Ambition – The Biggest Weakness of Macbeth

William Shakespeare in his tragedy makes the reader question himself several life related problems and places the main character in situations where choices are crucial. The reader experiences the thought process of our Macbeth in between good and evil. Macbeth is a powerful man, skilled in the battlefield which ambition derived him down the fate of a tragic hero. Although he made the choices, he was strongly influenced by the female character in the play. In the following paragraphs the development and deterioration of Macbeth mainly focusing on the female characters influence on him.

Macbeth is a tragic hero, he can be classified as one because he has; Nobel birth, being cousin to the king and thane of Glaims, he is skilled and extraordinary in battle showing bravery and loyalty to King Duncan, but most importantly he has flaws which led him to his downfall. His biggest flaw being his ambition and greed for the crown. The weird sisters played a crucial role in his downfall triggering his ambitions by planting the prophecies in Macbeth’s head to grow, and drive him in to committing the evil deeds. Since the beginning we can see that Macbeth depends on prophecies “Stay you imperfect speakers, tell me more”.

As mentioned Macbeth is a powerful man who claims the title of Thane of Cawdor by deciding the fate of the battle in the beginning of the play, by his brave actions which led to the victory of Scotland. As a famous quote says behind a great man there is always a great woman, and with Macbeth stands his wife Lady Macbeth who is an ambitious, strong and independent woman but ruthless, manipulative and greedy for power. This is evident in act one scene seven where she shows her violence and brutal actions if she had sworn to kill a baby “Dashed his brain out, had I so sworn as you”.

Throughout the play it is seen that the women that surround Macbeth have a great influence on his decisions and actions. Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband with three methods; she first questions his manhood, than she to guilt and the last method was to use her femininity and sensuality in order to make him carry out the deed, this method finally convinced him, as he says “I am settled and bend-up”. The weird sisters also manipulate him by using prophecies and making him think that he is safe, but the prophecies were riddles which tricked him in to misery.

Macbeth’s choices led him to his misfortune, driving him crazy and turning him in to a tyrant. Lady Macbeth falls with him as guilt consumes her. Here evil overtakes good by playing with Macbeth’s weakness, Ambition.