Ambition
- Ambition can change characters.
- Unchecked ambition can’t be fulfilled without turning people into monsters.
- Macbeth made many mistakes (II, iv, 28-30)
- In the end, ambition isn’t worth it as Macbeth loses everything that had been important to him.
- Too much ambition can change a person’s personality.
- One’s decisions affect one’s fate.
- Macbeth has blind ambition; he cannot see the consequences of his actions.
- Ambition causes Macbeth to become heartless while also causing Lady Macbeth to have too much guilt. Lady Macbeth was the most ambition character. She even said that she would murder Duncan herself (I, iv), which is surprising. However, in the end, she suffers because of her ambition.
- Macbeth is easily influenced by others which affects his ambition and brings about his downfall. This also makes him a poor leader.
- Ambition isn’t necessarily a bad thing. When it is held in check, it can bring honour. Macbeth was honorable and upright until he met the witches.
- Too much ambition can ruin someone’s life and make that life meaningless.
- Macduff’s only ambition was to avenge his family’s murder. He had not plans for taking over Scotland. A quote was given about the “unbattered edge of a sword” (V, i) I missed the line number.
- Macbeth had too much ambition and as a result, loses his honour, friends, and family. His personal ambition became stronger than his love for country.
- Ambition begins with fear, and this leads to violence. Violence is used to justify his ambition.
- Audiences see Macbeth’s ambition near the start of the play when he reacts angrily to Malcolm being made heir to the throne. “The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step on which I must o’releap or else fall down, for in my way it lies” (I, iv….around line 47)…This might not be quoted exactly as I am writing this from memory.
- Macbeth is so blind that he can’t see the witches’ tricks until it is too late. He hears only what he wants to hear when they give him their prophecies. Ambition can ruin our judgement. Banquo knew this and warns Macbeth early on that “Sometimes to win us to our harm, the instruments of darkness, tell us truths; win us with honest trifles in order to betray us in (???) deepest consequence” (I, iii, 177) You will also have to double check this quotation as I’m writing it from memory.
- Lady Macbeth shows that women can be ambitious too. They both call on evil spirits in order to help them do what they need to do in order to get what they want.
- “Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under ‘t”…ambition is linked to the image of a snake (evil)
- Ambition is described as being Lady Mac’s “black and deep desires” (I, iv, 50)
Guilt
- Blood imagery shows guilt. Guilt is the feeling of responsibility for committing a wrong.
- There is no “perfect crime” because there is no escaping guilt.
- Guilt cannot be easily ignored. It can lead to insanity (Macbeth’s hallucinations and insomnia/Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking, insanity and eventual suicide)
- Guilt reveals the characters of Lady Mac and Mac.
- Macbeth feels guilt before he takes murderous action, but Lady Mac feels it after a sin has been committed. She is the one who really feels it.
- She tries to fight it and fails. Guilt kills her.
- Guilt will haunt you, drive you insane and cause your downfall.
- Macbeth commits more crimes in order to cover up his initial guilt. There is no way he can go back.
- Symbols of guilt—blood, sleepwalking, insomnia, hallucinations. “Out damned spot!” Lady Mac cannot wash away her sins. Also, Macbeth has many soliloquies about guilt.
- It is ironic how Lady Mac talks about washing herself of her guilt…”a little water clears us of this deed” but in the end, she could not cleanse herself and wonders “if all the perfumes of Arabia” cannot mask the scent of the blood on her hands. (V, i, 44-45; II, ii, 67)
- Macbeth feels the opposite of this. In Act II he asks if “great Neptune’s ocean” can every clean his hands (II, ii, 63-66), but at the end of the play…he doesn’t feel any guilt at all because he has killed so many people he has become numb.
- After he kills Duncan and the guards he refuses to go back to plant the murder weapons on the men. He says “I’ll go no more” (II, ii, 53-55), and his wife has to plant the weapons. Macbeth is too afraid to look at his victims and think about what he has just done.
- He immediately feels regret after killing Duncan “Wake Duncan with your knocking, I would thou could’st” (II, ii, 72-3).
- He was not able to say “Amen” after committing murder.
- He realizes that he has committed the ultimate sin and has lost his soul….”My eternal jewel given to the common enemy of man”…I don’t have the line number for this….ask Jinhyun tomorrow…..or look at his t-shirt.
- The guilt he feels after killing Duncan is not enough to make him stop, though.
- Maybe Lady Mac was sleep writing in V, i in order to clear her conscience.
