Shakespeare's Macbeth-Obsession With The Desire For Power

As the play continues, Macbeth's desire for the throne amplifies, ultimately leading him to murder the king and manipulate those around him to secure his maintained his crown. The prophecy becomes self-fulfilling as Macbeth's ambition drives him to carry out terrible acts, which in turn causes his descent into tyranny and, eventually, his tragic downfall. Through this clever foreshadowing, Shakespeare illustrates the corrupting nature of ambition and

Throughout Macbeth’s quest for power Shakespeare employs character foils and symbolism to create a recurring theme of the effect that motivation and desire for power on people.

When in a relationship, one's quest for power, can result in an endless effort to satisfy this desire, producing a tragic outcome. In the tragedy of Macbeth, William Shakespeare explores how greed and ambition has an influence on one’s actions, leading to the occurrence of a tragedy. In the case of Macbeth, greed and ambition results in Macbeth becoming a highly manipulative, and dangerous individual. The dominant status Lady Macbeth owns, allows her to influence Macbeth into committing harmful acts. When Lady Macbeth’s dominant status begins to deteriorate, Macbeth begins to mature, gradually becoming the more dominant individual within their relationship.

Both greed and power, if not controlled, can lead to destruction. Throughout William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, Shakespeare uses both characters Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to demonstrate how ambition can change one’s personal relationships. As in the beginning of Act 1, Scene 7 Macbeth and Lady Macbeth do not share the same ambition, and it is because of this that their relationship lacks love and affection however through the use of persuasion and other means, Lady Macbeth is able to get Macbeth to pursue her ambition. This not only changes their relationship drastically but it also changes Macbeth’s attitude towards ambition. Throughout the play, Shakespeare shows us through Macbeth, the possibility for ambition to eventually turn into greed and how the lust for power may corrupt us.

The Shakesperian play Macbeth is about drive and misfortune. There are different messages and themes in the story of Macbeth which depicts how it could affect an individual’s life. During the course of the story, we as the reader are capable of recognizing how easy it is for ambition to transform into greed. As the story progresses, we are able to view how the build up of the story leads to Macbeth’s eventual downfall. The events in Macbeth demonstrate the theme of how power corrupts and leads to greed and fear of losing the power.

“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed” (Mahatma Gandhi). Although wanting and having greed for power may be a motivation, it can fill one’s heart with dissatisfaction and unappreciation. Similarly, in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth wants to gain and sustain power, as he thinks that it was a necessary need. In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, attaining and holding power is the ultimate reason for Macbeth’s downfall. The witches' prophecies spur Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s greed for power, Macbeth’s jealousy and his wife’s persuasion convince Macbeth to commit evil to gain power, and finally, the threat to his power secures his ultimate downfall.

Macbeth’s greed takes over him as he chases a fool’s dream. Macbeth's ambition leads him to secure his power; he overlooks his guilt and focuses on doing whatever it takes to hold onto his authority. Shakespeare demonstrates, in a variety of techniques, how just ambition alone can bring down the even the greatest of men. “There is something wrong with a individual’s character if opportunity controls their loyalty.” Sean Simmon’s the writer of this quote explains how blinded someone can be when given certain opportunities which can be directly related to the character Macbeth.

It is human nature to want power, to be at the top of the pyramid, to be king/queen, but that comes at a price as shown in Macbeth. In the play, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth will do anything to have absolute power and nothing stands in their way. From killing to going completely mad, they will become the next king and queen at all costs. The ambition and the want for power is so high that they kill many, they do whatever they can to be one step closer, and they go completely insane, all because they want that absolute power.

In the play Macbeth, Shakespeare demonstrates what can happen to someone who is given a place in power through the character Macbeth. Shakespeare uses the first scene to create an example of what one should feel and do when given power. But later, in the second scene, Shakespeare portrays how this power can change someone's way of thinking for the worse. In these two scenes, Shakespeare reveals that someone's moral compass might be tampered with when they are given a place in power. Shakespeare utilizes soliloquy and dialogue to further explain the issue of people's desire for power and ambition blocking their view of right and wrong.

Macbeth is the Shakespearean play that features the triumphant uprise and the inevitable downfall of its main character. In this play, Macbeth’s downfall can be considered to be the loss of his moral integrity and this is achieved by ambition, despite this, Lady Macbeth and the witches work through his ambition, furthering to assist his inevitable ruin. Ambition alone is the most significant factor that led to Macbeth’s downfall. The witches are only able to influence his actions through Macbeth’s pre-existing and the three witches see that Macbeth has ambition and uses it to control his action. Ambition alone is displayed throughout the play to be the most significant cause for Macbeth’s downfall.

The concepts I will be exploring is the use of ambition, the fight between fate and free will and the appropriate use of power. These concepts taught audiences important lessons in shakespeare's time and these lessons are still applicable in modern times. Human ambition is a concept used in Macbeth, unchecked human ambition is shown through Macbeth's actions who lets his ambition rule him. His ambition and thirst for power leads him to kill King Duncan and even attempt to kill the Banquo’s son. Macbeth himself talked about his ambition as Let not light see my black and

Power is always coveted in any society and the world of Shakespeare’s Macbeth is no different. In the play, Macbeth, a noble lord, shows his hunger for power with thoughts to remove an heir to the throne from power. Macbeth’s impatience to be king leads him to stain his honor by using murder. Macbeth travels further down the path of evil by arranging the assassination of a friend.

Regardless of the era, everyone aspires for some kind of power, often leading them to make great sacrifices in return. William Shakespeare demonstrates the negative consequences that the desire for power has on oneself in the dramatic play Macbeth. Shakespeare illustrates this message through a transformation within the characters of the play. Macbeth, a once honourable soldier, becomes a tyrant king who kills anyone that could cost him his crown. Lady Macbeth was an intelligent manipulator, who by the end of the play, she transforms into a guilt-ridden woman.

Macbeth’s ambition is unbounded by moral constraints, placing no limitations on his desires. As a result, Macbeth is committing a transgressive act, rebelling against the social norms of the hierarchy and the great chain of being. The supernatural stimulates Macbeth’s unchecked ambition to an extent. Due to his “vaulting ambition”, Macbeth chose to comply with the witches prophecies and Lady Macbeth’s aspirations. His greed, jealousy and ambition develop once temptation and deception overtake his mental health.

As humans, the desire to want control or influence is natural. However, some people may go to greater extremes than others to obtain this power. For instance, in the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Macbeth was characterized as a good man, well renowned for winning a battle. His wife, on the contrary, Lady Macbeth, has a strong urge to obtain power and she is willing to do anything to acquire it. She implemented the thought of destroying everyone who stood in the way along the path to reach royalty in Macbeth’s mind by making him feel like he as though he is less of a man if he decided not to.