grade 9 essay on ambition in macbeth

Mr Salles Teaches English

Grade 9 Essay: How does Shakespeare present the theme of ambition in the play?

What is the shortest essay which can get full marks.

I’m writing a guide to how to write essays at each grade for Macbeth. My Ultimate Guide to Macbeth shows you how to understand the whole play, scene by scene, to above grade 9. It also shows you how to write about each scene at grades 6, 7, 8, 9 and beyond grade 9.

I’ve written over 20 guides and it is the best guide I have ever written.

But, what if you are a student who just wants a grade 5, or just wants a grade 7, or you want a grade 9, but you want it as quickly as possible. You don’t want to read an Ultimate Guide to Macbeth - that’s going to have a lot of Mr Salles brilliance in it but, no offence Mr Salles, English isn’t even in my top 5 subjects.

I want the maximum marks, with the minimum effort.

So, that’s why I’m writing a series of new guides, showing you ‘just’ what you need for each grade, and no more.

How I wrote the essays in the essay writing guide (out in September)

I found all the essays I could which had been marked by a senior examiner.

I rewrote them, changing all the words, but keeping every idea and technique, and every quote.

Then I counted the features of each essay. Exam criteria are vague and open to interpretation. So I wondered, are there features of each essay I can count, which are not open to interpretation? And then, if we do count these features, will they predict the right mark?

Let’s find out.

This is an extract from the guide. Normally, my comments, and the examiner comments, follow the essay. Here, I have put the comments first so you can see what the examiner is looking for before you read the essay.

Response 24

Thesis Statement Yes Explanations 9 Quotes 5 Named Methods 5 Society/era/patriarchal/Jacobean/contemporary/ historical reference etc 3 Shakespeare 4 Exploratory Could, Might, May, Perhaps, Probably 0 Conclusion Yes Paragraphs 7

My Comments

Well, well, well. I was not expecting that mark. (It scored 25/30).

It doesn’t have anywhere near the number of references or quotations I was expecting for AO1.

It introduces the idea that ambition will affect ‘reason’, but never actually proves it –there are many easy examples and quotes revealing the mental state of Macbeth – is this a dagger, murdered sleep, never shake they gory locks, my mind is full of scorpions etc - and Lady Macbeth sleepwalking. The original essay included mistakes in identifying adverbs and nouns, which I’ve got rid of, because even naming them correctly adds no marks. There is very little context used to back up interpretations.

So, what has impressed the examiner?

There are both a thesis statement and a conclusion, so it becomes a well-constructed argument. The student has quoted from the end of the play right at the beginning, to show that they are dealing with the whole text. Although they don’t give many examples from the rest of the play, they do move through it chronologically, so it is a well-constructed argument. This, and very specific language to describe it, helps the student look at Macbeth’s character arc, his ‘journey’, showing how Macbeth changes. The answer looks at the structure of the play in two ways. First by viewing Macbeth’s life in two parts – a rise and fall. Secondly, by exploring Banquo as the antithesis to Macbeth in his ambition. These two ideas mark the answer out as thoughtful and different from most students’ essays.

Examiner Comments

The answer focuses on ambition right from the start and with every point. The thesis statement and next paragraph make it clear that the student is dealing with the whole text. The essay is thoughtful and developed. The student embeds quotations and references to illustrate their ideas. The student’s comments about Shakespeare’s intentions throughout the essay show that they realise his choices are deliberate. In order to get into level 6 the student should explore more of Shakespeare’s ideas.

Write down the other ideas you could put into this essay.

Find references or quotes to back these up.

Write another 350 words to add in to get 30/30.

Thank you for reading Mr Salles Teaches English. I want every student to be able to go up by several grades. Please share this post to help me reach that goal.

The 420 Word Essay!

Shakespeare reveals ambition as the dominant theme in the play, because it is Macbeth’s overpowering ambition which leads to his immoral murder of King Duncan. Lady Macbeth and the witches can only influence Macbeth in this because his ambition is already so great.

In this extract, Shakespeare explores how ambition influences even the most honourable. This is why he gives Lady Macbeth the perspective that Macbeth’s character is “ too full o’th’ milk of human kindness ”, which is her real perception because Shakespeare reveals it in SOLILOQUY. We associate “ milk ” with innocence and purity, which implies that Macbeth is too noble to act on his ambition. Yet, once he has reigned as king, he is viewed as a “ butcher ”, because he has become both cruel and indiscriminate in his killing.

This change from excessive kindness to tyranny is a surprising journey, which warns the audience of the danger of ambition. Moreover, Shakespeare portrays ambition as a force which will overcome morality and reason. He gives Lady Macbeth the view that Macbeth is “ not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it ”. The COMPARISON of ambition to “ illness ” implies that it is destructive, and also that this destruction can turn on the ambitious person themselves, attacking their sense of morality and ability to be kind.

Macbeth lists every reason not to murder Duncan, before focusing on his “ vaulting ambition ”. This METAPHOR implies that his ambition is more powerful than his conscience, so he will overcome his moral objections.

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Macbeth – A* / L9 Full Mark Example Essay

This is an A* / L9 full mark example essay on Macbeth completed by a 15-year-old student in timed conditions (50 mins writing, 10 mins planning).

It contained a few minor spelling and grammatical errors – but the quality of analysis overall was very high so this didn’t affect the grade. It is extremely good on form and structure, and perhaps could do with more language analysis of poetic and grammatical devices; as the quality of thought and interpretation is so high this again did not impede the overall mark. 

Thanks for reading! If you find this resource useful, you can take a look at our full online Macbeth course here . Use the code “SHAKESPEARE” to receive a 50% discount!

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For more help with Macbeth and Tragedy, read our article here .

MACBETH EXAMPLE ESSAY:

Macbeth’s ambition for status and power grows throughout the play. Shakespeare uses Macbeth as an embodiment of greed and asks the audience to question their own actions through the use of his wrongful deeds.

In the extract, Macbeth is demonstrated to possess some ambition but with overriding morals, when writing to his wife about the prophecies, Lady Macbeth uses metaphors to describe his kind hearted nature: “yet I do fear thy nature, / It is too full o’th’milk of human kindness”. Here, Shakespeare presents Macbeth as a more gentle natured being who is loyal to his king and country. However, the very act of writing the letter demonstrates his inklings of desire, and ambition to take the throne. Perhaps, Shakespeare is aiming to ask the audience about their own thoughts, and whether they would be willing to commit heinous deeds for power and control. 

Furthermore, the extract presents Macbeth’s indecisive tone when thinking of the murder – he doesn’t want to kill Duncan but knows it’s the only way to the throne. Lady Macbeth says she might need to interfere in order to persuade him; his ambition isn’t strong enough yet: “That I may pour my spirits in  thine ear / And chastise with the valour of my tongue”. Here, Shakespeare portrays Lady Macbeth as a manipulative character, conveying she will seduce him in order to “sway “ his mind into killing Duncan. The very need for her persuasion insinuates Macbeth is still weighing up the consequences in his head, his ambition equal with his morality. It would be shocking for the audience to see a female character act in this authoritative way. Lady Macbeth not only holds control of her husband in a patriarchal society but the stage too, speaking in iambic pentameter to portray her status: “To catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great”. It is interesting that Shakespeare uses Lady Macbeth in this way; she has more ambition for power than her husband at this part of play. 

As the play progresses, in Act 3, Macbeth’s ambition has grown and now kills with ease. He sends three murders to kill Banquo and his son, Fleance, as the witches predicted that he may have heirs to the throne which could end his reign. Macbeth is suspicious in this act, hiding his true intentions from his dearest companion and his wife: “I wish your horses swift and sure on foot” and “and make our faces vizards to our hearts”. There, we see, as an audience, Macbeth’s longing to remain King much stronger than his initial attitudes towards the throne He was toying with the idea of killing for the throne and now he is killing those that could interfere with his rule without a second thought. It is interesting that Shakespeare presents him this way, as though he is ignoring his morals or that they have been “numbed” by his ambition. Similarly to his wife in the first act, Macbeth also speaks in pentameter to illustrate his increase in power and dominance. 

In Act 4, his ambition and dependence on power has grown even more. When speaking with the witches about the three apparitions, he uses imperatives to portray his newly adopted controlling nature: “I conjure you” and “answer me”. Here, the use of his aggressive demanding demonstrates his reliance on the throne and his need for security. By the Witches showing him the apparitions and predicting his future, he gains a sense of superiority, believing he is safe and protected from everything. Shakespeare also lengthens Macbeth’s speech in front of the Witches in comparison to Act 1 to show his power and ambition has given him confidence, confidence to speak up to the “filthy nags” and expresses his desires. Although it would be easy to infer Macbeth’s greed and ambition has grown from his power-hungry nature, a more compassionate reading of Macbeth demonstrates the pressure he feels as a Jacobean man and soldier. Perhaps he feels he has to constantly strive for more to impress those around him or instead he may want to be king to feel more worthy and possibly less insecure. 

It would be unusual to see a Jacobean citizen approaching an “embodiment” of the supernatural as forming alliance with them was forbidden and frowned upon. Perhaps Shakespeare uses Macbeth to defy these stereotypical views to show that there is a supernatural, a more dark side in us all and it is up to our own decisions whereas we act on these impulses to do what is morally incorrect. 

If you’re studying Macbeth, you can click here to buy our full online course. Use the code “SHAKESPEARE” to receive a 50% discount!

