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.