Theme Of Evil In Macbeth
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have a strong sense of ambition, it drives them to do the evil things they would not have done otherwise. After hearing the witches prophecy Macbeth stops at nothing to obtain what they told him he will, the ambition that overtakes him causes him to do many things that he would not have done otherwise, many of these things being evil deeds. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth ambition is a solely negative quality which is demonstrated through the actions of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.
A prime example is, as previously mentioned, the terrible acts Macbeth and Lady Macbeth commit, siting their ambition as their motive. The first example of one of these evil acts is the murder of King Duncan. Macbeth is quoted saying “I have no spur …show more content…
The people with the most noble personalities showed no ambition and actively tried fighting the temptation of ambition. A prime example of such a person is Banquo, Macbeth's best friend and the other character who had a prophecy given to him, but unlike Macbeth he did not give into reasonless ambition and chase the prophecy at any cost. The scene in which Banquo says “I dream’t last night of the three weird sisters” (2.1.25) shows Banquo being haunted by the witches prophecy but resisting and not giving in to temptation and ambition. Unlike Macbeth who gave into the temptation of the witches prophecy and let unreasonably ambition take control of his life, Banquo resisted the temptation till the very end. Another example of a character who displays a resistance to the corruption that ambition can bring is Donalbain, Duncan’s younger son. Both him and his older brother Malcolm left Scotland after the murder of their father, they did this out of fear that they too would be targeted by their father's assailant. Either of the king's children could have stayed back and inherited the throne at the potential cost of their safety but both of them chose safety over becoming king. After some time passes Malcolm does come back to take his rightful throne, but Donalbain still stays out of country. This shows how Donalbain cared about his safety more than becoming king, even though
A prime example is, as previously mentioned, the terrible acts Macbeth and Lady Macbeth commit, siting their ambition as their motive. The first example of one of these evil acts is the murder of King Duncan. Macbeth is quoted saying “I have no spur …show more content…
The people with the most noble personalities showed no ambition and actively tried fighting the temptation of ambition. A prime example of such a person is Banquo, Macbeth's best friend and the other character who had a prophecy given to him, but unlike Macbeth he did not give into reasonless ambition and chase the prophecy at any cost. The scene in which Banquo says “I dream’t last night of the three weird sisters” (2.1.25) shows Banquo being haunted by the witches prophecy but resisting and not giving in to temptation and ambition. Unlike Macbeth who gave into the temptation of the witches prophecy and let unreasonably ambition take control of his life, Banquo resisted the temptation till the very end. Another example of a character who displays a resistance to the corruption that ambition can bring is Donalbain, Duncan’s younger son. Both him and his older brother Malcolm left Scotland after the murder of their father, they did this out of fear that they too would be targeted by their father's assailant. Either of the king's children could have stayed back and inherited the throne at the potential cost of their safety but both of them chose safety over becoming king. After some time passes Malcolm does come back to take his rightful throne, but Donalbain still stays out of country. This shows how Donalbain cared about his safety more than becoming king, even though