Blind, Greedy, and Corrupt In the novels “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald and “The Tragedy of Macbeth” by William Shakespeare, the main characters of the stories are blinded by their own goals and ambitions. Both the Macbeth and Gatsby have goals that cause them to become unaware of what the consequences of their actions may be. This unawareness is what eventually leads to both characters downfall. In the case of both characters, once they get a sense that their goals are near, they become more driven and eager to fully achieve their goals. This hunger causes them to make mistakes along their way which get in the way of their dreams becoming a reality.
B.L.M.H.S Jordan Nanton Period B 5/27/12 Macbeth Essay : Ambition Ambition can be defined as a desire for some type of achievement such as power , money, or fame , still too much ambition can be a bad thing. Too much ambition in a person can lead to horrible decesion making and eventually there downfall. In the tragic play of Macbeth this theory is evident as Macbeth the protaganist in the play becomes to ambitious which eventually leads to his death. In this paper I will explain to how Macbeth’s ambition directly leads to his downfall. Macbeth started the play as a brave and honourable warrior , which led King Duncan to promote Macbeth from Thane of Glamis to Thane of Cawdor.
Ambition of Macbeth What are your thoughts on ambition? After all everybody needs ambition to be successful right? Well how much ambition is too much? In Macbeth it is arguable who has the most ambition throughout the story but also proves too much ambition can be a bad thing. After all, ambition brings about the success and downfall of Macbeth; Lady Macbeth’s ambition got Macbeth started on success, then his on ambition led him the rest of the way to his eventual downfall.
Is Macbeth’s ambition the ultimate source of his demise? The source of Macbeth's ruin is ultimately his uncontrollable ambition. His desires take control of his actions and this becomes his fatal flaw. This prevents Macbeth from becoming aware of where to quit and draw the line. He is never fully satisfied as his desire for power grows throughout the text.
We may go round our history books either lambasting or extolling powerful leaders, but we will always come to the conclusion that power does corrupt a man. The thirst for power is unbounded and the lamentable consequences often quash a man. Getting power is just the onset of melancholy, disaster, lugubriousness and sorrow. All the leaders throughout history were undoubtedly very strong and were feared but we often learn that they were sordid, uncouth, perpetrators, lascivious, perplexed and unscrupulous. They often committed a myriad of staggering sins and believed they were masters of perpetuity.
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.
Iago from Shakespeare’s play Othello is also a power hungry villain who enjoys having people under his control, he is driven by extreme jealousy and the motivation, revenge. In order to accomplish these goals he manipulates his subjects in deceiving ways by utilizing their weaknesses against them. This differs from the Duke in “My last Duchess” by Robert Browning as the duke does not manipulate people in any way. Both Iago and the duke are driven by extreme jealousy to the villainous actions that they take. All three villains may differ in many ways, yet it seems they share a common urge for power, control and a use of sadistic measures.
Deadly sins The seven deadly sins are renowned for a reason, which is that just one of them can drive a person insane. Greed and envy together can lead a person into doing immoral and unjustified deeds. In the play "Hamlet" by William Shakespeare, Claudius is the villain who contradicts Knight's The Embassy of Death because Claudius's actions and behavior result from his innate greed for wealth and envy of true love that his brother King Hamlet had; on the other hand, Knight views that his actions were forced upon him due to Hamlet's unstable mentality. (wrap up the thesis statement, condense to the main point. You don't need to make a comparison, but pick which view you agree with, Knight or Shakespeare's, or make it into 2 separate sentences.
Because of this, he decides he must kill Banquo, so that there will be no heir. “Macbeth plots the murder of Banquo, out of jealousy and insecurity.” (Hompi 1) This is obviously an absurd idea, and prior to Macbeth’s murder of King Duncan he never would have considered it as a solution. Shakespeare uses this to show how power corrupts even the best of people. It is obvious that this is still a problem in society today, as people start off with good intentions but slowly get sidetracked. Before long, their objectives have changed completely.
Othello: A Tragic Hero Othello is the epitome of a tragic hero. He starts out as a rather respectable and rational General, but was eventually consumed by jealousy and anger. A tragic hero must start out high in power and have tragic flaws that lead him to ultimately a tragedy. Othello’s tragic flaw is that he is easily manipulated, leading him to trust the wrong people. The play begins by showing the readers that Othello is a noble General.