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You’ll find plenty of  top level example essays  that will help you to  write your own perfect ones!

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Macbeth is a play about ambition run amok. The weird sisters ' prophecies spur both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to try to fulfill their ambitions, but the witches never make Macbeth or his wife do anything. Macbeth and his wife act on their own to fulfill their deepest desires. Macbeth, a good general and, by all accounts before the action of the play, a good man, allows his ambition to overwhelm him and becomes a murdering, paranoid maniac. Lady Macbeth, once she begins to put into actions the once-hidden thoughts of her mind, is crushed by guilt.

Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth want to be great and powerful, and sacrifice their morals to achieve that goal. By contrasting these two characters with others in the play, such as Banquo , Duncan , and Macduff , who also want to be great leaders but refuse to allow ambition to come before honor, Macbeth shows how naked ambition, freed from any sort of moral or social conscience, ultimately takes over every other characteristic of a person. Unchecked ambition, Macbeth suggests, can never be fulfilled, and therefore quickly grows into a monster that will destroy anyone who gives into it.

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‘Macbeth’ Grade 9 Example Response

Grade 9 – full mark – ‘Macbeth’ response

Starting with this extract (from act 1 scene 7), how does Shakespeare present the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth?

In Shakespeare’s eponymous tragedy ‘Macbeth’, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s relationship is a complex portrait of love, illustrating layers of utter devotion alongside overwhelming resentment. Though the couple begins the play unnaturally strong within their marriage, this seems to act as an early warning of their imminent and inevitable fall from grace, ending the play in an almost entirely different relationship than the one they began the play with.

In the exposition of the play, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth initially appear immensely strong within their marriage, with Macbeth describing his wife as ‘my dearest partner of greatness’ in act 1 scene 5. The emotive superlative adjective ‘dearest’ is a term of endearment, and acts as a clear depiction of how valued Lady Macbeth is by her husband. Secondly, the noun ‘partner’ creates a sense of sincere equality which, as equality within marriage would have been unusual in the Jacobean era, illustrates to a contemporary audience the positive aspects of their relationship. Furthermore the lexical choice ‘greatness’ may connote ambition, and as they are ‘partner(s)’, Shakespeare suggests that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are equal in their desire for power and control, further confirming their compatibility but potentially hinting that said compatibility will serve as the couple’s hamartia.

However, the strength of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s relationship falls into a rapid downward spiral in the subsequent scenes, as a struggle for power within the marriage ensues. This is evidenced when Macbeth, in act 1 scene 7, uses the declarative statement ‘we will proceed no further in this business’. Here, Macbeth seems to exude masculinity, embracing his gender role and dictating both his and his wife’s decisions. The negation ‘no’ clearly indicates his alleged definitive attitude. However, Lady Macbeth refuses to accept her husband’s rule, stating ‘when you durst do it, then you were a man’. She attempts to emasculate him to see their plan through. The verb ‘durst’ illustrates the risk taking behaviour that Lady Macbeth is encouraging; implying an element of toxicity within their relationship, and her harsh speech makes the cracks in their relationship further visible to the audience. It is also probable that a contemporary audience would be made severely uncomfortable in the presence of Lady Macbeth’s unapologetic display of power, and it is possible that Shakespeare attempts to paint Lady Macbeth as the villain of the play, playing upon the audience’s pre-determined fears of feminine power. Though Lady Macbeth appears to be acting entirely out of self-interest, another reader may argue that she influences her husband so heavily to commit the heinous act of regicide, as she believes that he crown may as a substitute for the child or children that Shakespeare suggests she and Macbeth have lost previously, and in turn better Macbeth’s life and bring him to the same happiness that came with the child, except in another form.

As the play progresses, Shakespeare creates more and more distance between the characters, portraying the breakdown of their relationship as gradual within the play but rapid in the overall sense of time on stage. For example, Lady Macbeth requests a servant ‘say to the king’ Lady Macbeth ‘would attend his leisure/ for a few words’. Here she is reduced to the status of someone far lesser than the king, having to request to speak to her own husband. It could be interpreted that, now as king, Macbeth holds himself above all else, even his wife, perhaps due to the belief of the divine right of kings. The use of the title rather than his name plainly indicated the lack of closeness Lady Macbeth now feels with Macbeth and intensely emotionally separates them. This same idea is referenced as Shakespeare develops the characters to almost juxtapose each other in their experiences after the murder of Duncan. For example, Macbeth seems to be trapped in a permanent day, after ‘Macbeth does murder sleep’ and his guilt and paranoia render him unable to rest. In contrast, Lady Macbeth takes on an oppositional path, suffering sleepwalking and unable to wake from her nightmare; repeating the phrase ‘to bed. To bed’ as if trapped in a never-ending night. This illustrates to the audience the extreme transformation Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s relationship undergoes, and how differently they end up experiencing the aftermath of regicide.

In conclusion, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth begin the play almost too comfortable within their marriage, which seems to invite the presence of chaos and tragedy into their relationship. Their moral compositions are opposing one another, which leads to the distancing and total breakdown of their once successful marriage and thus serves as a warning to the audience about the effects of murder, and what the deadly sin of greed can do to a person and a marriage.

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gcseenglishwithmisshuttlestone

Secondary English teacher in Herts. View all posts by gcseenglishwithmisshuttlestone

9 thoughts on “‘Macbeth’ Grade 9 Example Response”

wheres the context

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It is also probable that a contemporary audience would be made severely uncomfortable in the presence of Lady Macbeth’s unapologetic display of power, and it is possible that Shakespeare attempts to paint Lady Macbeth as the villain of the play, playing upon the audience’s pre-determined fears of feminine power.

Also ref to ‘divine right of kings’

Thank you! This is a brilliant response. Just what I needed. Could you also please include the extract in the question.

We will proceed no further in this business. He hath honored me of late, and I have bought Golden opinions from all sorts of people, Which would be worn now in their newest gloss, Not cast aside so soon.

—> until end of scene

She did (Act 1 Scene 7)

Another great resource for grade 9 Macbeth analysis https://youtu.be/bGzLDRX71bs

In order to get a grade 9 for a piece like this would you need to include a wide range of vocabulary or could you write the same thing ‘dumbed down’ and get a 9.

If the ideas were as strong then yes, but your writing must AT LEAST be ‘clear’ for a grade 6 or above.

This is really great, I’m in Year 10 doing my Mock on Thursday, a great point that i have found (because I also take history) Is the depiction of women throughout the play, during the Elizabethan era, (before the Jacobean era) many people had a changed view of women as Queen Elizabeth was such a powerful woman, glimpses of this have been shown in Jacobean plays, in this case Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is depicted as powerful although she had to be killed of to please King James (as he was a misogynist) women are also depicted as evil in the play, such as the three witches, I also found that the Witches are in three which could be a mockery to the Holy Trinity.

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Was Macbeth Ambitious?

Is macbeth shakespeare’s most misunderstood character.

According to the most common interpretation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the character of Macbeth was driven to kill King Duncan because he was ambitious for the throne. This essay argues that Macbeth can’t really be considered ambitious since he repeatedly said that he didn’t want to kill the king; he’d never previously thought of being king, which makes the idea of him being ambitious for the throne a little far-fetched; he had no involvement in – and in fact actively objected to – the development of the plan to kill the king; and had previously been presented as a happy and loyal subject of the king, who saw the idea of killing the king as being abhorrent to his personal nature, hiss instincts as a man, and, in fact nature itself. In light of this, it seems unrealistic to imagine that Shakespeare actually wanted to present him as being someone who was driven by powerful ambition.

To explain why he did kill Duncan, the essay proposes that the witches in the play were supposed to be real witches, and that Macbeth was under the control of a magic spell when he killed Duncan. Under this interpretation, the play is actually a quite misogynistic warning against the involvement of women in decisions of power. This makes even more sense when you bear in mind that it was written to appeal to King James I, who was a noted misogynist, who believed in the corrupting power of witches.

Was Macbeth ambitious?

As a n argument, there is no smoking gun here . I t’s more death by a thousand cuts. Each of the following paragraphs outlines another point until, by the end, as the evidence piles up, you have a very convincing argument that he was not being presented as ambitious at all.

It’s often good to begin with something structural, as it’s always worth remembering that a writer starts out with an empty page and chooses to begin the action somewhere. Here, Shakespeare begins with Macbeth’s involvement in a battle that defends King Duncan’s kingdom against the Norwegians. (The play itself starts with the witches, but the action that first establishes the character of Macbeth is him defending Duncan’s kingdom against invaders.) Surely the only reason for starting the play here was to establish Macbeth as a loyal servant of the king. Shakespeare could have established Macbeth’s character anywhere, doing anything, and if he wanted to show that Macbeth was ambitious I imagine he would have found a better way of establishing this than showing how dedicated he was to Duncan. Surely this opening establishes him being loyal to the king, not the other way around.

During this opening section, the sergeant says that Macbeth fights while “disdaining fortune.” This means that he doesn’t seek “fortune” – suggesting riches, or reward; but it also suggests fortune-telling, or mysticism. So this line suggests that he disdains both riches and mysticism. But if we are to assume that the witches’ ‘prophecy’ led him to kill the king in pursuit of his own ambition, then we have to assume that he actually followed both. Here, you cou ld argue that the line was simply a piece of poor characterisation, but given the fact that other, more fitting arguments are available, we don't have to accept this.

