Inkspire

Introduction

Ambition is a parasite that exists in everyone. It can be benign or malignant – building one up or tearing one down. Shakespeare wrote the play Macbeth in the early 1600s. Macbeth – the main character and the play’s namesake – suffered from the tragic flaw of ambition. Throughout the plot, Macbeth’s original ambition turned malignant and forced him to commit treacherous crimes to stay in power until it eventually led to his demise. In history and in modern times, there have been countless examples of people exhibiting the same flaw that plagued Macbeth in Shakespeare’s play. Perhaps the most important lesson you can learn from this play is the power of ambition.

His Downfall

An ancient Greek philosopher – Aristotle – was the first to conceptualize the idea of a tragic flaw. He called it “hamartia” – meaning an error in judgement in Greek. A tragic flaw is basically a specific character trait that eventually leads to the character’s downfall. In this case, Macbeth’s fatal flaw was ambition.

Macbeth’s ambition took an oddly specific path. First paranoia, then ruthlessness, and finally overconfidence.

He was prophesied to achieve much power and greatness – by witches. They also mentioned that – while he will become king – it will be his best friend Banquo’s kids that succeed him as ruler for generations. Not long after the three witch sisters told Macbeth that he would become king, he murdered King Duncan to ascend to his role. Despite being king and fulfilling his prophecy, Macbeth was overly concerned about the prediction that Banquo’s children would become kings. Macbeth grew power hungry, which drove him into deep paranoia.

Further along the path of deadly ambition, the second symptom – ruthlessness – appears. Macbeth’s ambitions caused several murders because he refused to allow anyone to stand in the way of his rise to power. After killing both his best friend and the king, Macbeth insinuates that he is willing to commit more murders of anyone threatening his reign. Macbeth willfully harmed other people to reach his own individual aspirations.

The third and final symptom of excessive ambition is one that cannot be undone: overconfidence. The second time Macbeth met the witches and asked for yet another prophecy, they provided him with unbreakable false security. Macbeth thrived in this false feeling of invincibility. Macbeth refutes the idea that anyone or anything can defeat him because he has obtained reassurance from the magical sisters themselves. Eventually, it was this inflated ego that led to Macbeth’s demise in his last fight with Macduff. Macbeth started off as an incredibly ambitious man determined to make his mark on the world. His ambition then transformed into a reckless audacity ruining his own chance at living. The truth is, the parasite of ambition cannot be defeated if a false idea of invincibility is reached.

Ambition

Ambition. What exactly is it? The Oxford Dictionary defines it as a “desire and determination to achieve success”. Realistically, everyone has at least a small desire to win something or do something remarkable in their lifetime. It’s what makes us human – that innate desire to create a meaning for our lives. No one truly knows why we’re here, so we dream of doing something special to give our existence a reason. All of this is fine until it takes a dark turn. Ambition, while it has backed every successful person, can also become a destructive force. Uncontrolled ambition can lead to paranoia, ruthlessness, and overconfidence. (Sound familiar? That’s what happened to Macbeth).  The entire play is Shakespeare’s way of warning us to dream big but never at the cost of others or our own morals and sanity.

Ambitious people walk a path in the forest of potential waiting to be reached. At some point, there is a fork in the road that separates the ambitious from the overly ambitious. One path has green trees and a straight road while the other appears to end in a golden city but has a winding path surrounded by poisonous flora. Some – like Macbeth – choose the glorious but painful path with the idea that the ends justify the means. Their life is then riddled with torturous paranoia, ruthless crimes, and flawed arrogance as the poison of excessive ambition infests their minds. Somewhere along the way, the gift of ambition turns into the curse that tears them apart piece by piece. This poison, like many others, can only be undone with more of itself – the ambition to be good must outweigh the ambition to be great. (Meaning: You must want to be true to yourself and a righteous person more than you want to rise to the top).