- Macbeth was conscious of his guilt. He could not sleep.
- Lady Mac was unconscious of her guilt. Her feelings come out while she sleeps.
Leadership
- Effective leadership has a close connection between leaders and their followers. Leaders must care about their followers in order to win their trust and support.
- A person with support and a strong sense of determination is a good leader.
- Leaders must be charismatic so that most people will like them. Duncan was charismatic and Macbeth was not. His unjust leadership destroyed his popularity.
- A lack of leadership can spark violence and tension…we see this in Macbeth.
- The desire to lead others can cause some to lose their minds and become drunk with power.
- A good leader can manage power and not abuse it.
- A good leader provides people with an example to follow. Macbeth, however, puts his own desires before his sense of honour.
- Ambition and physical skills don’t lead to good leadership.
- Macbeth allows himself to be easily influenced by others.
- A good leader understands his people.
- Good leaders put the interests of others above their own interests.
- Macbeth is selfish and disrespects those around him (his wife, thanes, and subjects).
- As he gains more power, his perspective changes and if someone says something he doesn’t like, he threatens to put them to death. “If thou speak false…thou will hang alive” V, v, 38-41)
- Macbeth scares people, he doesn’t inspire them.
- Macbeth lacks self confidence…he becomes an insecure, even paranoid leader. He is not confident in himself…his wife has to talk him into killing Duncan, and he never feels secure after he does the deed. He asks his wife what they will do if he fails to kill Duncan, and she has to tell him to “screw [his] courage to the sticking place”…You’ll have to find the line number for this (I, vii)
- Macbeth lacks the personality of a leader. He also lacks experience as a leader and circumstances happen so quickly, he doesn’t even have the time to decide the correct course of action.
- Macbeth is perhaps too confident in his own leadership (because of the witches’ prophecies). He wants to be king so badly, he only listens to what he wants to hear. “All hail Macbeth that shalt be king hearafter” (I, iii) Check the line number.
- Macbeth is a good leader at first—on the battle field. Duncan even calls him “valiant cousin…worthy thane” (I, iii) but when Mac’s ambition takes over, he has no plan beyond securing the crown. He has not vision or plan for leading Scotland.
- Macbeth’s ambition is too much and it eventually drives him crazy…he hallucinates seeing Banquo’s ghost and a floating dagger.
- Duncan is a naïve leader. Macbeth is not naïve. His ambition and selfishness lead him to become a terrible leader. His reign didn’t begin properly, so it will never be proper.
- Macbeth even loses his ability to feel emotions by the end of the play. A good leader needs to have emotions and be able to relate to his followers.
- Lady Mac seems to have strong leadership skills. Macbeth’s lack of confidence underscores his poor ability to lead.
- Duncan was a good leader in that he was popular. But he was too trusting. This makes him foolish. Duncan can connect with his people, but he puts his trust in the wrong people (the first Thane of Cawdor/Macbeth).
- Duncan was very well liked. When Macbeth is thinking of the consequences of killing him, he talks about Duncan’s “virtues” that make him popular. (I, vii, 16-20). Duncan was good, but as a leader, he was not aggressive enough.
- Macduff describes Duncan as a “most sainted king” (IV, iii, 110-111). The play opens with Scotland under attack from outsiders on two fronts, showing that Duncan is a weak king. It is his men who are strong and who push back the attackers (Macbeth being the main one).
- Duncan is too trusting…this is even shown in I, v when he is greeted by Lady Macbeth outside her castle.
- Duncan is not powerful, so he is not completely respected.
- Malcom is a much stronger leader than Duncan. He has a vision for Scotland to restore it after Macbeth’s reign (V, viii…final lines).
- Malcolm is not as trusting as his father was, and he is more independent.
- Duncan could not control his people.
- Malcolm is wise. When Duncan is killed, the princes know to leave Scotland as soon as possible. He understands the situation and moves quickly.
- Malcolm deserves the throne more than Macbeth. He was appointed Prince of Cumberland by his father, making him the legitimate heir to the throne. (I, iii)
- He is also a leader who is not afraid to fight. He tells a grieving Macduff to let his desire for vengeance be “the whetstone of [his] sword” IV, iii, 228-9
- Malcolm has the ability to assess situations. In the end, he gets his revenge.
- Malcolm also has the king-becoming graces that mark a good leader. (IV, iii, 90-95)
- He is also a revolutionary leader. The final lines of the play is where he lays out his plan for how he will fix Scotland.
