Macbeth By William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616) Essay, Research Paper

This popular, fast-moving and relatively

uncomplicated play has become a standard of the effects of ambition. At

the outset, Macbeth is perfectly honorable – and the object of special

honor from his king. However, the witches’ suggestion that he will attain

the throne taps the well of ambition in him that (presumably) lies within

us all. By the time he has slain Duncan, Macbeth is locked into a career

of murder, and eventually becomes so desensitized as to remain unmoved

even by his wife’s death.

Granted, Macbeth likely would never have

carried out his plans if not spurred on by his wife’s stronger personality.

In some ways, she is more of a man that he (”come you spirits,” she prays,

“unsex me here . . . “). But in the end she is overcome with guilt that

manifests itself in crazed hallucinations.

Only Banque, among those whose lives were

“blessed” by the witches, escapes temptation: first, by refusing the seductions

of ambition; and second, by refusing to conspire with Macbeth against Duncan.

He is, as the witches prophesy, “lesser than Macbeth, and greater … not

so happy, yet much happier.” It is by no accident that Shakespeare’s Banquo

is a pure, upright fellow. The historical Banque was the direct ancestor

of James 1, the King of England at the time of Macbeth’s first performance.