What Is The Role Of Ambition In Macbeth

In the famous play, “The Tragedy of Macbeth”, which took place in 11th century Scotland, author William Shakespeare wrote about a noble warrior who lets his lust for power corrupt his life, leading him down a blood-soaked path of no return. The most riveting theme of the story is the ambition of the characters to seize the throne of Scotland Ambition plays a constant role in the events and actions that many characters take in the story, but substantially in three characters; Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, and Malcolm From the very Beginning, the reader is introduced to Macbeth’s ambition through his craving for power. In the first scene, the witches predict that Macbeth will become, saying “Hail Macbeth, who shalt be king hereafter!” The witches’ foreshadowing set off Macbeth’s determination to gain the throne by any means possible, starting a chain of events leading to the deaths of many nobles. One such noble was King Duncan himself, killed in his sleep at the hands of Macbeth. In Macbeth’s soliloquy, as he is about whether or not he should kill is met with the king, he says “Is this a dagger I see before me, the handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.” The bloody dagger in this scene symbolizes the start of bloody path that Macbeth is on, showing that he will stop at nothing to get what he wants. These examples from the …show more content…
During his conversation with Macduff, he states “We are coming thither, gracious England hath lent us good Siward and ten thousand men.” Malcolm says this when he has gathered an army to take Scotland and battle. Malcolm also says “Come, go we to the King. Our power is ready: our lack is nothing but our leave. Macbeth is ripe for shaking.” This is Malcolm saying that the time is now to go to defeat Macbeth. These examples show Malcolm is not only persistent enough to raise an army to kill Macbeth, but that he is ready to do it