signs of Macbeths ambition. “All hail Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter”, Macbeth’s reaction to the witches prophecy is one of suspicion though he seems to be curious to know more, which leads us to believe that Macbeth has pondered on the idea of Kingship before; Macbeth realizes that if he is to be king it would mean that King Duncan, the current king, will have to die. His …show more content…
The first impression of Macbeth is that he is Noble Warrior but is overly ambitious. His ambition played a big part in his downfall along with being deceived by the witch’s prophecies. We see how because of ambition Macbeth goes from being the hero to the villain; Macbeth is mentally unstable and has no conscience by the end of the play. From Macbeth we learn that being overly ambitious can lead a person to do horrible things. Shakespeare wanted us to learn from Macbeth mistakes by always listening to our conscience. Macbeth’s character wasn’t strong willed and was easily manipulated by Lady Macbeth. By letting his ambition get the better of him, Macbeth couldn’t tell the difference from wrong and right, good and