Macbeth

                              Macbeth 

        Hello readers, I'm writing this blog as assignment by the Department of English, MKBU. Here, I'm trying to give my opinion about macbeth the tragedy of ambition.

  -> Macbeth the tragedy of ambition: How do you view ambition in today's life?

          Ambition is the driving force of William Shakespeare's tragedy "Macbeth." More specifically, it is about ambition that goes unchecked by any concept of morality; this is why it becomes a dangerous quality. Macbeth’s ambition inspires most of his actions, and that results in the deaths of numerous characters and the ultimate downfall of both himself and Lady Macbeth.

         Macbeth’s ambition is driven by a number of factors. For one, he has a deep internal desire for power and advancement. However, that is not exactly why he turns to crime. It takes two outside forces to ignite this hunger and push him to take violent action to obtain power.

 

Prophecies:

         Throughout the play, the Macbeth witches make a number of prophecies, including that Macbeth will become king. Macbeth believes them each time, and often uses the predictions to decide his next actions, such as killing Banquo. While the prophecies always turn out to be true, it is unclear whether they are preordained instances of fate or self-fulfilling via the manipulation of characters like Macbeth.

Lady Macbeth: 

      The witches may have planted the initial seed in Macbeth’s mind to act on his ambition, but his wife is the one who pushes him to murder. Lady Macbeth’s persistence encourages Macbeth to put aside his guilt and kill Duncan, telling him to focus on his ambition, not his conscience.

          Macbeth’s ambition soon spirals out of control and forces him to murder again and again to cover up his previous wrongdoings. His first victims of this are the chamberlains who are framed by Macbeth for the murder of King Duncan and killed as “punishment.”

           Later in the play, Macbeth’s fear of Macduff incites him to pursue not only Macduff but also his family. The unnecessary murder of Lady Macduff and her children are the clearest example of Macbeth losing control over his ambition.

             We also see a more honorable take on ambition in "Macbeth." To test Macduff’s loyalty, Malcolm pretends to be greedy, lustful, and power-hungry. When Macduff responds by condemning him and crying out for the future of Scotland under such a king, he shows his allegiance to the country and refusal to submit to tyrants. This reaction from Macduff, along with Malcolm's choosing to test him in the first place, demonstrates that moral code in positions of power is more important than the ambition to get there, especially blind ambition.

             The consequences of ambition in “Macbeth” are dire—not only are a number of innocent people killed, but Macbeth’s life also ends with him being known as a tyrant, a significant downfall from the noble hero he begins as.

           Most importantly, Shakespeare gives neither Macbeth nor Lady Macbeth the opportunity to enjoy what they have gained perhaps suggesting that it is more satisfying to achieve your goals fairly than acquire them through corruption.

              At the end of the play, Malcolm is the victorious king and Macbeth’s burning ambition has been extinguished. But is this really the end to over-reaching ambition in Scotland? The audience is left to wonder if Banquo’s heir will eventually become king as prophesied by the trio of witches. If so, will he act on his own ambition to make this happen, or will fate play a part in realizing the prophecy?

 

Ambition in Today's life:

       “I think that Macbeth is relevant for young people in today's life. However, I believe there are probably many ways that it influences us such as through the language. We are potentially subconscious consumers of Macbeth, hearing Shakespeare's themes through music, books or tv programmes. One particular way that the play could be viewed as particularly relevant is the idea of having ambition which, in a modern context, could be something such as wanting to get into a good university.

           Another way in which it is very relevant to students is the point the play makes between appearance and reality, how it links to social media and the desire to present the best version, or an untrue version, of yourself online. The key line from the play in this context is when Lady Macbeth is advising her husband to ‘look like th’innocent flower, / But be the serpent under’t’.” 

       “Macbeth is relevant for young people in our today's life society, mainly because it examines the idea of corruption and how easily it is to be led astray by ambition. This is very relevant for today’s society because some leaders are corrupt, run a dictatorship and do not listen to their people. It is also relevant because of the unbalanced gender relationship; there are very few Shakespeare plays where the woman takes the lead.

         There are lots of morals to be learnt from the play. Firstly, I think the main moral of the play is not to be tempted to do bad things in order to gain power. In addition, another moral of the play would be that even if you think you are in too deep there is always a way out; and you can stop. It also teaches you to trust yourself and to stand up for yourself.

        I have learnt that sometimes your ambition can lead you astray and you can do bad things. I have learnt that with enough pressure you can do something you never thought you could do. Furthermore, people can use you because of what you have.

         Personally, I think women have almost equal power to men nowadays. But sometimes it is easy to slip into typical gender stereotypes; for example, nursing is mainly considered a woman’s job, whereas a doctor is considered as a role for men. As a woman I feel I should be equal to men.

         As far as crime goes, I think that you can reach a certain point before your conscience stops you, but there are a few people who do not have a conscience.” 

  

         So, Macbeth is a tragedy of ambition and it is totally related to today's life. every one has to be determined for what they want in life and have to be willing to do whatever it has to do to achieve what they want, like when Macbeth and Lady Macbeth did what they needed to do to be great and powerful like they desired.