In Act 1 Scene 3 , Macbeth meets the witches who ‘prophesise’ that he will be king. After he hears what the witches have to say Macbeth says that being king “stands not within the prospect of belief.” Though these could be the words of an ambitious man, saying something isn't within the scope of belief isn't very ambitious . And not long after that he says “If chance will have me crowned why then chance can crown me, without my stir.” Or in other words: “If it’s gonna happen then I guess it will, but I’m not doing anything about it.” Given the fact that this was really the Shakespearean equivalent of “meh,” I reall y can’t see the se as being the words of an ambitious man. And remember that Macbeth had enough drive and energy to fight the Norwegians almost single-handedly, but apparently can’t be bothered to do what he secretly wants more than anything else. The whole thing just feels like a stretch.

Some people argue that his wife says he’s ambitious, though what she actually says is that he’s “not without ambition” – which is a bit like saying that the new player you’ve sent to the team “isn’t not good at football.” Lady Macbeth says that her husband is not without ambition but… he clearly doesn’t have that much – and certainly not enough to make it worthy of a Shakespearean hamartia!

One of the most famous lines quoted by those suggesting he was ambitious comes at the end of his soliloquy in A1 S7. During the speech Macbeth lists reasons why he doesn’t want to kill Duncan and ends saying that that he has no “spur to prick the sides of my intent but only vaulting ambition which doth o’erleap itself and fall on the other.” So here, at least, is an admission that ambition is his driving force. But let’s take another look at the speech:

During the soliloquy Macbeth explains three very significant reasons why he doesn’t want to kill Duncan: that evil deeds always “return to plague th’inventor;” that as the King’s “kinsman,” “subject” and “host” Macbeth should “against the murderer shut the door, and not carry the knife myself;” and that, in fact, Duncan is such an astonishing King that even the Angels would rage against his murder.

The speech goes on for almost 30 lines, of which the last three talk about his ambition – that’s 10%. Most English teachers I’ve spoken to argue that Macbeth is exploring his doubts here. However, if I spoke to a friend of mine who talked for ten minutes, and spent nine of them explaining the reasons he didn’t want to do something, and only one saying why he did, I’d probably leave wondering whether or not they really wanted to do what they were suggesting.

And let’s look at that key line in context: “I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent but only vaulting ambition which doth o’erleap itself and fall on the other.”

“I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent but only…” doesn’t mean this is why I want to do it!! It means I can’t think of a single reason for doing this except… It's him trying to work out why he wants to do something that he’s previously never thought of before - it's h im admitting something, which I'll come to in a minute, which is that MACBETH HAS NO MOTIVE outside "ambition," which isn't actually a motive in itself it's just you repeating the fact that you want something - but I'll come back to that .

“doth o’erleap itself and fall on the other” is a clear recognition that the thing he’s talking about will go wrong. He knows that his ambition will go too far, and then collapse. In many ways, it would seem that Macbeth's inability to do anything about problems even he can foresee is a bigger character flaw than his ambition, or lack-thereof.

But it's important to understand that in this line - so often cited by teachers as a beacon for Macbeth's ambition - he’s not saying that his ambition his motivation, he's saying that he can't think of any reason to do this thing except ambition.

Which leads me to a very important point: ambition is the desire for something, but it is NOT a reason behind the desire. This seems subtle but is actually very important. To be ambitious for something means you want it, but it’s a not a reason for wanting it. So, in this speech Macbeth lists reasons for not killing Duncan and then says that the only reason for wanting to do it is wanting it itself. This might seem satisfactory to some people, but it’s a woefully shallow character who behaves like this, and a poor playwright who tries to get away with ambition alone as a motive. If I was to write a play about Trump I'd write about his desire to be loved, his desire to be right all the time, his narcissism; if I was to write about Hitler I'd write about his desire to see the success of the Aryan race; if I was to write about Musk or Bezos or Jobs I'd write about their desire to make toys and create wonders; and yet here, we have the world's greatest playwright, creating a character whose desire to be king is just because he's ambitious for it. I pray the world is wrong about Macbeth, because if they're not then this is one of the most poorly drawn characters in the history of literature.

And the lack of motivation from Macbeth isn't limited to this scene, there's a complete lack of motivation displayed throughout the entirety of Act 1. Macbeth repeatedly gives reasons why he doesn’t want to kill Duncan, but doesn’t ever list a decent reason why he does. I’ll say that again: Macbeth doesn’t have a single soliloquy, speech… or, really, any lines in the whole play where he celebrates his ambition – even Simba got the chance to sing I just can’t wait to be king . If we’re to assume that Macbeth’s ambitious, surely Shakespeare would have given him at least one moment where he joyously rambles about the world kneeling before him, or explains some secret dream of power… but there’s nothing. Ever .

The closest he comes is the “To be thus is nothing…” speech, but that’s about the fear of losing power and not him showing any kind of desire FOR power . Macbeth certainly enjoys brutalising people at the end, but there’s no moment where he celebrates his alleged dream of power. This seems like an unusual omission from a playwright as capable as Shakespeare.

Anyway, after he delivers his “If t’were done when ’tis done…” – which outlines in poetic verse his reasons for not killing Duncan – Lady Macbeth enters, and he says: “We will proceed no further in this business.”

I’ll just repeat that: the man whose ambition is supposed to be the driving force behind this play says: “We will proceed no further in this business.” Now I don’t want to be a stickler for consent here, but if someone has expressed lengthy doubts about doing something that they’ve never said they wanted to do; and if they concluded by saying “I don’t want to do it,” we have to assume that he didn’t want to do it. Regardless of what he went on to do, the fact is that he didn’t just express doubts about killing Duncan, he clearly and concisely withdrew his consent: “We will proceed no further in this business.” And he then goes on to justify hi mself by talking about all the “golden opinions” he’s got, which seem to be enough for him. At this point in time, he’s happy, and his words here seem to more fairly reflect someone who is, as his wife describes: “not without ambition,” but isn’t necessarily ambitious for more.

Of course, any work of art is open to interpretation and I know that this is why a lot of people love Shakespeare, but in order to argue that Macbeth was driven by his own ambition you’d have to completely ignore quite important parts of the script: like the bit where he clearly said that he didn’t want to do it, or the bit when he listed all the reasons why he didn’t want to do it, or the bit when even his wife admits that he’s not that ambitious, or the bit when he said he was happy with what he had, or the bit when he said he might become king but he’s really not that fussed and hasn’t got any plans to do anything about it…

Which leads us to an important question, and the alternative reading: Why did he kill Duncan? (Or, more importantly: why did Shakespeare create a character who did something that he clearly didn’t want to do?)

And this is where we can engage in the real tragedy of Macbeth, which is, I think, far sadder, but has a completely different message…

So why Macbeth kill King Duncan?

The reading is simple: a) the witches’ ‘prophecy’ wasn’t a prophecy at all, it was a spell that put him under their control; and b) Lady Macbeth. The evidence is compelling:

Macbeth’s first line in the play? “So fair and foul a day I have not seen.” He actually walks on stage almost repeating what the witches have previously said. So right from the off, there’s a suggestion that he’s under their power.

The traditional reading of Macbeth, as I understand it, is that the witches’ prophecy ignited Macbeth’s already present ambition and made him pursue it. However, as I’ve already shown, Macbeth didn’t ever really show himself to be particularly ambitious and although witches’ “Hail Macbeth! Thou shalt be king hereafter…” does sound a little like a prophecy, if we look at it more as a kind of Jedi mind trick – in the spirit of “these aren’t the droids you’re looking for” – then the play makes a lot more sense. These witches don’t just suggest something to him, they implant the idea into his head. It’s mind control, which was something that medieval people absolutely believed witches could do.

Immediately after hearing it, Banquo notices that Macbeth “seems to fear things which do sound so fair” – which is a clear indication that Macbeth doesn’t actually like the idea that’s just been implanted. As a character I don’t think Macbeth’s really into having power himself – hence his relationship with a borderline dominatrix. Really, Macbeth’s happiest when someone is telling him what to do and so I think the idea of becoming powerful would actually have been quite traumatic for him.

And it’s worth mentioning something here that I’ll come back to later: Shakespeare didn’t have the chance to write prose where he described a character’s response to things, so he often put those descriptions in other character’s mouths. Banquo’s line here makes it clear that Macbeth feels “fear” at the witches’ prophecy; he’s not excited, he’s afraid of the idea. There’s also a repeated use of the word “rapt” when talking about Macbeth’s reaction to the witches. These days that has more positive connotations, but the archaic meaning of the word just meant being transported on a kind of spiritual journey – or being absorbed by something religious or ethereal. At this point, I’d argue, Shakespeare is describing someone who’s being absorbed by the witches’ spell.

Anyway, not long after the witches leave, Macbeth delivers an aside in which he describes the feelings they’ve left him with. He wonders whether they are good or ill. “If good,” he says, “Why do I yield to that suggestion whose horrid image doth unfix my hair and make my seated heart knock at my ribs, against the use of nature.” There’s a lot in this line – which I’d argue is the most important line in the play:

First off: “why do I yield to that suggestion”: in other words, why am I giving in to something that someone else has told me. Clearly he is giving in to someone else’s idea, and not awakening his own ambition at all. In short: a “suggestion” that you “yield” to can only have come from someone else.

It does “unfix my hair” and make “my seated heart knock at my ribs”: Obviously he doesn’t like this idea! His hair stands on end, and his heart, which was previously settled and seated as a vassal to the king, is now knocking at his ribs; anxiety, panic, fear, however you want to pin it down, it seems clear that he is not happy with what has been suggested.

