Ambition. Too much and it can be a detrimental trait. Too little and a person has no desire to achieve anything. Macbeth is a five-act tragic play written by William Shakespeare and published in the year 1623 (Bevington 1). It follows the story of Macbeth’s rise to power, downfall, and eventual death. After a successful battle in Scotland, Macbeth, a general in the army, meets with the Three Witches who divulge prophecies for him and his companion Banquo. One of the major ones is that Macbeth will become the king. Driven by ambition, Macbeth does everything in his power to make this prophecy come true, even committing some heinous acts. Being ambitious is a useful trait to have but can easily have a negative impact if exploited. In Shakespeare’s …show more content…
Macbeth is displayed to us as a chivalrous and determined protagonist whose character is defined by his ambition. We can see the extent of his ambition when he remarks that “[w]e’d jump the life to come'' (William Shakespeare 40) expressing that he has an immense craving for power and would risk anything to move up the hierarchy. After hearing the witches' prophecies, Macbeth is doubtful at first, but when he eventually does become the Thane of Cawdor he starts to believe that he soon will also seize the King’s throne. When he consults Lady Macbeth, she tells him that he must act immediately to reach the top. One murder leads to another, which leaves Macbeth feeling remorseful and destroys his piece of mind. We see Macbeth’s guilt when he says “[v]aulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself..’’(Shakespeare 41), explaining that he feels remorseful after killing King Duncan and ambition is the only thing that is keeping him moving ahead. Macbeth’s ambition leads to the undeserved death of several souls which ends up not working out in his favour. Macbeth, once known as the great noble hero, praised by everybody is now recognized as a murderous tyrant who is selfish, oppressive and cruel. Ambition is what pushes Macbeth to achieve what he wants and eventually, ambition is what leads to his tragic …show more content…
Banquo is a general in King Duncan’s army who fought alongside Macbeth and is a great friend of his. Banquo also receives prophecies from the witches which reveal that he “shalt get kings” but he won’t be one (Shakespeare 19). However, unlike Macbeth, Banquo doesn’t immediately take action on the predictions, in fact, he doesn’t do anything about them at all. He certainly wants his sons to become kings but in a fair manner, not by sabotage and deceit. He fears the predictions that are made by the witches and starts to question them. Banquo is just as ambitious as Macbeth but can restrain it, indicating that he has greater conscience than Macbeth. Banquo, in some ways, is the complete opposite of Macbeth, he is kind, and devoted and remains loyal to the King, by fighting alongside Macbeth during the war. He is a man who believes in his morals and sticks to them. He thinks about the consequences rather than just acting immediately. Banquo is a character who is ambitious, but keeps his ambition in check and keeps his slate clean. Banquo’s way of manifesting his ambition is through inaction which makes him a trustworthy and special character full of loyalty and
Macbeth is also one of the most ambitious character as he does many crimes to achieve the power and become the King. Macbeth’s ambition started when the witches told him about the prophecies because of these prophecies he killed King Duncan and planned to kill Banquo. Before Macbeth killed the King, even though he was really ambitious he still thought before killing Duncan this shows ambition in a positive way. However, he still killed King Duncan this shows ambition in a negative way. The first time Macbeth met the witches one thing they said to Banquo was that his son will rule the world in the fear that someone will take his kingship he tried to kill Banquo’s son.
The play entitled Macbeth by William Shakespeare portrays Macbeth, a loyal and brave thane to the king. When a prophecy reveals he will become king, Macbeth is overcome with ambition and greed. Convinced of this prophecy and the encouragement from his wife, he is able to kill the king and take the throne. Although Macbeth was able to obtain the throne, he was was overwhelmed by power and guilt leading to internal conflict, which suggests that success is not desirable through cheating and corruption and ultimately cost more than its actually worth, Macbeth`s reckless pursuit of killing and becoming the king is representative of the power he has and what he is able to do with the power he's gained; therefore. His relentless ambition for king reveals the guilt behind power.
We can see many different ways of ambition today; in Macbeth having ambition for the throne, people in our day-to-day life. As Macbeth is running for the throne, he stops at nothing until he gets what he wants. In Macbeth, because of ambition, we see him go through transgressive behavior, and irrational decisions, and we see Macbeth sacrifice his character. Act 3 scene I, line 65
Banquo was at the palace where Macbeth received prophecy that he would be king. “New honors come upon him, Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mould But with the aid of use.” (159-161)(act 1 scene 3) This is the meaning for Banquo that Macbeth's new honors do not fit him.) This quote makes Macbeth feel suspicious because he is concerned that Banquo would take his place as king of Crawdor.
