Ambition
English Lit: AQA GCSE Macbeth, topic 6.2.3
Unambitious Macbeth?
At the start of the play, Macbeth does not seem to be very ambitious. His wife, Lady Macbeth, is much more ambitious for him than he is for himself. Throughout the play, Macbeth's growing ambition eventually causes his downfall. He becomes paranoid as a result of his ambition.
‘I fear thy nature...'
- I fear thy nature, / It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness / To catch the nearest way’ (1,5).
- This quote shows that Lady Macbeth believes he deserves more than he has, but that he is too nice for his own good. She thinks he won’t go after power:.
- Lady Macbeth thinks Macbeth does have ambition, but he is too good, gentle and kind to go after what he wants: ‘Thou wouldst be great, / Art not without ambition, but without / The illness should attend it’ (1,5).
‘I have liv’d long enough...
- ‘I have liv’d long enough. My way of life / Is fall’n into the sere, the yellow leaf, / And that which should accompany old age, / As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends, / I must not look to have’. (5,3)...
- This shows how, after the death of King Duncan, Macbeth cannot cope with what he has done (perhaps his religious guilt comes into play here).
Macbeth's paranoia
- He becomes more and more paranoid. The price of fulfilling his ambition was not worth it: And that which should accompany old age.
- Macbeth lists all of the things he should have had in later life, like an honourable reputation and many friends. He has lost everything by going after the crown.
Test yourself on Ambition
What does Macbeth say he has lost, as a result of his ambition, in Act 5, Scene 3?