Macbeth Ambition Quotes Quote #1MACBETH “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, Shakes so my single state of man that function Is smother'd in surmise, and nothing is But what is not.” (1.3.9) | After the weird sisters predict that Macbeth will be king, his thoughts turn to "murder," which the sisters have said nothing about. Could it be that the witches' prophesy awakens within Macbeth a murderous ambition that was there all along? Quote #2MACBETH [Aside]” The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires. The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be Which the eye fears, when it is done, to …show more content…
Of course, we know that Macbeth (with some encouragement from his wife) does murder Duncan. Quote #5MACBETH “For mine own good All causes shall give way. I am in blood Stepp'd in so far that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o'er.” (3.4.24) | By comparing his heinous actions to wading through a bloody river, Macbeth suggests that once a man commits a murderous act for his own gain, it's impossible to stop. Turning back would be "tedious." By this point, Macbeth is willing to anything in order to help himself and it's becomes easier for him to commit evil deeds. According to Macbeth, he's got to look out for his own best interests. Quote #6MACDUFF “Either thou, Macbeth, Or else my sword, with an unbatter'd edge, I sheathe again undeeded. There thou shouldst be; By this great clatter, one of greatest note Seems bruited. Let me find him, Fortune! And more I beg not.” (5.8.1) | Macduff's only ambition is to kill Macbeth, the man who has murdered his wife and children. He has no interest in personal gain and is the first character in the play to understand that Fortune rules you, you don't rule Fortune. This is a certain indicator that he'll be the one to take down the tyrant, who is always challenging
Macduff thought that Macbeth had something to do with Duncan's death. He was suspicious and wouldn't attend Macbeth's coronation. That made Macbeth angry. Macbeth looks at Macduff as a traitor when he runs of to England and plans to kills Macduff's family while he's away.
The website Stephanized! says it best: “The vision of his action coming true gives him reason to believe he is fated to finish the deed” (“The Conscience of Macbeth”). From this moment on, Macbeth is plagued with fulfilling the prophecy on his own despite once claiming that is fate wants him king, it will happen without his help (1.3.143). As each murder is committed, either by Macbeth or someone he gets to do it for him, his dramatic downfall begins in the process of trying to hide what he is doing.
At the same time, Macbeth’s fear that “[w]e still have judgement here, that we but teach / Bloody instructions which, being taught, return / To plague th’inventor,” foreshadows the way that his deeds will eventually come back to haunt him. The imagery in this speech is dark—we hear of “bloody instructions,” “deep damnation,” and a “poisoned chalice”—and suggests that Macbeth is aware of how the murder would open the door to a dark and sinful world. At the same time, he admits that his only reason for committing murder, “ambition,” suddenly seems an insufficient justification for the act. The destruction that comes from unchecked ambition will continue to be explored as one of the play’s themes. As the soliloquy ends, Macbeth seems to resolve not to kill Duncan, but this resolve will only last until his wife returns and once again convinces him, by the strength of her will, to go ahead with their plot.
He will stop at nothing to get what he wants, even if it means killing innocent people. Macbeth continuously makes the wrong decisions, and he doesn't think he needs to pay the consequences for the terrible outcomes. Macbeth says, “Here’s the smell of the blood still; all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand”, (2.1.42-43). Macbeth admits murdering many different people in this line, and everyone in their right mind knows that killing others is bad. Therefor, Macbeth purposefully does wrong to others, just to try and gain power for
Macbeth’s acts cannot be attributed to his ambition once he has killed all of Macduff’s family. Since his family was gruesomely slaughtered, Macduff can only be inclined to seek revenge upon Macbeth. Macbeth has spent the entire play laying the foundation for his death by Macduff. The two finally meet with fierce tension, to which Macbeth urges, “Lay on, Macduff; / And damned be him that first cries ‘Hold, Enough!’” (V.viii.33-34). After a brief fight, Macduff slays Macbeth and declares an end to Scotland’s
He even murders the king Duncan and some guard to show that someone went inside the castle and kill Duncan.” Macbeth paces by himself, pondering his idea of assassinating Duncan. He says that the deed would be easy if he could be certain that it would not set in motion a series of terrible consequences. He declares his willingness to risk eternal damnation but realizes that even on earth, bloody actions “return / To plague th’inventor” (1.7.9–10). This shows that he kills king Duncan. Later in the play he kills Banquo because he suspects of Macbeth, that he kills Duncan. Macbeth takes one more step and kill Banquo. “The murder of Duncan, which weighs so heavily on his conscience, may have simply cleared the way for Banquo’s sons to overthrow Macbeth’s own family.” Macbeth reminds the two men, who are murderers he has hired, of a conversation he had with them the day before, in which he chronicled the wrongs Banquo had done them in the past. He asks if they are angry and manly enough to take revenge on Banquo. They reply that they are, and Macbeth accepts their promise that they will murder his former friend” (act3, scene 1). This show that, Macbeth doesn’t want to take any risk and he plans to kill Banquo. But he still has the murder of king Duncan in his conscience and now he has the murder of Banquo. All these action he made it because he wants it to become the king of Scotland. One of the prophecy that the witches gave to Macbeth was no man born from a woman will harm Macbeth. He went to the battlefield confident that no one can kill him, but Macduff was not born from a woman he was take away from his mom wound because she died before she gave