(1.3.51) When Banquo notices Macbeth’s excitement about the prophecy he is told, Banquo can’t help but be a bit nervous. He realizes that there is a chance Macbeth could be king. By acknowledging this, he recognizes that Macbeth is going to try and do everything in his power to become king now, ultimately letting fate control his actions. Furthermore, after the witches’
He lies to Banquo, that he hasn’t thought about the witches’ prophecies (s. 2.1.22). Nevertheless, Macbeth tells Banquo “If you shall cleave to my consent, when ‘tis, / It shall make honour for you.” (2.1.25-26) illustrating the possibility of seeing Banquo as an ally and not as a threat in his own ambition. Banquo’s response “So I lose none In seeking to augment it, but still keep / My bosom franchised and allegiance clear, / I shall be counselled.”
Despite his ambition for his own descendants to become kings, Banquo does not act on it, and instead remains loyal to King Duncan and his successors. This loyalty ultimately leads to Banquo's death at the hands of Macbeth, but his integrity remains intact. Banquo's struggle to maintain his honour and integrity highlights the importance of staying true to one's values and principles, even in the face of
Banquo indeed does not live to see his sons become kings. The witches' prophecy was that Banquo would never be king, but his descendants would. This emphasized that he would die at some point. Macbeth even felt so intimidated towards Banquo and his fate leading him to the point to say, “Banquo if your soul is going to make it to heaven, tonight’s the night”(3.1.141). The grip that the prophecy held upon Macbeth ended with his downfall and all of the supposed future coming true.
Ambition is defined as a strong desire to achieve something. Ambition is normally a really good thing to have, because it motivates you to reach a goal that you have set. But in this case, Macbeth had way too much ambition and so he was willing to go to any length to reach his goal, which was to become king. Another reason why Macbeth’s ambition is bad is because he wants to be king for the wrong reasons. The reason he wants to be king is not to make Scotland better, or change some things he feels are not right.
This demonstrates that rather let Banquo be king, he is going to challenge and fight him for his crown. Banquo is the only person that knows about the prophecy and he is also suspicious of Macbeth killing Duncan. Instead of letting Banquo's’ son receiving the crown easily, Macbeth is going to challenge him for the crown. In order that Macbeth can be king, he has to kill Banquo and his son, so they don’t take crown from
Banquo's words can be interpreted as a subtle admonishment, suggesting that he wants Macbeth to refrain from pursuing power and to be content with their current position. It underscores his strength of character and foreshadows his eventual fate as a martyr to Macbeth's rise to power. Banquo serves as a moral compass, highlighting the themes of
He reveals that he is not strong minded and is easily influenced by those around him. It is through Banquo that one can actually identify Macbeth with these traits. If it were not for Banquo’s calm and responsible reaction to the foretelling, it would be difficult to hold Macbeth on a basis on the appropriate way to respond to the situation. Banquo is not after sole success, and still considers himself successful even with his sons being heirs to the kingdom. With this genuine appreciation, we are able to view Macbeth as a greedy and irrational character.
(2.1.4-5). Banquo, although experiencing the same things as Macbeth and generally possessing the same characteristics of Macbeth has more control and restriction on his mind and actions than Macbeth does. Macbeth, being Banquo’s friend, eventually sees him as a threat to his mission and kills him off.
In the play Macbeth written by William Shakespeare the character, Banquo is quite ambiguous. Although, amidst the beginning of the play the reader perceives Banquo as a courageous aristocratic individual who’s apparently loyal to Macbeth. However, this perception the reader gathers is soon distorted as they realize that Banquo has a tendency to construct ambitious thoughts that he dares not to act upon unlike his counterpart, Macbeth. If the reader were to ponder about Banquo’s disposition as a whole, they will come to the conclusion that his character stands as harsh criticism to Macbeth because he signifies the decisions that Macbeth chose not to make. Macbeth’s choices include both betrayal and murder.
Unlike Macbeth, Banquo, from the beginning of this encounter, continues to doubt the witches, “I’th’name of truth are ye fantastical, or that indeed which outwardly ye show?” (1.3.51-52) Banquo didn’t believe what the witches were saying, he questions their intentions and accuses them of raising Macbeth’s hope. Throughout this whole encounter, Banquo continues to protect Macbeth while staying loyal. He never once acted on his prophecies, he simply disregarded what the witches were saying and remained the noble man he is. Even to his death, Banquo has not once acted without honour and