Because, for Macbeth, the idea that he should kill the king is “against the use of nature.” It is against the natural order, and it is against his own nature. After all, he’s only “not without ambition” and, for him, actually being king “stands not within the prospect of belief.”

So it would seem that the idea of doing this thing – which has never been mentioned at this point – is not something Macbeth has ever thought of previously or likes very much. In fact – much to the witches’ ire – the idea “shakes so my single state of man that function is smothered.” Or in other words, the idea of killing the king is so abhorrent to him that he doesn’t believe he can act on it – this is a key line when looking at the fact that Macbeth didn’t just object to killing the king, he thought the idea of it shook his “state of man” – his masculinity – so violently that he wouldn’t be able to act on it.

This presents a problem for the witches. But that’s ok, because they have an insider…

Before we meet their mole, however, Macbeth is told that Malcolm will be Duncan’s successor. This scene contains another key moment for those who would condemn Macbeth as a willing usurper, though countering it requires a more granular analysis:

Upon hearing the news that Malcolm will be Duncan’s successor, Macbeth says: “there’s a step on which I must fall down or else o’erleap.” This line could be delivered with a villainous cackle as he readies himself for one more murder, or it could be delivered with a bemused laugh as though to say “good luck with that one witches!” The next line finishes the previous sentence as he acknowledges that “in my way it lies. Stars hide your fires…” I’d argue that there’s a change of tone on this line. Macbeth doesn’t want to murder Duncan, but has found himself possessed, literally, by the desire. He follows this realisation with a kind of painful plea to the heavens: “Stars, hide your fires; let not light see my black and deep desires.” And again, we get a clear expression of Macbeth’s recognition that what he’s doing is wrong. He’s terrified that anything symbolised by the stars and their wrathful fires would ever see the idea that grows inside him. “Let not light (God) see my black and deep desires.” He knows that his desires are black and evil, and deep – almost living only in his subconscious, where the witches’ spell has taken root. I think of the idea itself as being implanted, like the foetus in Alien; it lives inside him now, and it eats him up, and he’s terrified of it. This is his tragedy: the insipid way that the witches’ wishes have been allowed to take root in his loyal, masculine mind.

And so he does what any doting husband would do, and writes to his wife…

A1 S5 is a perfect pantomime of villainy. Throughout her opening speech Lady Macbeth absolutely crucifies the idea that Macbeth wears anything even resembling trousers in their relationship: he’s too full of “kindness,” he won’t “play false,” he wants things “holily”… he’s simply not prepared to make the hard decisions. I find it staggering that anyone could read this speech and argue that Macbeth’s ambition, or lack-there-of, had any influence on what eventually happened. Lady Macbeth is presented as the one who runs that show. She doesn’t care what he wants; she’ll pour her spirits in his ear and he’ll do what she bloody well says.

And then, if there was any doubt as to her position in the play, she pulls out all the stops and confirms the worst: she’s a witch, or at least in league with them – and it is through her that the witches are able to remove whatever horror had previously threatened to “smother” Macbeth’s “function.”

Shakespeare clarifies the power dynamic in the Macbeth’s relationship when they first meet: Lady Macbeth greets him with a list of titles – “Great Glamis! Worthy Cawdor…” etc. – while Macbeth simply says “My dearest love.” For me, this tells us all we need to know about their relationship, and the extent to which their intentions are not aligned: he loves her, but she sees him as a meal ticket. This is not the only time in the play when he calls her his “dearest” love (he actually refers to her as “dear” or “dearest” five times.) This is telling because although something that is “dear” is cherished and loved, it is also something expensive, and her love of his titles certainly ends up being expensive for Macbeth.

There’s also a lovely but overlooked bit of evidence for the Lady Macbeth being a witch that’s hidden in her greeting: when the witches speak to Macbeth they say “All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!” But when he writes to his wife, he misquotes them and has them claiming they said “‘Hail, king that shalt be!’” But when Lady Macbeth greets him in scene 5, she says “Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter!” Which means that Lady Macbeth paraphrases the witches, despite Macbeth getting their quote wrong. For someone like Shakespeare, this has to have been deliberate.

The rest of the scene plays out simply: she asks when Duncan’s coming, he says tonight; she asks when he goes, he says tomorrow; and then she suddenly blurts out this thing about killing him! As a speech this should really be complemented with her rubbing her hands and cackling maniacally, ideally dressed as some kind of Disney-witch, while Macbeth watches on horror-struck. It’s like his worst nightmare come true: these whacky witches have implanted a thought and now his wife’s getting in on the act.

Because there’s a really important point to be made here: Macbeth never told his wife that he wanted to kill Duncan. All he said in his letter was that some witches told him he was going to become king, something that could have come about as a result of the any one of a million different things – this was 11th Century Scotland after all – but Lady Macbeth jumps straight on the regicide bandwagon. And most tellingly of all, she immediately attacks Macbeth’s response to the idea:

You see, as I said before, without the chance for narrative description Shakespeare often uses other characters to reveal responses. Here, she suggests killing Duncan and then immediately attacks his guilty face – because, obviously, he didn’t look like he liked the idea. Here, Lady Macbeth says that his “face is a book where men may read many strange matters,” which is, in many ways, a description of how Macbeth has responded to the idea – with a face of horror, confusion, or, more probably, fearful guilt.

She continues to explain her plan, but he’s too kowtowed to object, and in the end he only has the strength to say: “We’ll talk later” – and you could deliver this line any one of a million different ways, but for this reading it lends itself to a kind of panicked attempt to buy a little time; or a slightly fearful attempt to end the conversation, depending on how abused you want Macbeth to appear. Crucially though, Lady Macbeth ends the scene telling him to stay calm and “leave all the rest to me.”

In summary: Macbeth didn’t ever say he wanted to kill the king. Lady Macbeth had the idea, and told him, in as many words: leave it all to me. All of which supports the initial statement in the essay: I don’t understand how this plan has anything to do with Macbeth’s ambition?

The next time we see Macbeth he’s explaining, at length, his reasons for not wanting to kill the king, which has been covered already – the poisoned cup always kills the poisoner; he and Duncan are friends and family; even Angels would complain, etc… Then Lady Macbeth enters and he says that they will “proceed no further in this business.” At this point, I can see her face fall stony cold; one of those faces that says: “Are you sure you want to do this?” Macbeth nervously continues and offers her the one thing she seems to want by talking about his titles and “golden opinions,” but she won’t have it and instead she steamrollers him.

First of all she hits him with a string of questions – classic henpecking-wife motif – only stopping briefly to remind him that if he doesn’t do this she’ll assume he doesn’t love her – classic abusive behaviour: the abuser lies down and plays victim unless they get what they want.

At one point, she even asks what beast it was that promised to kill Duncan in the first place! But he didn’t ever say he wanted to kill the king! It was all her idea! This moment always reminds me of lessons when kids come in and ask if we’re watching a film. I say no. They say I promised! I say, I didn’t. They insist. I don’t fall for it. Claiming someone said something they didn’t say and then using that as leverage is classic gaslighting. You’re basically messing with someone’s ability to use memory as a reliable point of reference. Before Macbeth can object though, she kicks him where she knows it hurts and attacks his manhood.

I’ve always thought that if you’re going to play Macbeth right you’d need someone like The Rock or that guy from Guardians of the Galaxy who’s tough as nuts but as thick as pea soup. Macbeth’s a meathead; he’s a jock; an alpha male with all the emotional resilience of an autumn leaf. Based on his responses in this scene I can completely understand why his wife thinks he’s such a muppet. You’d need him to be big, to get away with all the knave-to-chaps cleaving he did earlier on, but he can’t be clever – my favourite Macbeth was always Sean Connery who really nailed the nice but dim delivery. Lady Macbeth’s persuasive techniques have all the subtlety of a club round the head, and he only has four lines before he changes his mind. He’s like putty in her hands, and I find it hard to see how he could go from the reflective poet who talked about trumpet-tongued angels and heaven’s cherubim just moments before, and into this troglodyte who grunts about manliness and then agrees to murdering his friend.

I sometimes reflect on the fact that Shakespeare was stuck in a bit of a bind with his characters simply because his brand was all about verbal dexterity, and that makes it difficult for him to write stupid people – even his thugs speak in verse. As a result, I find Macbeth’s pathetic attempts to defend himself here a little jarring, but maybe this just adds to his real tragedy: he was a poet, a sensitive soul, who really only wanted to chop people’s heads off for the king, but his wife never appreciated that…

Anyway, in the end – and it didn’t take much – she talks him around.

It’s also worth picking up on a common modern misunderstanding of masculinity at the time. I’ve heard English teachers talk about how Lady Macbeth was rebelling against her feminine chains by being ambitious for power but this really doesn’t cover the whole story. Firstly, it’s is a stone-cold fact that if you wanted to enter the Royal family in Jacobean England you had a better chance as a woman and being married into it, than as a man and… doing what? There really was no way to be Royal as a man. Lady Macbeth’s desire for advancement was abhorrent for women and men. Ambition simply wasn’t viewed in the same way back then. You carried on your family line and that was what was expected of you. As a man you could advance, you could raise the profile of your name, but there were very strict rules around what you could and couldn’t do, and defending their honour was something that Jacobean men would have taken to the grave. This play is really about a man struggling to remain loyal to the expectations of his masculinity while giving his demanding wife what she expects.

