Ambition In Macbeth

There comes a point in every persons life where they have the desire to do, or achieve something. This desire is ambition. People will go to far extents to fulfill their desires. There are different types of ambition though. Most of the time you want to be averagely ambitious, but there are times when people can be overly or unambitious. In the story of Macbeth, you can see all of the types of ambition whether it be good, or bad.
In Macbeth, the most notably over ambitious character is Macbeth. From the beginning we are able to see that he has more ambition than the average person, and his over ambition causes his tragic downfall. There are two main factors that drive Macbeth's ambition over board. First we see the prophecy with the three witches. First Witch, "All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Glamis!" Second Witch, "All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!". This prophecy tells Macbeth that he will become the Thane
of Cawdor and the King of Scotland. Macbeth believes the prophecy and soon starts thinking of ways to make it come true, which leads him to having too much ambition. The second factor that plays a role in Macbeth's overly ambitious ways, is his wife, Lady Macbeth. She drives him to the point where he doesn’t feel guilty about killing people so that his prophecy can come true. "But screw your courage to the sticking-place, And we'll not fail. When Duncan is asleep —…", here we see Lady Macbeth scolding her husband and challenging him to commit the plan. If Macbeth wouldn't have worried and tried so hard to make his prophecies come true, then he most likely would have had the perfect amount of ambition. But instead he forced the prophecy into place because he listened to Lady Macbeth and tried too hard. Everyone has certain wants and desires, but forcing will not help will not help them happen. You can apply this to your life in the way that you don’t want to try too hard to make your dreams and desires happen. Just let it play out and what is meant to be will happen. Another lesson to learn, is that you don't need to do what other people want you to do. Do what will make you happy, and what will benefit you in the long run. "When the source of ambition becomes the desire to please others or to prove to others that you are worthy then ambition becomes a problem."(M.Farouk Radwan, MSc., Why Ambition Can be Bad.) Personally, for me, one of my ambitions in life is to play softball in college. That is one of my goals, something that I want to do for me, if I would have let other people influenced my decision's on that, then it would have made me make the wrong decision. When being ambitious, you need to be able to think about your own goals, without having other peoples thoughts and feelings be a factor in your decision making.
When reading Macbeth, the next character I found to have good ambition was Macbeth's close friend Banquo. Even though Macbeth and Banquo were close friends and partners, they were different when it came to their ambition. That way, is that Banquo had just the right amount of ambition, compared to Macbeth who had way to much. We can see from the text that even in the beginning of the story that Banquo is ambitious, from when he asks the Witches, " You greet with present grace and great prediction Of noble having and of royal hope, That he seems rapt withal: to me you speak not." (Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 2,, 57-59). We see that Banquo isn't afraid to ask about his prophecy because he wants one of his own. Even after hearing about King Duncan's death, Banquo stays ambitious. He stays hopeful by thinking about the prophecy. "As the weird women promised,... yet it was said...But that myself should be the root and father Of many kings. If there come truth from them— "(Macbeth, Act 3, Scene 1, 2-6). Here we can see that King Duncan's death took a toll on Banquo. We see that Banquo cared about Duncan, and wouldn't have went to the same extremes like Macbeth did. He would have never committed a murder so that his son would become king. This is how Banquo and Macbeth are different, and how Banquo has the perfect amount of ambition. Because we see that Banquo wants his kids to become king, but he has a limit to what he is going to do for it to happen. "The best type of ambition is when the source of ambition becomes the desire to reach a big goal or to fulfill your life purpose." (M.Farouk Radwan, MSc., Why Ambition Can be Bad.) This is exactly what Banquo did, he wanted his prophecy to come true for his children, but he didn't let this goal overwhelm him and consume his life like Macbeth. In my life, playing softball in college is a big goal to fulfill, and I'm going to spend time trying to make this goal happen, but I'm not going to let it consume me and let it be my every thought. You have to balance your ambition out to get it just right.
Lastly, the final character in the story that I found had the least amount of ambition was King Duncan. Even though King Duncan didn't have a huge role in the story, we are still able to analyze him and find out that he isn't the type of king most people would want. That reason is that he seems to be weak, and has no motivation or desire to put himself in danger, like most good kings do. He just sits back and watches. In act 1, we see that Duncan is staying at the camp instead of being near the battle field with his men. When the Captain comes to tell him about the battle, we clearly see that he is only an spectator, and won't be contributing in battle. We can find this to be true when he says, " O valiant cousin! Worthy gentleman," while praising Macbeth. If he would have went to battle and helped fight, he would have been able to see that Macbeth was one of the great warriors, but instead he had no desire to help his soldiers. Another way King Duncan shows that he has little ambition, is how he isn't able to sense danger, or find enemies. He is blind to it because he doesn’t think anyone would be out to get him. We can see this with The Original Thane of Cawdor. King Duncan says that, " He was a gentleman on whom I built An absolute trust."(Act 1, Scene 5). This just shows that his ambition and desire to achieve success is weak. If you are going to be successful in life you have to have motivation and ambition. You have to be able to put yourself in the position to get what you need done, done. If you sit back and let people do everything for you, you will fail. Your ambition should motivate and drive you to succeed. Again, in my life, playing college softball is one of my goals in life. For me to get there, I have to have dreams and goals to get me there. If I can't picture myself being there, then I won't make it. Having dreams and goals will push you to be an ambitious person which will help you to succeed.
To conclude, there are many different types of ambition shown in Macbeth.
There are over ambitious, averagely ambitious, and under ambitious people. To succeed in life, a person should try to be averagely ambitious. It will help drive you to achieve your goals. But you don't want to try too hard to make these goals happen. When achieving your goals, make sure you are doing it for you and not for other people. You have to balance your ambition to get it just right. Don't let it consume you, but still make a point to bring up the plan and work towards it every once in a while. Make sure you choose your dreams and goals wisely. "Ambition is always a good trait even if it's sources were self doubts and insecurities. It's important to understand the real drive behind your ambition so that you know whether you are on the right track or whether you are just trying to prove something to others"(M.Farouk Radwan, MSc., Why Ambition Can be Bad). Have dreams, be courageous, and don’t be afraid to choose a goal in life that you want for
yourself.