The Nature Of Unchecked Ambition In Macbeth

William Shakespeare employs a range of different stylistic devices to explore the destructive nature of unchecked ambition in his 11th century tragedy, ‘Macbeth’. He conveys the themes of power, greed and good vs evil to highlight the influence that unchecked ambition has on each character. Shakespeare does this by employing literary techniques such as foreshadowing, repetition, imagery and characterisation; these techniques along with the main themes help explore the central ideas in the play of fate vs free will, the ambiguous nature of gender and how false appearances are both a catalyst and a product of the raging ambition that Macbeth possesses.
Shakespeare explores the nature of rampant ambition in ‘Macbeth’ by questioning the influence
The fate of Macbeth is foreshadowed by the three witches at the beginning of the play when they recount the prophecies to Macbeth and Banquo. “All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Glamis…Thane of Cawdor…that shalt be king hereafter.” [ACT 1, SCENE 3, LINE 46-48]. Macbeth is told by the witches that he will become Thane of Cawdor and the king of Scotland; the following events that take place in the text centre around Macbeth’s choice between fate and free will. Initially, after realising that there was some truth to the witches’ words when he does become Thane of Cawdor, he settles on the fact that if he is to become king at some point in the future, then he should let nature take its course and await
He uses the motif of clothing to show how Macbeth is fated to live his life ‘in borrowed robes’ and to highlight the effect that Macbeth’s unchecked ambition has on his role as Scotland’s leader. At the opening of the play, the witches tell Macbeth that he will become king of Scotland and that Banquo’s children will also hold this same title. “[To Banquo] Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none” [ACT 1, SCENE 3, LINE 65]. Although the witches do not specify how Macbeth will take the throne, they are somewhat responsible for all the murders that take place afterwards. The witches plant the ideas into Macbeth’s mind that he should have to murder to gain the title of king however, they don’t formally tell Macbeth that this is specifically the method that he should use; because Macbeth sinned in order to achieve the title and because it wasn’t necessarily his time for the kinship, he is living in someone else’s castle, sleeping in someone else’s bed and borrowing someone else’s robes. “Now does he feel his title hang loose about him, like a giant’s robe upon a dwarfish thief” [ACT 5, SCENE 2, LINE 20-23]. This imagery of the clothing being uncomfortable on Macbeth’s body is shown in Agnus’ speech before the attack on Dunsinane; Macbeth is continually conscious of the fact that his clothes do not belong to