Shannon Firkins Ambition is a common downfall for those who seek and gain power. In literature, authors portray the harmful effects of ambition through their characters. In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare the main character Macbeth changes from a kind-hearted warrior to an egotistical ruler because of his ambition. The poem “Ozymandias,” by Percy Bysshe Shelley, tells the story of a traveler who comes across an old ruined statue. The inscription on the statue says “My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings, Look on my Works ye Mighty and Despair.” This is ironic because everything around the statue, or the “works” are in ruins.
In his blind obsession of science, Victor loses sight of all that makes life worth living. “…the beauty if the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.” (35). Alas, Victor rejected the very creature that almost gave up his life for during the process of making it. After rejecting the creature, Victor does not even possess the strength of character to take responsibility for his creation. Instead, he cannot resolve the issue and allows the creature to roam in the wild.
The third, unfavorable trait of Macbeths came in the form of ignorance. As other characters pressure Macbeth into making quick decisions, he does not realize how ignorant and oblivious he is being. The consequences of his actions are hardly ever even considered, for example, after he saw the dagger, “Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand?” and ignorance took the best of him as he went to kill the king. After the witches spoke the four apparitions, Macbeth, being ignorant, believed that nothing
But he had not taken any action in proving the king’s guilt, rather he had simply made himself appear raving mad. When Osric comes to tell Hamlet that the king has agreed to a duel between Laertes and Hamlet; Hamlet has no other choice. He resists, and he gets arrested. He agrees, and he begins to enter the whirlpool, without his knowledge. But he still doesn’t make a decision about Claudius.
Throughout the first scene, Iago and Roderigo also never refer to Othello by name, however, the audience quickly learn that both characters hate 'the moor', as this – amongst other derogatory terms, including 'thick-lips' – is the only title given to him. This, again dehumanises the character, as Shakespeare depicts the hero as little more than a title to be sneered at and belittled. Iago also speaks of his dislike of Cassio: “And what was he? Forsooth, a great arithmetician, one Michael Cassio... that never set a squadron in the field, nor the division of a battle knows more than a spinster—unless the bookish theoric, Mere prattle without practice is all his soldiership.” Through this, Iago questions and demeans Cassio's military ability, however, his main annoyance is with Othello for his decision to promote this man above him. Through this, Shakespeare also suggests that Iago feels that Othello's judgement is faulty.
Essentially, they are both great mean who have a position in society but each has a fatal flaw. Macbeth’s fatal flaw is ambition and Jekyll’s fatal flaw is professional vanity. Shakespeare presents Macbeth’s sense of evil through soliloquy and imagery, and Stephenson presents Jekyll’s evil through different types of narrative non-linear, third person, first person narrative and imagery. At the start of the play the tragic hero Macbeth is portrayed as loyal to the King and a brave solider. Macbeth is portrayed as a "good being" because he fought for his country and for his king.
In the play written by William Shakespeare entitled Macbeth, one character in particular named Duncan is indeed an interesting fellow. He first appears in Act One, Scene Two, and praises Macbeth for defeating Macdownwald. There are many ways to describe him, as he seems to be a good but foolish person, a good king, and a poor judge of other people’s character. These characteristics are painfully obvious throughout the play until Duncan is murdered by Macbeth. Duncan plays an important role in the play, as he shows how power-hungry Macbeth is throughout the tragedy.
The Fall of Macbeth Macbeth is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare some time between 1603 and 1606. The play is written about an ambitious man, Macbeth, who like Humpty Dumpty, had a great fall. Shakespeare’s principal sources for the tragedy are the accounts of Kings Macbeth, Duff and Duncan in Holinshed’s Chronicals (1587), a history of England, Scotland and Ireland. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the character Macbeth has prominent traits, the greatest influence, and shocking motivations that leads him to his tragic demise. In the beginning of the play, Macbeth is depicted as loyal and trustworthy in the eyes of his King, Duncan, and his duties.
The downfall of Othello – The dramatic play Othello by William Shakespeare epitomises a tragedy, which is defined as “a literary work in which the main character is brought to ruin or suffers, especially as a consequence of a tragic flaw, moral weakness, or inability to cope with un-favourable circumstances”. Throughout the play it becomes evident that the ultimate downfall of Othello is caused by his own weaknesses in his personality and his vulnerability to those who have identified these weaknesses and prey upon them. Othello’s weakness is his trusting nature and his willingness to believe whatever he is told without question. The second character flaw is that he can be overcome by his uncontrollable jealousy. Desdemona is Othello’s wife who he is madly in love with and Iago preys upon Othello’s jealous personality and trusting nature to convince Othello of his wife’s infidelity resulting in the ultimate downfall of Othello – death.
The Tragic Demise of Hamlet A tragedy is an austere drama with an unpleasant outcome. Every Shakespearean tragedy results in the demise of the protagonist. In the tragedy Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, Hamlet’s personality traits and decisions ultimately cause his own, tragic decease. Shakespeare illustrates that Hamlet’s actions of procrastination are the main cause of his death. The personality traits of insanity and intellectuality also contribute greatly to the death of Hamlet.