While we’re looking at Macbeth as a henpecked husband though, it’s worth looking at the last thing his wife says before he changes his mind: the whole baby killing business. Obviously, this has led to all the discussion over whether or not they had children before, though I see something different:

In A1 S5 Lady Macbeth says that she wanted to “chastise” Macbeth – the actions of a parent; after killing the king, she tries to get him to wash his hands; she tells him off for bringing the daggers with him; she tells him that it’s “the eye of childhood that fears the painted devil.” After he sees the ghost she compares it to the “air drawn dagger” he saw, in a way that reminds me of a mother scolding her child after hearing too many tales of some monster under the bed. And in my favourite moment, Macbeth tells her, after he’s planned to kill Banquo, that she should know nothing of it until she “applaud the deed.” I imagine some strange toddler version Macbeth sitting on the potty while his beaming mother claps and smiles at his ability to do just what she’s taught him; because, after all, at this point – when he’s ordering the death of Banquo – he is really only doing exactly what she taught him to. He is hers now; owned, signed, sealed, delivered.

Based on the above interpretation of their relationship being oedipal, it’s reasonable to suggest that the reason Macbeth was so disturbed by the image of his wife smashing their child’s head against a wall had nothing to do with any theoretic child, but everything to do with the idea that Macbeth was the child. Lady Macbeth killing their child was a veiled threat of violence against Macbeth himself.

Because the truth is that although Macbeth is physically a man, and the play explores cultural masculinity, the character himself was very much a child before his wife. She has all the power – it’s her plan after all. She dominates him, and although it seems obvious at this point to see his hamartia as being the influence of his wife I’d argue that the truth is broader and more insidious than that.

Because behind Lady Macbeth are the witches, who are, arguably, the real Joker-esque, anarchic villains of the piece.

As far as I can tell, the common understanding is that the witches aren’t actually active in the play but merely trigger Macbeth’s own ambition. I find this a weak argument. After all, why would Shakespeare write a play with witches if they weren’t capable of any real magic? This was a world where witches were considered genuinely magical creatures, and yet most common readings suggest that Shakespeare’s witches had no real power whatsoever – they merely ignited Macbeth’s own ambition.

But there’s one piece of evidence that leaves me unable to leave the witches side-lined and it lies in the story of the sailor’s wife with the chestnuts.

Act 1 Scene 3 opens with a story that’s largely viewed as being a filler, in which one witch – I don’t know which – talks about having cast a spell on a sailor’s wife. But the spell is quite specific: she will “drain him dry as hay and sleep shall neither night nor day hang upon his penthouse lid.” She will take away his ability to sleep. Surely a playwright as interested in details as Shakespeare was wouldn’t have had a spell like that mentioned at the beginning of the play, and then include constant references to an inability to sleep throughout it, if he wasn’t alluding to the fact that the witches have directly caused all this. Also, the “drain him dry as hay” reference is commonly seen as sexual, but what if it just refers to the same kind of psychological torment that Macbeth endures during the rest of the play? They will psychologically torment the sailor and take away his ability to heal himself with the “balm of hurt minds.” In short, here, they’re basically just telling the audience what they’re about to do to Macbeth.

Also, just after he kills Duncan, Macbeth says he thought he “heard a voice cry ‘sleep no more. Macbeth does murder sleep.’” Surely this is an actual voice: the voice of the witches, that carries on the wind, as they cast their evil spells and control him.

And so it’s not his guilt that affects his sleep, it’s a spell. It’s a spell cast by the witches – the witches who controlled his actions and made him murder Duncan. This is a play that warns the audience about the insidious threat posed by the overt and subversive influence of women – a threat that will turn the natural order itself upside-down.

In fact, though it’s almost never performed as a part of the play, that speech in Act 1 Scene 3 is really just one long Chekov’s Gun, in which the witches establish what they have the power to do to men, before going on and doing it to Macbeth:

In that speech they say: “I will drain him dry as hay: / Sleep shall neither night nor day / Hang upon his pent-house lid;” which they do to Macbeth when they stop him from sleeping. They say: “He shall live a man forbid:” and Macbeth spends the rest of the play being denied what he wants. “Weary se'nnights nine times nine / Shall he dwindle, peak and pine:” though the actual length of Macbeth’s sufferance is never determined, he definitely spends the rest of the play veering between dwindling, peaking and pining; and they end saying “Though his bark cannot be lost, / Yet it shall be tempest-tost.” Which is a near perfect description of the position of Macbeth by the end. I honestly cannot understand why any director even remotely worth their salt would remove this speech.

Another interesting moment comes in A2 S1, just before Macbeth does the deed. He’s getting ready for bed and tells Banquo that he doesn’t think of the witches much. I’ve heard it suggested that this is Macbeth lying to his friend, and although I could also imagine that he’s been slightly side-tracked by his wife, I’d suggest that the real reason Macbeth can’t talk to Banquo about what he’s going is because a) Fleance is there, and it’s not kid’s talk; and b) the only way he can do this now is to mention Lady Macbeth’s psychotic ambition, and like any victim of an abusive relationship, breaking the private prison is difficult. He does, however, say that he wants to speak to Banquo; he says that he wants to share; he tries to step outside the feminine trap he’s in and speak to his male friend. But this is a threat to the witches and so they send a magic dagger – the phallic symbol of the masculinity he so desires – to give him a nudge in the right direction.

Now again, I’ve heard said that this actually is a product of Macbeth’s “heat oppressed brain,” but really? This is a play with witches, real witches, and it would make far more sense if this was just an example of a piece of magic that pushes him into the deed. Macbeth’s been harried and hassled by women throughout the play: the witches’ planted the idea inside his mind, his wife poured her spirits into him, and now there’s magic daggers… the guy didn’t stand a chance! “O’er the one-half world nature seems dead.” This is him crossing into the witches’ world – his nature (once “too full o’ the milk of human kindness”) is dying. He sees it happening, but like an abused husband or the victim of a possession, there is nothing he can do about it.

The witches having greater influence over the action also helps explain one of my other big bug-bears about this play: the sudden change and death of Lady Macbeth.

In A3 S5 Hecate arrives, in a scene that CliffsNotes describes as being “unnecessary to the understanding of Macbeth,” a feeling that’s generally mirrored in how often it’s ignored by productions – apparently it wasn’t even written by the Bard. In the scene, Hecate drags the witches over the coals for taking on this whole thing alone. She argues that Macbeth is basically unworthy of their attention and suggests making him feel secure, arguing that “security is mortal’s chiefest enemy.”

Now, I can sort of understand what CliffNotes is saying, except for the impact the scene could have had on Lady Macbeth’s narrative (I’ll admit that this one is a stretch, but here goes):

Lady Macbeth isn’t actually on stage much during the second half of the play. Her final two scenes are the banquet scene and her sleepwalking moment. In the banquet scene she’s fine; she’s Lady Macbeth – chastising her husband for being a baby, sending home all his friends because he went weird, and generally being the most competent person in the room. Then she disappears for the whole of Act 4. Then she reappears, mad, and kills herself. By any standards this is a significant turn of events, but for some reason Shakespeare decides not to engage with it. It just happens. A massive personality overhaul just happens, entirely off-stage. Her story is basically: dominant, dominant, dominant, dominant, dominant, mad, dead. Admittedly, in A3 S2 she expressed some self-doubt, during her “nought’s had, all’s spent” speech, but since this is only a quatrain it seems a stretch to take this as being self-doubt enough for suicide. Either this is the Shakespearean cannon’s biggest overlooked character flip, or something else happened… and maybe the Hecate scene explains it.

Because Lady Macbeth has to be seen as a witch. The idea that her witchy nature is only suggested seems wrong given the fact that her opening scene – in a play where witches are major characters – has her calling “Come you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts…” etc. The fact that her opening scene has her performing an occult rite can’t be ignored. Her character is established doing witchy things, and then she aids and abets the desires of the actual witches, and this cannot be ignored. Nor, I think, can the fact that she paraphrased the witches after Macbeth misquoted them – this is just another pointer to the fact that Lady M is definitely with the D.

When you apply this, you can follow that after Hecate withdraws her support, when Hecate calls for the saga to be drawn to a head, Lady Macbeth is deserted and then goes mad. One of the things she asks the spirits for in A1 S5 is that they “block up the passage to remorse,” so she won’t feel guilty. So she asked the spirits to stop her from feeling guilty, and then, when Hecate withdraws her support, she’s suddenly consumed by a guilt that she’s never expressed before. That seems to be a reasonable narrative arc, and without it, her suicide is… well, to say it came out of the blue is an understatement.

Bearing in mind the idea that the evil characters withdrawing their support may have actually caused Lady Macbeth’s death, it’s also worth noting that the news of her final demise is delivered by Satan himself… or, sorry – Seyton… Satan… Seyton…

PlayShakespeare.com suggests that the fact their names rhyme may be “coincidence” but I mean… really? As a playwright Shakespeare has been analysed more than any other writer of all time, nothing the man did is considered accidental, and yet two characters called Satan and Seyton, who would have first appeared in a play which featured witchcraft as a major theme and was written to be performed without a script to note the difference in spelling… I mean… I have no understanding of how that can be considered coincidence. If anyone can enlighten me, I’d really appreciate it.

Either way, in the end Macbeth is killed and the play closes, leaving the audience discussing where and why it all went wrong for Macbeth. What would they have said? What was Macbeth’s hamartia? What was the thing that they learnt from watching this tragic story unfold?