In the play, Macbeth is constrained by his significant other Lady Macbeth to accomplish his aspiration of turning into the King of Scotland. However, he is tormented toward the end of the play by the blame of slaughtering the King of Scotland and taking his royal position by settling on wasteful choices. He is compelled to murder anybody that gets in his direction that is debilitating to remove his royal position from him. Macbeth was constrained by Lady Macbeth by her continual scrutiny of his masculinity by his unwillingness and executing the general population that got in his way.He would not like to murder them since he was feeling regretful of slaughtering his ruler that he was faithful to his companions that he battled adjacent to
With constant influence from both Macbeth’s own wife and the prophetic witches, murdering seems like the best thing to do. His ambition is fueled, and Macbeth sees no better way to achieve his desire. Ambition still channels Macbeth to kill, and the immense influences makes Macbeth sink even deeper into the mess, with ambition guiding his actions each step of the
To begin with, Macduff, Lady Macbeth and Banquo, were all characters in the play that had a strong desire to achieve their goals, regardless of the obstacles that impeded their progressions. Although Macduff’s initial intention was to put an end to the reign of the tyrant, he alters his motives when faced the hurdle of the death of his loved ones. He no longer wants to just bring justice to the people of Scotland, but personally kill Macbeth at all costs, “If thou be’st slain and with no stroke of mine/…my sword/I sheath… undeeded (V. vii, 20, 24-25).” When confronting
How much do individuals are willing to sacrifice in order to get their ambition? In William Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, Shakespeare demonstrated how ambition can be a powerful force that can drive individuals to high feats. It is through Macbeth, the main protagonist of the play, where Shakespeare expressed how our inner desires can take control our lives. Sometimes, our desires can deprive us of the sight which allows us to see how our actions affect people around us. Ambitions let us think about ourselves and often leave others ignored.
Obviously, Macbeth is not yet sure of himself as an evil man. Immediately after hearing the witches’ prophecy that he will be king, Macbeth thinks that he must kill the current king, this being King Duncan, in order to take over the throne. Although he is not sure that he can follow through with this, he wants nothing more in the world than to have the amount of power and respect that he knows he will receive if he takes over the position. So, in returning home, and with the help of persuasion and instigation from his wife, he kills King Duncan. Prevoiusly to the murder and immediately after, Macbeth’s “heat-oppressed brain” caused him to see images floating in the air, specifically the dagger that became bloody right before the bell rang as a signal to kill King Duncan. These images may have been messages from the witches, as yet another cause of Macbeth’s insanity. However, the witches
Ambition the correct definition is a strong desire to achieve something of someone, ambition is own everybody's nature every human can feel ambitious over something the key is not to control who you are or do something you will regret in the future. In the play of "macbeth" one of the major themes that can be derived from the play is ambition getting the best of people which is supported by three motifs , Macbeth wanting to be king at no costs , Lady Macbeth wanting her husband to have power , and the witches creating ideas of ambition in Macbeth's and Banquo's head.
In this instance, I believe the noble, virtuously ambitious Macbeth is entertaining corrupt passions and censurable ambitions; his imagination is yielding to the witches’ prophecy (suggestion) of becoming king and running wild with all of the possibilities this may hold and, more importantly, how this prophecy would come true. His imaginative and “fantastical” murderous thought of Duncan to achieve being king “shakes [his] state of man.” In other words, the idea of killing the king goes against his better judgment and sense of morality (akrasia), and perhaps it worries Macbeth that he would merely entertain an idea such as this based on something (the witches’ prophecy) without evidence (“surmise”). As he ponders the prophecy, the more and more it appears he is at odds with himself (internal war due to phantasma), his morality, and his beliefs, left not knowing what to do. Macbeth’s gradual yield to his passions and censurable ambitions result in another yield to
“Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desire; the eye wink at the hand; yet let that be which the eye fears, when it is done, to see,” (Shakespeare 15). In The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the protagonist is referred to as Macbeth, Thane of Glamis. He is a general in the king’s army whose “vaulting ambition” leads him to dream of greater titles. He strives for a higher position in his government after hearing the witches prophecy, “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!
Due to confuse witches and his wife, there are many good nature of Macbeth wanted to do something big ambition transformed into ambition, and ambition to achieve has led to a series of new crime, the result is perverse, inevitable death.