Macbeth and Ambition

LM is using her husbands desires to achieve her own ambition as well. Sparks his ambition All the events that take place in Macbeth happen because of his desire to have power, from when he kills King Duncan to when he murders the Macduffs. Macduff and Malcolm care more about Scotland than their desires..

Act one Macbeth: Ambitious, brutal, but seemingly loyal Wants to be king but scared about killing – “whose murder yet is but fantastical; Shakes so my single state of man”. Lady Macbeth: Equally ambitious, and knows that she can manipulate her husband to do what profits her. Shown to be evil as well with violent images and connotations.

ACT TWO We begin to see how Macbeth may become deranged from his ambition, as he hallucinates and then breaks down after the murder. On the other hand, Lady Macbeth is perfectly composed, showing how she seems more able to deal with the situation, but this contrasts with later acts, where she is overcome with guilt as her ambition leads to her death as well. Z

act three Role reversal: Macbeth and Lady Macbeth seem to change values with each other. Lady Macbeth becoming more overcome by guilt, whilst Macbeth uses new methods to achieve his goals (trickery, deception). We see that their relationship is becoming estranged as they focus more on themselves and their own ambition than each other.

Act four Macbeth: ambition has completely taken over him, making him kill a mother and her children. He sees it as a viable solution without second thought, showing his derangement. Lady Macbeth: is not present here. This shows how the relationship between her and her husband is collapsed, due to their overachieving ambition.

Act five Lady Macbeth: Has completely lost it and sees now what her ambition has done to her. She cannot wash the guilt from herself making her go insane. Macbeth: Also makes the realisation here that his ambition has ruined his life as he is worse off than he was before. He seems to try to become noble once more in the end as he fights like he used to and not with hired assassins.

Shakespeare's message Macbeth shows how ambition can be catastrophic and lead to ultimate failure when used in the wrong way. However, it isn’t a message against ambition; many morally good characters also have ambition but go about it in the right way.