Power is what changed Macbeth in the play from beginning to end. Besides power, ambition was another thing that changed him as well. His ambition was to king and rule. He knew that his actions were wrong but he had to do something. Lady Macbeth is to blame for all his actions because she pressured him in the first place.
He talks it over with his wife, and is pressured onto killing Duncan. The main reason Macbeth is pressured into killing Duncan is because he has vaulting or blind ambition. Vaulting or blind ambition is when someone has a mindset of something, and without thinking they spring at the first opportunity that they have. Blind or vaulting ambition can be a good thing, because it basically means that you will stop a nothing to achieve your goals. Blind ambition can also encourage those around you to fulfill their goals.
She understands the quickest way for her husband Macbeth to become king is to murder King Duncan. Not able to do this alone she calls upon evil spirits to clear her concious and give her the strength of a man. The evil spirits were only enough for her to put on a persona for Macbeth and influence him to commit the muder. After the aweful scenerio takes place Lady Macbeth crumbles under the pressure of guilt and becomes mentally insane. She is effected so much that she is driven to her own suicide.
Straight from the first scene of the play it is important to note that the witches convey ideas of ambition "battles lost and won" therefore the war will show the winners and losers no one in-between. Hence readers are shown the idea of ambition that everyone will fight for the best. They are almost polarised to win everything and anything, if not they will loose and therefore fail as warriors. This is shown through the reaction of the Sergeant towards Macbeth's fighting "For brave Macbeth - well he deserves the name" he is shown like he is a saint, deserving all this glory. Also this sets out the audience expectation of Macbeth, a brave war hero, who protected the King and the people.
Throughout the play Lady Macbeth is the driving influence behind Macbeth and the immoral path that he chose to follow. To put it simply Lady Macbeth started the rot and persuaded the hesitant and indecisive Macbeth to “be a man” and do the deed of killing Duncan. Macbeth initially decided to “proceed no further” in the matter of killing Duncan because he had been kind to him of late bestowing the position of Thane of Cawdor on him. She responds to this by saying that if he can lose his ambition so readily, his love for her must also be changeable. Then she insults his masculinity and questions his courage.
Often times we struggle to find the right balance between too much and two little of a certain something. Ambition is the strong desire to attain success in an individual’s life. The protagonist Macbeth, induced by ambition, finds himself on a downwards spiral towards his own self destruction. In Macbeth, William Shakespeare conveys that extreme ambition has a potent effect on leading ones fate in a harmful or advantageous way, resulting in either a rise in power or tragic downfall. Macbeth is characterized, as an exceptionally noble person being both loyal and honourable.
Macbeth – Power, Greed and Ambition In Shakespeare’s play ‘Macbeth’ the character Macbeth was once a strong, noble, brave, heroic warrior then turned to become murderous, big headed, greedy and powerful maniac. Macbeth’s ambition led him to a murderous path but if it wasn’t for his wife lady Macbeth’s greed and hunger for power Macbeth’s ambition would never have been sparked up so much. Ambition is described as the desire for someone to achieve their own goals. It is the necessary quality you need to achieve anything, but too much can ruin it for you and make you do unnecessary things in order to reach the goals. Ambition and greed is a common downfall for those who seek power.
He was of high standing, came from a noble background, and possessed a flaw in his character that brought him to his own downfall. Macbeth represents a tragic hero for many reasons: early in the play he was established as being of great social stature, he suffered from a tragic flaw, vaulting ambition, he experienced suffering, and due to his own actions, this suffering lead him to his degeneration as a character, resulting in his downfall. Firstly, Macbeth is considered a tragic hero because early in the play he was established as being of great social stature and came from a noble background. At the beginning of Act 1, Macbeth was described as a hero: “And fortune, on his demand quarrel smiling,/ Show’d like a rebels whore: but all’s too weak;/ For brave Macbeth-well he deserves that name-/ Disdaining fortune, with his brandish’d steel” (I,ii,16-19). In these lines, a soldier is praising the bravery of Macbeth and is describing his victory to King Duncan.
Betraying Macbeth Ambition is often the driving force in one’s life. It is supposed to be the motivating factor that drives one toward success. Society also deems ambition a necessary quality of their leader. Macbeth’s ambition is fueled by two feminine sources: the witches along with Lady Macbeth spur on him ambition. The upright, “milk of human kindness” Macbeth is therefore, wrongly represented as a moral before the weird sisters have begun with ambition’s pick and pangs.
They were the driving force behind Banquo and King Duncan's killing. The witches prophesised that his life would completely change, by becoming thane of Cawdor, then king of Scotland. At first, Macbeth dismissed their prophecies, but after he was promoted to Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth wondered if he will be King, too. "If chance will have me king, why chance may crown me without my stir." Another prophecy made by the witches was that Banquo's son will be king.