Well, who was Macbeth, according to this reading? He was a good man, loyal to the king, rewarded and celebrated. However, he was a child before his wife, and he couldn’t resist the spell of the witches. Basically, he couldn’t stand up to the women in his life. He loved his wife desperately, but she only wanted power and he was left pandering to her psychotic desires. In short: his love for women left him vulnerable to the evil that resides within the women in the play. This is a play that warns us about what happens when good men are bossed around by women. If that happens, the natural order itself will collapse.

Really, I’d argue that this is the most misogynist play in a cannon that also includes The Taming of the Shrew, which is saying something.

And there’s one final piece of analysis that puts the nail in the misogynist coffin for me:

In the play, women try to take control and the world collapses. Women should not meddle in matters of power; those who try are basically Satanists or abusers, and the men who listen to them bring doom upon themselves and all around them.

But… the same is not true the other way. Because the real hero of the play is Macduff, who kills Macbeth. Macduff is the perfect man: he chooses his King over his wife; his loyalty to the masculine chain of command is never broken; he is not like Macbeth. When he discovers that his children are killed, he is encouraged to “dispute it like a man.” He will, he says, but first he must “feel it as a man.” At this moment he transcends gender by being both loyal and emotional. He felt the pain of the loss of his family, but he stood by the natural order anyway – he stood by his King over his wife; which is exactly what Macbeth didn’t do.

At this point, it is as though Macduff has transcended the gender divide to become both a feared killer and to feel the emotions that were regarded as being the preserve of the feminine. And he can do this for one reason: he can do it because, as a character, he is the furthest person from womanhood – he is the ideal dream of the misogynist: He can do it because he was not even “of woman born.”

This reading isn’t an attack against Shakespeare’s actual vision of women, or his personal feelings – and I fully accept that he has written some fantastic female parts – but this reading does take into account the fact that Shakespeare was a master people-pleaser, king of the blockbuster, and this play was very clearly written with a particular end: to impress King James, who was a notable misogynist – just ask Agnes Sampson. (I think there’s also a case for saying that Shakespeare didn’t like this play much. He did, after all, call it a “tale told by an idiot, full of sound a fury and signifying nothing.”)

Shakespeare wanted King James to support his theatre company, and James wanted a play about three specific things: witchcraft, misogyny and reasons not to commit treason. Shakespeare provided all three, with bells and whistles. The most notable whistle being the wonderful unresolved plot line of how Banquo’s children would ascend to the throne – I’ve never taught a class where someone didn’t pick up on this missing link. You explain that the reason wasn’t even in the play at all, but the rumour that James was a direct descendent of Banquo’s. One kid even picked up on a lovely image from A4 S1 where the line of kings walk forward, with the last holding a glass that might have been a looking glass, that was maybe once held up to James’ face to remind the room of his noble rights over the throne – or for the plebs, in The Globe, perhaps it was a picture of the man himself.

It’s also worth contextualising some of the reasons behind James’s misogyny: to start with I don’t know if it’s entirely fair to claim that a Jacobean audience would have been wildly surprised by a powerful female lead like Lady Macbeth given that they’d just had 45 years of Queen Elizabeth – a brutal, ruthless ruler who had no problems killing people who went against her. On top of that, Elizabeth only ascended to the throne after killing her sister Mary, James’s mother, in what threatened to become a quite bloody conflict. In fact, powerful women had been around for some time – and most of that time was bloody and violent. So I don’t think it is fair to say that Lady Macbeth’s blood-thirsty, ambitious ruthlessness would have come as a surprise to anyone.

But for me, the most powerful influencer of James’s psyche was the story of Anne Boleyn. Anne was from a noble family but it wasn’t an important one. Henry, at the time, was a famed warrior and a good King. Anne allegedly seduced Henry and as a result he started the reformation that tore the kingdom apart and plunged England into fifty years of conflict. The conflict wasn’t really resolved until James took the throne in 1504.

So, Henry and Anne’s story is one of a seemingly good man – a strong warrior – who was tempted and changed by a seductress who then brought ruin on the kingdom. And guess what? Before she was beheaded, Anne Boleyn was accused of being a witch. I simply cannot believe that the story of Anne wasn’t the main driver of the character of Lady Macbeth.

I can’t imagine James being more satisfied with a play than he would have been with Macbeth: it’s set in Scotland; it gives authority to his claims over the throne; it encourages us to remain in our stations and not challenge the natural order in the way Guy Fawkes had done; and it reminds us, most of all, to fear the women who, he thought, had brought so much ruin onto England.

It is a piece of brilliant piece of propaganda, written by a master of the art, that helped an ambitious playwright earn a fortune from a misogynist royal.

But it is definitely NOT a play about Macbeth’s ambition…

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Thoughts about teaching, literature, and teaching literature

A Macbeth Model Essay: Macbeth and Ambition

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Starting with the extract explain how Shakespeare presents Macbeth as ambitious

When considering how Shakespeare presents the character of Macbeth as ambitious one recognises this extract is a pivotal moment in the play. This is largely because the scene is the culmination of a chain of events in which Macbeth has increasingly displayed his almost aggressive ambition, leading to the murder of Banquo. Here, Macbeth is responding to the sight of Banquo at the banquet, suggestive of the violent consequences of his ambition and how it will haunt him.

One immediately notices Macbeth’s tortured declaration that seeing Banquo might ‘appal the devil’. Shakespeare establishes a tone of desperate fear as Macbeth seems to claim Banquo’s bloodied body is enough to repulse even the devil. It could also be suggested that Macbeth is referring to himself in the third person, with Shakespeare doing this to highlight Macbeth’s evil. Given Macbeth is described as aghast at the sight of Banquo, he then is the perhaps devil that would be appalled. Thus, the extract begins with Shakespeare suggesting Macbeth’s fear or even guilt as to what he has done to Banquo.

This sense of fear is then highlighted through Shakespeare’s depiction of Lady Macbeth. She begins by chastising Macbeth for being afraid of an ‘air drawn dagger’, which Shakespeare has previously used as an externalisation of the protagonist’s guilt. However, Lady Macbeth appears quite dismissive of this, suggesting it is not something of which he ought to be wary. Shakespeare’s choice of ‘air drawn’ also implies Lady Macbeth feels the dagger is simply a figment of Macbeth’s frenzied mind, which in itself augments how fearful and guilt-ridden Macbeth is. Shakespeare continues this depiction of Lady Macbeth castigating her husband when she refers to his fear as ‘flaws’. This indicates that Lady Macbeth feels Macbeth’s guilt is somehow perverse or anomalous and it detracts from his character. It is a ‘flaw’ that ought to be overcome, as indeed it is as the play continues. Shakespeare then develops this point when Lady Macbeth denigrates his concerns as ‘a woman’s story at a winter’s fire’. Here, Shakespeare is utilising typical Jacobean gender dynamics to portray Macbeth as weak by suggesting his fear is not masculine and ought to be rejected. Within the world of the play, Lady Macbeth uses this to manipulate her husband, but it again alerts the audience to his overarching emotional reaction of guilt and distress, which is itself a fitting consequence of his crimes.

In the final stanza of the extract, one gains further insight in Macbeth’s emotional state. Shakespeare’s flurry of imperatives, such as, ‘see’, ‘behold’ and ‘look’, cement a tone of urgency and anxiety, almost as though Macbeth is desperate for Lady Macbeth to sympathise with him. It also perhaps suggests a frantic attempt to regain control by issuing orders. The stanza concludes again on a note of anxiety as Macbeth wonders what might happen if ‘graves must send those we bury back’. This would be a truly terrifying thought for the far more supernaturally inclined Shakespearean audience, and indeed for a character who has just killed the king. It is interesting to note that Shakespeare personifies the graves and transforms them into an active participant: they are the ones sending the dead back, which adds to a sense that Macbeth fears those in the afterlife might seek vengeance by almost coming back to attack him. Thus, in the extract Macbeth is depicted as a guilt-ridden individual, tortured by his past deeds. This solidifies the overarching purpose of the extract: to dramatize the consequences of committing regicide and transgressing one’s station in life, in this case, guilt and extreme distress.

Whilst this is certainly a crucial extract when considering how Shakespeare presents Macbeth there are other, equally important, moments. One might think, for instance, of the complete contrast to this scene at the start of the play. Here, Shakespeare presents Macbeth as ‘brave’ and ‘valiant’, even describing him as ‘Bellona’s bridegroom’. This latter image highlights the way in which Macbeth’s character is inextricably linked to war and violence – he is married to the deified version of war. Indeed, Shakespeare’s use of plosive sounds only reinforce a sense of power and aggression. However, this is no bad thing since it is done out of loyalty and in service of the King, as indicated by the positive connotations of ‘valiant’ and the fact that both Duncan and the soldier celebrate his feats of strength, such as, the way in which he ‘unseem’d him from the nave to the chaps’. Indeed, this image is a visceral and bloody evocation of Macbeth’s prowess.  This is a far cry from the guilt-ridden and conflicted character one sees in the extract, perhaps suggesting that Macbeth’s fatal mistake was to transgress his natural station in life, with this being something Shakespeare is warning against. Thus, Shakespeare uses Macbeth as a vehicle through which to warn against excessive ambition and his willingness to upturn the Great Chain of Being. 

