Ambition: The Driving Force of Success

Dominique Cadelina

Ms. Thex

Advanced English Language Arts

February 19, 2016

Ambition: The driving force of success

Many people have different ambition in life so the word ambition have different meanings to every person. Ambition is often associated with negative characteristics such as greed, intolerance, and the drive of power. In the Shakespeare’s Macbeth ambition is presented as a dangerous quality which causes the death of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Ambition is often the driving force in one’s life. It should be the motivating factor that drives every person towards success. However, ambition can also be destructive in that it can ruin lives and produces bad outcome.

Interestingly, there are similarities between the characters of Jack in Lord of the Flies, and Macbeth in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Both have the ambition to be the leader and choose to overthrow the other which made them both savages. As Macbeth once said, “The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step on which I must fall down or else o’erleap, For in a 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 see” (I.iv.55-60). Macbeth describes his ambition as being “black and deep desires” which makes it sound wrong.

Macbeth ambition to be the king drives him to murder again. In the beginning of the play, Macbeth doesn’t have the nerve to see it through, luckily Lady Macbeth is man enough for both of them to make Macbeth murder King Duncan, which is not a good idea at all. Lady Macbeth, which is more powerful than Macbeth in the beginning of the Play held a bold view: “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be what thou art promised. Yet do I fear thy nature; it is too full o’th’ milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great, art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it” (I.v .15-20). After reading the letter from her husband, which recounts the witches prophecy. Lady Macbeth’s thoughts turn to murder and this is the beginning of all evil in the play.

After Duncan was murdered, Macbeth’s ambition came to reality, but that doesn’t stop him to murder again because of the threat that is killing him inside to be overthrown

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