Mary Savia Brooke Tanya MACBETH WHOSE FAULT WAS IT ANYWAY? AMBITION

 Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s “thriftless ambition” to seize the “golden round” causes them to murder Duncan.  This is where Macbeth turns into a “tyrant” and Lady Macbeth becomes mentally unstable due her heart being “solely charged” with guilt, which ultimately leads to their disastrous end.  Ambition is needed in order to get what you want: Lady Macbeth: “art not without ambition” (p45) WHY AMBITION IS AT FAULT?

 Lady Macbeth is certain that Macbeth “shalt be [w]hat thou art promised” (p45)  Lady Macbeth scolds Macbeth: “But screw your courage to the sticking place, [a]nd we’ll not fail” (p49) – this highlights Lady Macbeth’s unshakeable determination to become Queen.  Lady Macbeth’s cold nature reveals the full extent of her ambition: “I would, while it was smiling in my face, [h]ave plucked my nipple…[a]nd dashed the brains out” (p49) LADY MACBETH'S AMBITION

 “Art thou afeard [t]o be the same in thine own act and valour, [a]s thou art in desire” -this is what Lady Macbeth says to Macbeth which reveals his hidden desire to be king. (p48)  Macbeth’s growing ambition can be seen when he says to himself: “[a]s happy prologues to the swelling [a]ct [o]f the imperial theme” (p42) MACBETH’S AMBITION

 Wanting to know your fate, gets you ambitious “Speak, I charge you!”- Macbeth says this when the witches reveal their prophecies (p41)  Macbeth thinks about murdering Duncan to seize the throne: “why do I yield to that suggestion [w]hose horrid image doth unfix my hair” (p42) MACBETH’S AMBITION CONT’D