At various points in the play, Shakespeare further presses upon this fatal flaw, a typical feature of the tragic genre. Upon seeing the witches for the first time, for example, he is described as being ‘rapt withal’. Shakespeare’s adjective ‘rapt’ highlights the way in which Macbeth is instantly captivated and indeed corrupted by his ambition. He is enthralled and so, unlike Banquo, cannot see the witches for what they are. As the play continues, Macbeth’s ‘vaulting ambition’ grows until it ‘o’erleaps itself’. The verb ‘vaulting’ especially compounds this intemperate ambition since it is richly suggestive of power and aggression: if one vaults over something one leaps strongly, which indicates the desperation Macbeth feels to be King. This image is also reminiscent of the Great Chain of Being and Macbeth’s willingness to ‘o’erleap’ his natural position in the hierarchy of life, with the result of this being the eventual death of Duncan, the paragon of virtue. Thus, Shakespeare again warns the audience of the consequences of Macbeth’s fatal flaw.

The denouement of the play reveals a potentially very different side to Macbeth. His fight with Macduff, despite knowing it would end in failure, could be read in two ways. From a Shakespearean point of view, it perhaps represents a restoration of courage, but from a modern perspective one could read it as the last gasp of a broken mind. Either way, the final moments highlight Macbeth’s return to his previous bellicose nature and, if pursuing the Shakespearean interpretation, this is suggestive of the idea that Macbeth would have been better served had he never transgressed his station in life. The pain he feels in the extract and the destruction he causes throughout the play is clearly a product of this initial error, which stems from his fatal flaw of excessive ambition.

Fundamentally, then, Shakespeare uses Macbeth’s character as a way in which to warn the audience against excessive ambition and the consequences of disrupting the Great Chain of Being. In this manner, the play is didactic, with a clear moral message being articulated to the audience. Macbeth’s character arc from ‘valiant’ to ‘hell hound’ highlights the damning repercussions of subverting the entrenched social order of Jacobean England, thus functioning as a deterrent to the audience.

The essay structure used to write this essay can be found below :

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AQA Macbeth Ambition Essay Grade 9

Subject: English

Age range: 14-16

Resource type: Assessment and revision

Last updated

13 April 2023

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Grade 9 response - ‘How does Shakespeare explore the theme of ambition in Macbeth’?

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AQA Macbeth Essays , Grade 9

Here are three sophisticated essays which explore a range of themes: from Lady Macbeth, to Macbeth as a victim of the supernatural and the theme of ambition.

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Plays — Macbeth Ambition

Essays on Macbeth Ambition

Hook examples for macbeth ambition essays, anecdotal hook.

Picture a man driven to the brink of madness by his insatiable ambition, a descent into darkness fueled by power. This is the tragic tale of Macbeth.

Question Hook

What happens when ambition blinds one to the consequences of their actions? Macbeth's journey from a valiant warrior to a ruthless tyrant poses this thought-provoking question.

Quotation Hook

"I dare do all that may become a man; who dares do more is none." — Macbeth. Explore the depths of ambition through the words of Shakespeare's iconic character.

Statistical or Factual Hook

Ambition is a central theme in Shakespeare's "Macbeth," a tragedy first performed in 1606. Its exploration of ambition's consequences remains relevant to this day.

Definition Hook

What defines the ambition that leads to greatness or destruction? "Macbeth" serves as a literary mirror reflecting the complexities of this human trait.

Rhetorical Question Hook

Can ambition be both a driving force and a destructive obsession? The story of Macbeth and his unrelenting ambition provides a compelling answer.

Historical Hook

Step into the world of medieval Scotland, where ambition for power and titles was a constant struggle. Explore the historical context that influenced Shakespeare's play.

Contrast Hook

Contrast the noble aspirations of Macbeth at the beginning of the play with the ruthless ambition that consumes him. The transformation is a testament to the play's exploration of ambition.

Narrative Hook

Embark on Macbeth's journey from a loyal subject to a paranoid ruler. His narrative is a cautionary tale of ambition's perilous path.

Shocking Statement Hook

Prepare to witness a descent into madness and moral decay as Macbeth's ambition spirals out of control. The consequences are as shocking as they are tragic.

An Analysis of Ambition in Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Macbeth theme: the role of ambitions in poem, made-to-order essay as fast as you need it.

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The Influence of Ambitions in Macbeth

The basic elements of ambition and evil in the story of macbeth by william shakespeare, the dangers of ambition in william shakespeare's macbeth, how ambition drives macbeth into downfall in shakespeare’s play, let us write you an essay from scratch.

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Ambition and Power in Shakespeare’s Macbeth

The effects of uncontrolled ambition in shakespeare's macbeth, the impact of ambition on people in shakespeare’s lady macbeth, the power ambition has over macbeth in shakespeare’s play, get a personalized essay in under 3 hours.

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Lady Macbeth: from Ambition to Madness

Ambition – the biggest weakness of macbeth, the role of ambition in macbeth’s demise, the examples of unchecked ambition in macbeth and its effects, the role of ambition and morality in macbeth by shakespeare, fallout of ambition in macbeth by william shakespeare, the effect of power and confidence on macbeth, power and uncontrolled ambition in shakespeare’s macbeth, tragic flaws of macbeth: ambition and guilt, how macbeth’s ambition leads to his retributive justice, the influence of power in macbeth by william shakespeare, ambition – the main tragic flaw of macbeth, tragic flaws of macbeth in shakespeare’s play, macbeth by shakespeare: the importance of balance in ambition, human nature and ambition in macbeth by william shakespeare, lust for power: the silent killer in macbeth, a theme of greed in the tragedy of macbeth, how does lady macbeth die, the ambition that drove macbeth, insecurities, ambition, and guilt as the causes of macbeth's downfall.

William Shakespeare

"I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself and falls on th’ other." With this phrase, Macbeth makes it clear that he is aware of the power of ambition, which can make people rush and make mistakes. He clearly states his lack of motivation and does not deny the fact that now he is driven only by ambition.

The main theme of Macbeth is the destruction that occurs in a person because of his ambition. Ambition makes the protagonist overstep moral principles, which ultimately makes him even more paranoid and anxious.

1. LOWRANCE, B. (2012). “MODERN ECSTASY”: “MACBETH” AND THE MEANING OF THE POLITICAL. ELH, 79(4), 823–849. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/23356185) 2. Zambrano, A. L. (1974). Throne of Blood": Kurosawa's" Macbeth. Literature/Film Quarterly, 2(3), 262-274. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/43795658) 3. Smidt, K. (1969). Two aspects of ambition in Elizabethan tragedy: Doctor Faustas and Macbeth. English Studies, 50(1-6), 235-248. (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00138386908597335?journalCode=nest20) 4. Carlisle, C. J. (1983). Helen Faucit's Lady Macbeth. Shakespeare Studies, 16, 205. (https://www.proquest.com/openview/f32bc8310f2789df4e15d81ed2db2a4b/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1819311) 5. McPherson, H. (2000). Masculinity, Femininity, and the Tragic Sublime: Reinventing Lady Macbeth. Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture, 29(1), 299-333. (https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/267252/summary) 6. Draper, J. W. (1941). Lady Macbeth. Psychoanalytic Review, 28(4), 479-486. (https://pep-web.org/browse/document/PSAR.028.0479A) 7. Williams, E. W. (1973). In Defense of Lady Macbeth. Shakespeare Quarterly, 24(2), 221-223. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/2868860) 8. Alfar, C. L. (1998). 'Blood will have blood:'Power, Performance, and Lady Macbeth's Gender Trouble. Jx: A Journal in Culture and Criticism, 2(2), 179-207. (https://hcommons.org/deposits/item/mla:931/) 9. Reyes, C., & Kenny, A. (2020). Shakespeare's Violent Women: A Feminist Analysis Of Lady Macbeth. UC Riverside Undergraduate Research Journal, 14(1). (https://escholarship.org/uc/item/43v335x5) 10. Gerwig, G. W. (2002). Lady Macbeth. Shakespearean Criticism, 69. (https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CH1420046125&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=08839123&p=LitRC&sw=w&userGroupName=anon%7E194c4eda)

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How to Write a Grade 9 Macbeth Essay ( WJEC Eduqas GCSE English Literature )

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How to Write a Grade 9 Macbeth Essay

In the WJEC Eduqas English Literature GCSE Shakespeare exam, you will complete two types of essay questions on Macbeth:

One extract-based question worth 15 marks

One longer essay question worth 25 marks

You will need to answer both of these questions and you have 60 minutes in which to do so. The exam board recommends that you spend 20 minutes on the extract question, and 40 minutes on the longer essay. 

The requirements for these two questions are quite specific, so read on for guidance and advice on how to get full marks for both types of literature essay.

How do you start a Macbeth essay?

Extract or essay question first.

Start with the extract-based question, as the exam paper has been designed to ease you into the longer essay by giving you a shorter question first (and you have all the evidence you’ll need to include in the extract). 

Know your exam timings

Once you’ve decided which question to begin with, plan your timings. Twenty minutes should be enough time to answer the first question, so check the exam hall clock and write down what time you will start wrapping up your answer. 

Many students spend too long on the extract question and don’t leave enough time to properly answer the essay question, which is worth 10 more marks. Don’t leave any marks behind in the examination room!

Plan, don’t write

Before you begin writing, make a plan. 

Students often want to begin writing immediately as they believe the more they write in an essay, the more marks they will receive. However, this is not the case. Instead, follow the maxim: “plan more, write less”. The more you know in advance what your argument will be, and what evidence you can use to support that argument, the more marks you will likely be awarded.

