Macbeth Essay

The Bird Without Wings There was a man who was selling drugs. He was a grim figure, with a cruel worn out face, roaming dark alleys trying to avoid police. This man sold two men some drugs for a large sum of money. These men soon realize they had been scammed. They did not get the drugs they thought they were buying. This deceitful man not only made money by selling drugs, but he also stole their money. The two men went back to get the money which was taken from them. The man refused and said, “We never give the money back. I have five kids to feed.” Immediately my perspective on the man changed. I no longer saw a cruel wrinkled face, but an anxious one, uneasy and troubled with worry about providing for his family. He was not longer a deceiving swindler, but a desperate father. I saw his ambition was not his greed, but his longing to provide for his family. Everyone has ambitions. Ambition is a strong desire to achieve something, which requires hard work and determination. Ambition is what leads people to great success and achievements. Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings. You could be the most talented person in the world, but without ambition, you would achieve nothing. Likewise, even with a small amount of skill, much can be accomplished with great ambition. Sometimes our ambitions might require us to go against our conscience. We might desire something against our conscience. Our conscience is the little voice in our head, which says, “Someone is watching.” Its what tells us what things are right and wrong, and makes us feel guilty when we don’t listen to it. We cannot control what our conscience tells us, we can only choose to listen to it, or ignore it. A great battle can be fought inside of us, whether to follow our ambition, or listen to our conscience. The Bible tells us that God’s law is written on our hearts, and that our conscience bears witness to it. God did not create evil. Just as darkness is the absence of light, evil is the absence of God. Every person has a conscience, whether the listen to it or not. Ambition can be righteous or wicked. Coveting is the desire to posses what other have. Greed is the selfish desire for something. Ambition is desire. It is a desire for ones personal achievement. Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts; all depends on the principles, which direct them. In Macbeth, a play Shakespeare wrote, Macbeth goes through a constant battle of his ambitious desires and his conscience. Macbeth’s ambition was to become king, but he could only achieve his goal by going against his conscience. This struggle is shown in one of Macbeth’s soliloquies.
Before this soliloquy, Macbeth had already decided killing Duncan was the only way for him to become king and to fulfill the prophecy. Lady Macbeth had already told Macbeth she was going to make the preparations for the murder of King Duncan. This soliloquy clearly shows the conflicting thoughts Macbeth has about killing King Duncan.
The witches’ and Lady Macbeth greatly increase Macbeth’s temptation to do evil. Macbeth already had the ambition to become king; the witches’ prophecy only aroused his desire. Their prediction caused him to move towards acting on those desires. Their prophecy showed him what he wanted to do, but not how to do it. Throughout the play Macbeth gives into more and more temptation, and looses his morality.
Macbeth struggles with his ambition, being aware of the immorality of giving into his ambition. His feelings of kinship, loyalty, and hospitality, struggle with his ambition to determine the fate of Duncan. Macbeth does not only fear the consequences of killing Duncan, but also is horrified at the thought of killing Duncan, who is a good man and his friend. Its not only fear of the consequences, but the guilt of the act which caused Macbeth to question whether or not he should kill Duncan. Macbeth lays out a two-sided argument for murdering Duncan. His conscience fights his ambition. He first begins with analyzing the physical consequences to the murder, and only later goes on to argue morally, listening to his conscience.
Macbeth finishes his soliloquy by stating how his by stating how his only motivation is his ambition which is a dangerous thing. He has no moral reason for killing Duncan, only his own selfish desires. Macbeth admires Duncan’s goodness and this deters him from committing the murder. This is one of the major displays of Macbeths remaining morality. Simply because Duncan is a good man, he does not want to kill him. Macbeth consciously chose to go against his own morality and guilt to pursue his ambition. Macbeth ends up giving into his ambition and ignoring his conscience.
In order for Macbeth to fulfill his ambitions, he has to act against his conscience, but our ambition does not always have to lead us to do evil. Our ambition can be a great thing. We are wonderful creatures, like birds, who with wings, can fly. When our ambition and conscience work together, we can soar towards greatness. Our ambitions should not be for our own personal gains, like wealth, but they should work with our conscience for things like becoming an honest God-fearing person.

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[ 1 ]. Romans 2:15
[ 2 ]. Quote from Albert Einstein
[ 3 ]. Quote from Napoleon Bonaparte
[ 4 ]. If it were done when 'tis done... (1.7.1-28).