Comparing Ambition In Macbeth And The Prestige

Ambition is the strong desire to achieve greatness or success. When left untamed, ambition morphs into an obsession, which is something that occupies an individual’s thoughts continually. The fine line between ambition and obsession is explored in Christopher Nolan’s film, The Prestige, and William Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth. Robert Angier and Macbeth, characters in the film and the play, both allow for obsessions to control their lives, which ultimately lead to their deaths. Although they both become enslaved to their obsessions and make sacrifices, their motives differ.
The character Macbeth in Shakespeare’s play is an individual who crosses the line between ambition and obsession, and allows for his ambitious desires to transition into
When Angier loses his wife to a magic trick at the beginning of the film, he is convinced that Alfred is to blame for her death and seeks to avenge his wife by being a better magician than Alfred. At first, Angier’s plots of revenge are driven by ambition. He sabotages Alfred’s magic tricks and even shoots his hand, causing the loss of his fingers. The shift of ambition to obsession becomes clearer when Angier resorts to theft to discover Alfred’s methods for The Transported Man trick. When confronted about his deterrence from his goal of avenging his wife, Angier declares that he ‘doesn’t care about [his] wife, [he] only cares about Alfred’s secret’. Although his actions are an indication that Angier’s actions are no longer driven by ambition, but by obsession, his words are a confirmation. He dedicates his entire existence to improving Alfred’s tricks, and it becomes something that he constantly thinks about. Angier makes several sacrifices, including moving to America to perfect his Transporting Man act with Tesla’s machine. He risks his life every time he performs a trick, but Angier himself states to Tesla that if Tesla ‘understands an obsession’, then he will know that he ‘won’t change [his] mind’ regardless of the consequences. He becomes a ‘slave’ of his obsessive thoughts. Eventually, Angier meets a tragic end due to his
The characters are driven by ambitious motives at first, but as their desires increasingly occupy their thoughts, they put their lives on the line and risk everything to fulfil their obsessive personalities. Macbeth kills mercilessly to maintain and secure his position as King of Scotland. He is responsible for the murder of numerous innocent people, including children. Angier also has to kill as a result of him being compliant to his obsession. Every time he performs a trick, he is forced to drown his clone for the success of the act. Prior to that, Angier resorts to almost killing Fallon when he buries him alive to discover the code to Alfred’s diary. Both characters make sacrifices and commit outrageous actions because of their