Macbeth Ambition

Ambition can lead to committing great accomplishments as well as immoral acts. However, often times these acts change one’s desires and lead people in temptation and to their own corruption. This is evident in the play, The Tragedy Of Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, where he explains how certain events can lead to consequences of ambition. A Scottish lord, Macbeth, who was once honored by his bravery had a drastic turn of events and is now gullible tyrant. This occurred after an encounter of three witches and their three prophecies of how to gain the title of being king. Trying to determine his fate all at once caused anxiousness and maliciousness in Macbeth and let his blind ambitions take over him causing the slaughter of many people
which ended in his tragic downfall and destruction. Macbeth’s hankering for ambition results in the consequences of being desensitized, over confident, and mentally unstable.
One consequence of Macbeth’s ambition is desensitization. As a result, Macbeth becomes horribly ruthless in his thoughts as well as his behavior. At a banquet which Macbeth and his wife attend at their castle, two murders that Macbeth had hired come barging in during dinner and speak to him about Banquo’s death and Fleance's escape.
The news infuriates Macbeth and soon is startled by the ghost of Banquo where he starts to question his comrades and starts suspecting of Macduff’s absence which leads to him wanting to go visit the witches again. Macbeth begins to state “All causes shall give way. I am in blood / Stepped in so far that, should i wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o’er. / Strange things I have in head, that will to hand, / Which must be acted ere they may be scanned” (3.4.142-146). The analogy shown here represents how deep Macbeth has gotten with his crimes and rather than stopping he finds it pointless “[...]tedious as go o’er[...]”, making him to move forth with his murderous thoughts “[...]Strange things I have in head[...]must be acted[...]”without examining them showing he has no boundaries or sympathy to get what he wants. Besides the fact of Macbeth being merciless he also showed the characteristic of being selfish. Impacted by his selfishness, Macbeth is so determined in claiming the throne that he has his mind set to be equipped to do anything for his personal gain, in such a way that he’s willing to kill an entire
family. Macbeth has arrived at the witches cave where he demands to know more about his destiny in which they reveal to him about having precaution towards Macduff, he will not be harmed, and he will not be defeated in battle, later Lennox arrives and notifies macbeth that macduff has fled to england causing Macbeth to swear on killing Macduff’s family. In Macbeth’s thoughts, “The castle of Macduff I will surprise, / Seize upon Fife, give th’ edge o’ th’ sword / His wife, babes, and all unfortunate souls / That trace him in his line. No boasting like a fool. / This deed I’ll do before this purpose cool” (4.1.150-154). Macbeth demonstrates here how he has gone on another level of cruelty; letting impulse take over him rather than logic also his willingness to even eliminate innocent people he doesn't understand on what having a family feels like and how it must hurt to lose them so it doesn't bother him nor feels pitty. This shows how macbeth has achieved in another standard of savagery and slaughter as well as recklessness.
Macbeth’s overconfidence is a consequence of ambition. Impacted by his carelessness of impulsive decision making, Macbeth does not consider the defects that the prophecies may come with. Confident of victory from the witches prophecy, Macbeth is awaiting battle, even though his wife is in a delicate situation he wishes to continue on getting prepared. Macbeth reclaims, “Till Birnam Wood remove to Dunsinane / I cannot taint with fear. What's the boy Malcolm? / Was he not born of woman? The spirits that know / All mortal consequences have pronounced me thus: / “Fear not, Macbeth. No man that's born of woman / Shall e’er have power upon thee.” Then fly, false thanes / and mingle with the English epicures. / The mind I sway by and the heart I bear / shall never sag with doubt nor shake with fear” (5.3.2-10). This recalls how significant the prophecy is because it makes Macbeth feel invincible and shows how he doesn't take precautions since he's still going to fight into battle with no army facing ten thousand men causing him to fail in seeing widespread discontent. Due to his arrogance Macbeth only chooses to go by the prophecies and ignores anyone else's opinion which leaves him to deal with thought that are troublesome.
Another consequence of Macbeth’s ambition is that he is mentally unstable.
As a result, Macbeth begins to lose a grip on reality and starts to create erratic behavior. It’s late at night, Macbeth and Banquo are talking about their dreams and how a little unsettling the witches prophecy is, as soon as Banquo exits Macbeth starts to hallucinate a dagger. Macbeth is shocked of what he is envisioning, “Is this a dagger which i see before me, / The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. / I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. / Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible / To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but / A dagger of the mind, a false creation / Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?” (2.1.32-40). Macbeth imagining things that aren't there show how mentally weak he is, which represents the bloody path he is taking by choosing to murder king Duncan and it disturbs him not to know whether it’s real or imagined. It is clear to see Macbeth is on the edge of insanity and has now let obsessive behavior of ambition take over him.
The consequences of ambition that affected Macbeth was by desentization, over confidence, and being mentally unstable. These three characteristics caused Macbeth to break all humanly boundaries, failed him in making precautions, and lose respect along with allies due to his power hungry mind set. This resulted in leaving him weak and with no support. His behaviour and thoughts have demolished the person he once was. One’s desires can simply be
too much for one to handle. Being too ambitious can have it’s ups and downs but is still inspired by many.