Ambition In Macbeth

Macbeth is a play where events are shaped by ambition and madness. Discuss.

Of the many William Shakespeare’s famous playwright, Macbeth is one that challenges characters sanity with their ambition for power. Ambition is a theme that is early established in the play where the desire for power and status consumes Macbeth upon hearing the witches’ prophecy. Lady Macbeth, too, desires for power alongside her husband. However, her wrongdoing overcomes her with fear and guilt, which strips her away from her sanity. This also destroys the close relationship that both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth had as their lives are dictated by fear. Therefore, the events in this play are shaped by the characters whose ambition leads them to lose their morality,
Macbeth’s ambition is apparent when he hears the witches’ prophecy, “all hail Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter”, to which he later commands “stay you imperfect speakers, tell me more”. This change in Macbeth’s personality sparks the first signs of ambition he has to become king, and Banquo notices this, quoting “Look, how our partner’s rapt.” This in effect can be said to be the catalyst to Macbeth murdering Duncan for his title of King of Scotland. Because of this, Macbeth lives in constant fear of being overthrown, and his madness to hold power over everyone else is illustrated through the spying of every lord. “There’s not one but in his house, I keep a servant fee’d.” Consequently, Lady Macbeth also suffers her wrongdoings, and in her madness, she leads herself to her own
On the night of the murder, madness seeps into Lady Macbeth as she imagines sounds of the night. “I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry.” Macbeth, on the other hand imagines voices, “One cried “God bless us!” and “Amen” the other, as they had seen me with these hangman’s hands”, marking one of the many occasions in which the killing has affected his and his wife’s mental state. In the progression of the play, Macbeth quotes ‘Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts cannot once start me” implying that he has feared too much to fear anything at all. This lack of emotion is also seen when he discovers about Lady Macbeth’s death, responding with no sense of care or love towards his wife. “She should have died hereafter; there would have been a time for such a word.” All this contrasts with the relationship Macbeth and Lady Macbeth had at the start where they regarded each other as “My dearest love”. Their relationship had been bound to suffer as their ambition was too great for their ability to cope with guilt and fear, shaping many unfortunate events in the