Ambition In Macbeth

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AMBITION IN MACBETH Ambition is described as the desire for personal achievement. It provides the motivation necessary to succeed. It is often deemed as a necessary quality for a leader to have. Ambition is, in most cases, the driving force behind success, but can also come with adverse results. In the play Macbeth ambition is what causes a once strong, noble, valiant, heroic warrior to debilitate his good-natured self and throw his morals away. It is ambition that causes Macbeth to kill many people who were once close to him and ultimately lead to his downfall. Before the meeting with the witches he was a very loyal man, to his wife, his king, his friends, and his country. Macbeth was seen as a brave and loyal man by all of his peers, including the king. He was willing to risk everything he had to protect Scotland, and because of it he overthrew the corrupted Thane of Cawdor. Duncan recognizes and awards him for this by proclaiming him the new Thane of Cawdor. “No more that thane of Cawdor shall deceive our bosom interest: go pronounce his present death, and with his former title greet Macbeth.”(I, II, 63-65) Which is a very worthy title, most would be happy with a promotion or title such as this, but Macbeth soon became hungry for more power. Once the witches told him of his destiny to be king, he vowed to stop at nothing until the prophecy came true. The witches failed to, however, mention how this prophecy would come to be, and never mentioned anything about having to kill to make it come true, but his impatience and ambition did. He was so eager and anxious to become king, assassinating Duncan was the only thing he could think of. Maybe there was another tragedy waiting for Duncan or another way he was supposed to become king. The witches were the ones who put the ideas of becoming King in his head to begin with. “All hail,
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