Gardin, Bailey

English-Green CP
5/19/16
I am in blood: Influential Whispers of Ambition Leads to Guilt in William Shakespeare's
The Tragedy of Macbeth
Ambition time after time proves to significantly influence a characters positive morality
and inevitably create a downfall. When sovereignty and dominance become available for the
taking, ones greed grabs control over the conscious and affects their choices. Numerous well
acclaimed tragedies such as, Oedipus Rex and The Women of Trachis written by Sophocles
during the classical era, demonstrate the impact of dangerous ambitions and downfalls of major
characters resulting from internal destruction. Literary works that incorporate a tragedy express
the true power of fate and provide the events and or wrongdoings that hinder a characters
success. William Shakespeare, author of The Tragedy of Macbeth, portrays overwhelming evil
influences such as greed, jealousy, and murder which ultimately lead to tyrannical acts.
Shakespeares purpose portrays which characters control others and what they gain from taking
advantage of the weak. Lady Macbeth's and her husbands persistent greed leads them on a
dangerous path, therefore altering their motives and risking no return to good standards. In The
Tragedy of Macbeth written by William Shakespeare, the playwright displays dominating forces
of evil as powerful motifs to juxtapose Macbeths and Lady Macbeths true morals and their
rationale for committing such tyrannical acts; therefore, their hidden ambitions catalyze their
relentless greed, and their obsession for power ironically leads them to instigate their own
downfalls and deaths.
The forces of good and evil influence Macbeth and Lady Macbeths characters which fills
them with ambition and ultimately destroys them from within. Lady Macbeth receives a letter

from Macbeth that informs her of King Duncans arrival and the opportunity for him to become
the King of Cawdor. She desires Macbeth to kill Duncan instead of allowing him to appoint a
successor, consequently securing Macbeth the throne. Lady Macbeth lusts for the power and
conviction a male in her society boasts, so she asks the powerful spirits, Unsex me here, / ... /
Of direst cruelty (1.5.48-50). Lady Macbeth speaks with hyperbolic diction to explain that she
wants the strength of a man because she knows that her husbands weakness and kindness
prohibits whatever it takes to secure the throne, even if it means murder. In her mind, men
esteem women as incapable of harboring such a large degree of cruelty. In order for Lady
Macbeth to assume the role she believes her husband fails to exhibit, she desires to change to a
man and obtain the darkest motivation and actions in order to help him. Her passion for power
and reasoning generates from her greed. Lady Macbeth explains the qualities that Macbeth needs
to apply once King Duncan arrives in order to complete the job. She asserts her dominance over
Macbeth by describing what her true motives entail and influences his behavior when she
exclaims, Your hand, your tongue. Look like the innocent / flower, / But be the serpent under it
(1.5.76-78). Lady Macbeth demands Macbeth to act pure and innocent just like a flower. She
wants Macbeth to appear genuine when speaking to King Duncan, although she reminds him
what task lies before him. The serpent symbolizes the deceitful actions and thoughts that Lady
Macbeth instills in Macbeth, therefore exemplifying her complete control over him. Biblically,
the serpent represents the agitator of personal downfall. Following the death of King Duncan,
Macbeth flees in anxious panic, seeking his wifes guidance and comfort. He immediately
becomes filled with guilt about the deed he commits that night at King Duncans castle. Lady
Macbeth recognizes Macbeths distressed emotions and tries to calm him down when she states,
A little water clears us of this deed. / How easy is it, then! (2.2.86-87). Lady Macbeth utilizes a

metaphor in this quote as an attempt to depict the ease of erasing the crime that Macbeth
commits. The act of washing away the crime with water parallels the act of purifying oneself of
their transgressions. As a result of her dominating influence, Macbeths good conscious, morals,
and resistance become weakened.
Macbeths and Lady Macbeths ambitions of power and greed overcome their true
desires, denying them an attempt to rationalize their transgressions, which ultimately leads to
their downfall. Macbeth realizes that his morals dictate his behaviors, causing him to waver in
the task Lady Macbeth gives him. Although he wants nothing more than to become the new
thane, he displays his hesitation to kill King Duncan when he says, Let not light see my black
and deep desires. / The eye wink at the hand, yet let that be / