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How Does Blind Ambition Cause Macbeth's Destruction

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How Does Blind Ambition Cause Macbeth's Destruction
Blind Ambition Leads to One’s Destruction Talmud once said, “Ambition destroys its possessor.” People who are overly ambitious will ultimately be destroyed on the way to the top. It is a warning that those who are not humble will stumble on their way to greatness. He enlightened a major event by one of the world’s most well-known writers, William Shakespeare. There were many conflicts in Shakespeare’s tragedy, Macbeth, but one of the major conflicts was Macbeth’s determination to become King. Macbeth was a brave and courageous soldier who, unfortunately, let his blind ambitions lead to his downfall in the end. Three primary reasons this happened was because of his wife, his gluttony for power, and his betrayal toward his friends. The first example is Lady Macbeth, otherwise none his wife, who wants power and will do anything to get it. The second example is Macbeth’s growing lust for power after he kills the king. The last significant example is when Macbeth kills his friends and their families. His wife, his gluttony for power, and the betrayal of his friends exemplify of what …show more content…
At first, Macbeth was very hesitant and scared to kill Duncan because he thinks that there will be consequences awaiting him in the next world. “If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well/It were done quickly. “If the assassination/Could trammel up the consequence, and catch/With his surcease/success; that but this blow/Might be the be-all and the end-all here, /But here, upon this bank and shoal of time, /We’d jump the life to come” (1.7.2-7). More specifically, Macbeth says that if he could achieve his goals merely by killing Duncan, without any consequences here on Earth, he would risk the dire consequences that could await him after death. Furthermore, Duncan was his friend who had high respects for him as a soldier. After Macbeth killed Duncan, his lust for power grew more and more with each passing

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