What should I include in my plan?

Essay writing is all about planning. A good plan includes the following:

A really good plan contains each of these three elements and it means your argument will be what examiners call “coherent”, which means joined-up. Furthermore, once you’ve got all the pieces of your essay together, it makes it much quicker to write!

Example plan

Below is a model plan for this past paper 25-mark essay question:

Guilt is a key theme in Macbeth. Write about how Shakespeare presents guilt at different points in the play. Refer to characters and events from the play in your answer.

You’ll see that you can write your plan in note form to save time:

How do you write a good introduction for GCSE English Literature?

The key to writing a good introduction to a Macbeth essay is simple: make sure you plan it first. You should know what your argument is before you put pen to exam paper. What is your personal “take” on the question and what evidence proves this? 

Here are some tips to help you to write an effective introduction:

How many paragraphs should a top marks Macbeth essay be?

For the 15-mark extract question, which you should spend only 20 minutes on, try to plan and write two or three paragraphs (at most) aside from your introduction and conclusion. 

For the 25-mark question, you should try to write a longer essay — comprising three or four paragraphs — but it doesn’t need to be any longer than that. The more focused your response, and the more time you spend planning your answer, the better you will do.

Here is a model essay structure for GCSE:

We have created a top grade model answer for the extract question , as well as a Macbeth Grade 9 example answer for the essay question ; both are answers to past WJEC Eduqas English literature papers.

Do I need to include a conclusion in my Macbeth essay?

It is always a good idea to include a conclusion to any GCSE Macbeth essay because it signals to the examiner that you have created a coherent response, and that you have sustained your argument all the way through your writing. However, given that the questions are only worth 15 or 25 marks, you don’t want to spend too long crafting a perfect conclusion. 

Aim instead to create a simple, one- or two-line conclusion that sums up the argument you put forward in your thesis statement.

How many quotes do I need to include in my Macbeth essay?

Students are often taught paragraph frames, or scaffolds, like PEE, by their schools or teachers. Although these can be useful when learning how to write essays, it’s really important to note that examiners at GCSE think these scaffolds limit students’ answers and can result in lower-mark responses.

One of the reasons for this is that a PEE structure suggests you should only include one piece of evidence for each point you make. In fact, the more evidence you have – in the form of textual references or direct quotations – the better your argument will be. 

So try to include multiple quotations or references for each topic sentence point you make. Don’t forget that a textual reference doesn’t have to be a direct quotation: you can paraphrase a quotation, or include stage directions, plot points, or comments about characterisation or (for the 25-mark essay question) changes and contrasts across the text. These all count as “evidence” and will make your argument stronger.

You must not include quotations from elsewhere in the play when answering the 15-mark extract question, as you will be given no credit for this. Instead, examiners want to see candidates using quotations from the beginning, middle and end of the extract.

For the longer 25-mark essay, examiners suggest students learn a range of shorter quotations (rather than fewer really long ones). They also want to see students take a “whole-text” approach, so try to learn quotations from all points of the play.

See our Macbeth Quotations and Analysis page for some of the best quotes to learn, arranged by character (Macbeth; Lady Macbeth; the three witches).

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Nick is a graduate of the University of Cambridge and King’s College London. He started his career in journalism and publishing, working as an editor on a political magazine and a number of books, before training as an English teacher. After nearly 10 years working in London schools, where he held leadership positions in English departments and within a Sixth Form, he moved on to become an examiner and education consultant. With more than a decade of experience as a tutor, Nick specialises in English, but has also taught Politics, Classical Civilisation and Religious Studies.

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Macbeth Ambition Essay | Essay on Macbeth Ambition for Students and Children in English

February 13, 2024 by Prasanna

Macbeth Ambition Essay: Without ambition, several great achievements by humankind would not have been reached. Nobody would have dreamed of creating opportunities, discovering, and clashing against several failures to succeed if there was no ambition driving them.

Though we have always seen ambition as a positive drive towards success, unrestrained ambition is humanity’s greatest downfall. We see ambition as the most important theme in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, also an evil motivation that encourages Macbeth’s cruel nature and slowly turns him into a vicious, bloodthirsty demon.

You can also find more  Essay Writing  articles on events, persons, sports, technology and many more.

Long and Short Essays on Macbeth Ambition for Students and Kids in English

We provide children and students with essay samples on a long essay of 500 words and a short essay of 150 words on the topic “Macbeth Ambition” for reference.

Long Essay on Macbeth Ambition 500 Words in English

Long Essay on Macbeth Ambition is usually given to classes 7, 8, 9, and 10.

Ambition has been humanity’s driving force since the beginning of time. But that drive has not always played out to be positive. Throughout history, there have been numerous examples of a man abusing his power and position to achieve things they did not deserve.

The extreme obsession with power and uncontrolled ambition portrayed in the Shakespearean play Macbeth introduces us to an extreme ambition that leads towards a bloody path of greed. In Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the main personality Macbeth shows a link with the themes “Great ambition leads to loss of humanity” and “Paranoia eats away a person’s soul.”

Macbeth’s character is a good, courageous, and beloved man at the start of the play, and after finishing his latest battle, he was given a new title. However, fate seemed to have different plans for the fine, brave, ambitious Macbeth. Macbeth was told by the three weird sisters that he will one day become king. Thus lighting up the fire of greed within Macbeth, head-starting his descent into madness and the guilt he feels towards the acts he has committed.

Lady Macbeth is very similar in the sense that once she was aware of Macbeth’s ambition, it planted her deep-rooted desire for the crown as well. However, their various similarities end with Duncan’s demise and the way they both experience guilt over what they did. Lady Macbeth uses her husband’s drive and ambition to orchestrate the current king, Duncan’s murder so that Macbeth can rule as a king. But despite his lust for the position, Macbeth’s ethic and morality stopped him. Therefore, Lady Macbeth proceeded with the king’s execution alone to help her husband reach his ultimate goal.

Though Lady Macbeth wasn’t entirely the reason behind Duncan’s murder, her evil ambition causes her to proceed with her evil act. Lady Macbeth’s ambition overrides her husband’s, and she convinces him to murder the current king. One could say that without Lady Macbeth, the murder would not have taken place. When Lady Macbeth criticizes Macbeth accusing him of not loving her and doubting his manliness, his ambition increases, and he also wants to prove that all the things he is accused of is false.

Though the story revolves around Macbeth, his wife, and their ambition to get the throne, three witches made the initial strike. Their influence may have introduced the sinister idea into Macbeth’s psyche and giving him the ambition to take over the kingship. You would think that both the characters’ overarching ambition was seizing the throne by getting rid of Duncan. But it’s not the major reason why he does it. Initially, it was his ambition that drove him to do anything for him to attain the throne. But later, it was his manly ego and ambition to prove his wife, his masculinity, and love.

In the end, three sources ultimately led towards the murder of Duncan. Macbeth’s ambition, another is Lady Macbeth’s influence and ambition, and lastly, it is the witches’ influence that led Macbeth to think about becoming the king. The story wouldn’t have taken place if it was not for the overarching ambition of the characters.

Short Essay on Macbeth Ambition 150 Words in English

Short Essay on Macbeth Ambition is usually given to classes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

The central theme of Macbeth—the destruction brought by the corrupting power of unchecked ambition— finds its most powerful expression in the play’s two main characters. In the play Macbeth, by Sir William Shakespeare, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth share various similarities throughout the play. Arguably, their most dominating semblance is their shared lust for power. The ambition of becoming the king drives Macbeth, and in the process of becoming one, he and his overtly ambitious and manipulative wife commits multiple murders. But this intense avarice, in the end, leads to their ruin in differing ways.

Overall, Shakespeare presents ambition as an entity that can corrupt a character and pay an inevitably tragic fate for them. He uses Lady Macbeth and Macbeth as examples of people with an unchecked ambition and extreme thirst for power. Ultimately their insatiable greed and ambition for power are the cause that brought upon their deaths.

10 Lines on Macbeth Ambition in English

• Unchecked ambition is the main theme of the play Macbeth.
• Shakespeare sets Macbeth and Lady Macbeth as examples of overly ambitious and greedy people.
• In the beginning, Macbeth was a courageous and ethical man, but greed and ambition got the better of him.
• The three witches introduced the idea to Macbeth of becoming the king.
• Lady Macbeth’s ambition led her to expose her unethical and immoral side.
• Lady Macbeth’s persuasion and manipulation caused Macbeth to commit some serious crimes.
• Macbeth’s initial ambition turned into an obsession to prove his masculinity, courage, and love to his wife.
• In Macbeth, cruelty has been seen as a masculine characteristic in Lady Macbeth’s and Macbeth’s eyes.
• If Lady Macbeth were absent from the story, the series of heinous murders wouldn’t have occurred.
• This play portrays the fact the being overly ambitious can be destructive.

FAQ’s on Macbeth Ambition Essay

Question 1. Why is Macbeth’s ambition important?

Answer: Ambition is an important theme throughout the play of ‘Macbeth.’ is Not only Macbeth ambitious but also his wife, Lady Macbeth

Question 2.  Is ambition good or bad in Macbeth?

Answer: The ambition in Macbeth is negative as the consequences of the ambition shown here are murders and treachery.

Question 3.  What are the consequences of Macbeth’s ambition?

Answer: Macbeth’s ambition results in him to commit murders. He murders Duncan, the current king, and people in line for the throne to become the king.

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