Preview

Is Macbeth A Tyrant?

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
523 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Is Macbeth A Tyrant?
Shakespeare wrote many works of literature that covered many different topics. In Macbeth, one of his main topics was ambition. Macbeth was driven by ambition causing him to commit his first murder. He then begins to commit other crimes including murder again in order to cover up for his other crimes. Eventually, Macbeth is seen as a tyrant that loses his life for it. We assume that Lady Macbeth also goes crazy but in reality she is plotting and calculating. Her greed and conscious begin to weigh heavy on her and she ends up committing suicide. Proof of this is when Lady Macbeth says, “It is too full o’ the milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great, Art not without ambition, but without the illness should accompany it.” (N.p., n.d. Web Dec 2015). Lady Macbeth wants Macbeth to become king so badly that she pushes him to commit murder so that he may become king. He ends up giving in to their ambition by killing Duncan after Lady Macbeth belittles him and makes him believe she will leave him. Although …show more content…
The first witch says, “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis!” the second witch says, “all hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!” the third witch says, “All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!” (N.p.,n.d. Web 2015). The prophecy that these witches cause Macbeth to wonder about fate and ultimately drive his ambition causing him to commit murder so he may fulfill his prophecy. He begins by killing Duncan and blaming the drugged up guards. Macbeth then hires an assassin to kill Banquo and his son but the assassin is only able to kill Banquo. Macbeth soon begins to see a ghost and begins to become unstable. Lady Macbeth also begins show signs of stress such as sleepwalking and leads readers to believe that she in going insane and ends her life by committing

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    For starters Macbeth eager desire to be king causes him to kill King Duncan. Macbeth killing the king shows his ambition because he keeps enduring with the process of killing the King Duncan even though he had doubts. With the many doubts that Macbeth had such as he would not be loyal or he would be caught and killed he reassured himself and persevered through his thoughts to accomplish killing the king. Lady Macbeth has a variety of events that shows her ambition in this play. In the play Lady Macbeth prays to invite spirts to help prepare her for the actions that she has commit. Lady Macbeth shows how ambitious she is because she prays asking for her emotions to be removed and to be filled with cruel spirts to help her accomplish planning for the event of killing the King so that Macbeth can become…

    • 733 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When the three witches approach Macbeth they say, “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis! All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Cawdor! All hail, Macbeth, which shalt be king hereafter!” (I. iii. 48-51) because some of the prophecy that was predicted by the three witches came true, Macbeth has started having thoughts about if he was going to become king and how would he be able become king. Macbeth wants to be king so that he could have the power over others instead of being the one to serve, in other to become king he kills the current king and other people as to cover his track and secure his place as the new…

    • 996 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    At the start of the play Macbeth is brave and loyal and displays many of the attributes of a great king. However after conversing with the three witches his state of mind goes on a downward spiral eventually ending in his demise. His thirst for power and wealth cause him to act foolishly and with haste rather than waiting to see if the witches’ predictions come true. It is clear from Macbeths reaction to King Duncan telling Malcom that he will be Prince of Cumberland that Macbeths desires have already started to take a toll on his mind ‘That is a step on which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, For in my way it lies.’ (I. IV. 48). This clearly shows that ambition is taking away Macbeths rational thoughts and he is choosing to act without thought towards the consequences and is only focused on his goal of becoming…

    • 497 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    How Is Lady Macbeth Evil

    • 461 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Lady Macbeth is greedy and ambitious. When Macbeth is considering not to go through with Duncan's murder Lady Macbeth says, “...Art thou afeard to be the same in thine own act and valor as thou art in desire?” (1.7.42-44). Lady Macbeth is making Macbeth feel guilty and like a coward, because he is considering not to go through with the murder. She is going make Macbeth kill the king, because she…

    • 461 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the first two acts of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Lady Macbeth shows herself to be a formidable woman with aspirations and a plan. She is clear about her desire to become Queen of Scotland and by way of her internal conversation, she plans her manipulation. By knowingly manipulating Macbeth and applying consistent pressure, Lady Macbeth executes her plan. She encourages Macbeth to see killing King Duncan as the only logical next step to fulfill the prophecy. Lady Macbeth’s intent, blatant disregard for life, and emotional manipulation of her husband make her morally responsible for the murder of King…

    • 803 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As Macbeth transitions into power, the mood of the story transitions from a content state to a state of horror due to Macbeth’s killing sprees that are motivated by none other than, greed and power. When he is planning to kill King Duncan, Macbeth is overwhelmed with worry and almost abandons the plan, but it takes Lady Macbeth to convince him to go through with it. After the murder, however, Macbeth’s loyal personality deteriorates and he blames the murder on the servants because he does not want to ruin his reputation and be dethroned from being king. Following King Duncan's death, Macbeth lets his power go to his head and no longer wants Lady Macbeth to convince him to murder someone because, he just does it out of ambition to continue…

    • 186 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    What Is Macbeth's Ambition

