How does Shakespeare explore the corrupting power of ambition in Macbeth?
- supernatural, morality, deception, greed, guilt, power
Abstract - Shakespeare demonstrates the corrupting power of ambition through showing how greed causes one to lose their morality. They do ambition because the supernatural wanted them to, and this has led to them being corrupted by the power they seek, because of ambition.
Contention - Shakespeare demonstrates the corrupting power of ambition by showing how greed and the supernatural causes one to lose their morality.
- Shakespeare reveals the dichotomy between Macbeth’s moral values before and after his ambition, suggesting that it was ambition that ultimately corrupted him.
- Shakespeare explores the influence of greed for power through the characterisation of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.
- Shakespeare denotes that the supernatural likes to use ambition and prophecies to manipulate one to their moral decline.
One - Shakespeare reveals the dichotomy between Macbeth’s moral values before and after his ambition, suggesting that it was ambition that ultimately corrupted him. In the beginning of the play, Macbeth was a brave and loyal soldier to King Duncan, a “worthy gentleman” who serves the king diligently. Shakespeare presents that Macbeth thinks “to be king stands not within the prospect of belief.” This depiction of Macbeth’s personality makes his act of regicide even more surprising. In contrast, Macbeth’s character towards the end of the play was stunning: he became a tyrant, one that “[hanged] those that talk of fear.” Shakespeare portrays Macbeth as a cold-blooded, heartless ruler who was a “disease” for the country, which is very different from who he was at the beginning. Through this metaphor, Shakespeare signifies that ambition can also be thought of as a disease, something that will ultimately corrupt one’s moral values. In context, Shakespeare used the story of Macbeth to warn the Jacobean audience that ambition, especially that of regicide, will lead to disastrous results.
Two - Shakespeare explores the influence of greed for power through the characterisation of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Elaborating on why Macbeth became so corrupted, Shakespeare presents the dark side of Macbeth’s personality, exposing that his greed for power led him to commit regicide. In a soliloquy, Macbeth said “Stars, hide your fires! Let not light see my dark and deep desires.” This directly tells the audience that Macbeth has greed for power, so much that Macbeth described it as dark and deep. He wasn’t planning on acting his ambition, but Lady Macbeth’s ambition was even more influential. Her desire for power was much stronger than Macbeth, for she manipulated Macbeth by asserting “When you doust do it, then you were a man.” Shakespeare shows that Lady Macbeth’s greed for power was so corrupting that she manipulated Macbeth, which was the start of a series of disastrous events that led them to their downfall. Immediately after killing Duncan, Macbeth said “full of scorpions is my mind,” with scorpions symbolising power, evil and betrayal. His guilt and remorse is manifested with his hallucinations of ghosts. Lady Macbeth also suffered the same guilt, and the doctor was able to reveal the diagnosis: “the heart is solely charged.. this disease is beyond my practice… more she needs the divine than the physician.” Through the characterisation of the doctor, Shakespeare alludes that the disease of ambition will cause a great harm to the heart, and he appeals to the Jacobean audience’s religious beliefs by stating that only the God can save those who committed regicide. Therefore, Shakespeare wanted to show that ambition causes greed, and has harsh consequences.
Three - Shakespeare denotes that the supernatural likes to use prophecies and the characters’ ambitions to manipulate them to their moral decline. Shakespeare presents the witches as manifestations of the supernatural. They who “look not like the inhabitants of the earth” speak in rhymes and meet on a lifeless heath, a symbol of their evil nature. Shakespeare portrays the witches in this manner because the belief in the Jacobean era was that the witches were creepy and evil in their appearance. When Macbeth and Banquo first came upon the witches, the witches used equivocation to give them prophecies, in an attempt to spark ambition in both Macbeth and Banquo. However, Macbeth and Banquo responded differently to the witches’ twisted equivocations. Macbeth was confused and thought that “this unnatural soliciting cannot be ill, cannot be good,” causing him to become rapt and his ambition stirred within him. In contrast, Banquo was unmoved by these prophecies: “the instruments of darkness tell us truths, win us with honest trifles, to betray us in deepest consequence,” he explained. Banquo’s statement resonates with Shakespeare’s portrayal of the supernatural people; Shakespeare reinforces the beliefs that the Jacobean audience had about witches, and used them as the villains of the plot too.