How Does Ambition Have Too Much Power In Macbeth

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Everyone wants to achieve success but can too much ambition become a wicked thing? In William Shakespeare's, Macbeth, ambition is portrayed as one of the most malicious and unpleasant traits a person can have. Throughout the story we can see how ambition and too much power can be catastrophic and ruin a human's mental state. Ambition is the power behind any improvement, destruction, or motivation. In Macbeth, Shakespeare uses ambition to show the destructive and mind changing effects of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and their motivation to kill.
Macbeth begins his ambition by stating, “That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself and falls on th' other.” (1.7 25-29) This is a moving point in Macbeth because he realises the only thing leading him to kill is ambition which leads to disaster. Killing Duncan is the reason and cause of Macbeth's strong ambition throughout the story. Macbeth has the position of king and does not want anyone to take his place which leads him to kill innocent lives. In the beginning, Lady Macbeth has more ambition to kill because she wants to be crowned queen so she places dark ideas in Macbeth's head to lead his ambition.
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Though you untie the winds and let them fight against the churches, though the yeasty waves confound and swallow navigation up...” (4.1 50-61) As Macbeths ambition is growing he becomes more careless of what happens to the world around him. Instead of focusing on his kingdom and people, he focuses on his personal needs. Macbeth states that he doesn't stress about if his fortune causes violence or it causes churches to burn. This shows us that as his ambition is flourishing, he has become thoughtless of others and will do whatever it takes to keep his crown. Shakespeare shows that ambition can evolve a person into a devilish and nonchalant