Ambition of Macbeth

Ambition

“The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step on which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires. The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see.” During Act 1 Scene 4, Macbeth describes his ambition as “black and deep desires.” He expresses the terrible desires that come across his mind. Macbeth is so caught up in his ambition, where he is willing to do anything that he desires and feel is appropriate. He states, “I wont let my eye look at what my hand is doing, but in the end I’m still going to do that thing id be horrified to see.” Metaphorically speaking, even though is hand doesn't want to commit the crime, his mindset overpowers the fear he posses in doing the thing he’s horrified to see, which is kill the king.
“It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great, Art not without ambition, but without The illness should attend it. What thou wouldst highly” In Act 1 Scene 5, Lady Macbeth questions Macbeth’s manhood, and constantly puts an image in his head that he must do whatever she says. In the quote she states, “You are too full of the milk of human kindness to strike aggressively at your first opportunity. You want to be powerful, and you don't lack ambition, but you don’t have the mean streak that these things call for.” Lady Macbeth embeds a fear into Macbeth’s soul, that she can persuade him into doing almost anything. Lady Macbeths constant persuasion leads Macbeth into the idea of killing the king so he can become king himself. He must get his hands dirty and kill the one he loves in order to be loved by many.
“I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself And falls on the other.” In Act 1 Scene 7, when Macbeth is honest with himself, he convinces himself that there is no good, solid reason to kill Duncan. He states that fact that Duncan is perfectly hood at this whole king-business and doesn't want to ruin what he has. Nonetheless, Macbeth still wants the power all to himself. He states, “I cant spur myself to action, the only thing motivating me is ambition, which makes people rush ahead of themselves toward disaster.” He states that the number one contributing factor leading him to betray those he most cares about is solely his ambition.
“Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee…Thou marshall’st me the way that I was going, And such an instrument I was to use.” In Act 2 Scene 1, Banquo and Fleance are walking to bed, in which they confront Macbeth, who is preparing himself for his forbidding task. As Banquo and Macbeth are talking, Macbeth hallucinates a floating dagger, in which it hints Macbeth towards the death of Banquo. The dagger symbolizes the weapon that he must use to kill Banquo. In the quote he says, “I don't have you, but I can still see you. Fateful apparition, isn’t it possible to touch you as well as see you?” Even though he hallucinates the dagger, it is still imagined by his conscious, which goes to show that he has a constant evil inside of him. “You're leading me toward the place I was going already and I was planning to use a weapon just like you.” Macbeths evil ambition leads him into killing his best friend Banquo, just so he can get whatever he wants, and not feel threatened by him anymore.
“For mine own good All causes shall give way. I am in blood Stepp'd in so far that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o'er” In Act 3 Scene 4, Macbeth states his own safety is the single-handedly most important thing he needs to focus on now. He states, ‘He has walked far into the river of blood, that even if he stops now, it would be hard to go back to being good as it is t keep killing people.” Macbeth is using a metaphor to describe his level of focus and concentration, and says if I turn around now, it will be as hard as turning good when you are evil. His ambition completely twisted his image as a role model, to someone is looked down upon. Ambition leads Macbeth into killing the people he loved the most, just so he wouldn’t get caught up in a lie that was covered up in another lie.
“She should have died hereafter; There would have been a time for such a word. To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow…it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing” In Act 5 Scene 5, he realizes that everything he has done is gone to waste. The women he most cared about, Lady Macbeth, is now dead. As a result of Macbeths unjustly ambition, everyone he seemed to care about most has now died. He comes to conclusion that Malcolm is going to be king; he himself is about to die; and his wife is gone; not to mention his ambition as well. We can come to a conclusion that if something isn’t right from the beginning, and you're in it for the prize, rather than for the love, is to be quickly withdrawn and removed from areas in which immoral things can happen.