    • 1080 Words
    • 5 Pages

    After the three witches, or weïrd sisters, tell Macbeth about his future of becoming king, he became fixated on the sense of his head being adorned with the crown. While it was not his intended idea to kill the king, he does so in order to satisfy his desire to have the crown on his head. While Macbeth may have felt guilty of his deed, his ambition led him to slay the lives of more innocent people in order to keep his objective from failing. In fact, Macbeth’s aspiration to rule without the pressure or the questioning of others gave him the motivation to murder his best friend, Banquo. Macbeth states, “Whose loves I may not drop, but wail his fall Who I myself struck down. And thence it is, That I to your assistance do make love, Masking the business from the common eye For sundry weighty reasons” (Act 3, scene 1 Pg. 89 Shakespeare). Macbeth was so determined to remove any threats to his reign that he became daring enough to hire someone to murder his friend and his family. Macbeth’s ambition took control of the situation, and because Macbeth needed to satisfy his ruthless desire, he preformed the immoral act of murder. As Napoleon Bonaparte once stated, ambition can be used for good or bad acts, depending on the values that are influencing these motivations. Macbeth, seeing the only way to become king was commit murder, was motivated and so determined to take the…

    • 1080 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    After reading and analyzing Macbeth, the literary motif of ambition is exceedingly apparent. The witches’ prophecies at the beginning of the play catalyze the overzealous ambition of Lady Macbeth and subsequently Macbeth. I believe it’s important to note that Macbeth’s ambition is subsequent per se because initially he is not interested in usurping the crown by regicide, in fact he is extremely hesitant and guilt ridden by the whole process. Nevertheless, Lady Macbeth’s vehement ambition spreads like an infectious disease and awakens an unyielding ambition rooted deeply in Macbeth’s actions. Examples of the ambition motif are the aforementioned murder of the king by Macbeth, influenced by Lady Macbeth.…

    • 304 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Macbeth Ambition Quotes

    • 621 Words
    • 3 Pages

    After reading the letter from her husband (which recounts the witches' prophesy), Lady Macbeth's thoughts immediately turn to murder. In her mind, Macbeth must take action if he is to become king. Macbeth, she says, is certainly not without "ambition." The problem, as Lady Macbeth sees it, is that her husband is too "kind" to do what's necessary to achieve "greatness."…

    • 621 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth’s ambition remarkably transformed throughout the play. In the begging, Macbeth is ambitious in a way that is non-violent; therefore, his ambition was for a greater good, and not for his own success. Although Duncan is a superior king, after Macbeth encounters with the 3 witches he becomes tempted to kill Duncan because of greed, insecurity and hopelessness. Macbeth is almost convinced by his wife to kill Duncan, “I have no spur/ To prick the sides of my intent, but only/ Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself/ And falls on the other” (1.7.25-28) but the integrity and righteousness inside him keeps him from committing murder.…

    • 523 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth was a noble and loyal man, who would never harm his King. If it wasn't for the influences of the witches and his wife, Lady Macbeth, he would have lived happily as Thane of Cawdor, an honorable title in itself. The downfall of Macbeth was ignited by the actions by those around him, mainly, and eventually, his ambitions took over. Macbeth never had the intention of killing his king, but was ultimately persuaded that it was the correct thing to do. With his wife’s cajoling, and the three witches’ foretelling of his future Macbeth, will stop at nothing to gain position as King of Scotland.…

    • 737 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Macbeth is one of the greatest tragedy themed plays by William Shakespeare. One of the main themes of Macbeth is that Ambition does not stop once you start thinking about it.…

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Why Is Macbeth A Tyrant

    • 889 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Which came first-the chicken or the egg? This age old question reflects the ambiguity of Macbeth and whether or not the witches laid out the plan, or if Macbeth had hatched into a evil tyrant because of his own ambition. I believe the chicken came first because without a chicken to lay the egg, there would be no egg. Similarly in Macbeth, without the original ambition, there would be no plan hatched to kill Duncan. No matter how the tale is served, no amount of scrambling can change the fact that Macbeth ultimately made the decision to end Duncan’s life.…

    • 889 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In life everyone has goals that they hope to attain and there are many ways that one can achieve these goals. To achieve what you desire you can either wait for time to take its toll, or take matters into your own hands and do what you have to do in order to fulfill your desires. You can attain your goal as long as you have ambition. In Shakespeare's Macbeth, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth had the goal of Macbeth becoming king: to obtain this they took matters into hands and killed Duncan. In order for somebody to commit such a heinous act as murder the conspirators must be ruthless, and this is what Macbeth and Lady Macbeth were, ruthless. Lady Macbeth's is more ruthless than her spouse and her ruthlessness is what fueled Duncan's murder. However some may claim that this is not so and that Macbeth is more ruthless than his wife.…

    • 1179 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    First, Macbeth’s ambition was one of the deciding factors in his downfall as it consumed him and changed him into a completely different person. First of all, the prophecy given to Macbeth “All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be King hereafter” (1.3.50) gave him the idea that he could become King at some point. This gave way to him wanting it to be sooner. This event sparked the ambition inside of Macbeth to eliminate those ahead of him on his path to becoming king. Then, Macbeth decided to kill King Duncan in his ambitious quest to becoming leader. This first murder pushed Macbeth too far along into his new personality that he could not return as he states, “I am in blood…stepped so far I wade no more” (3.4.143). This event is one that allowed Macbeth…

    • 200 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays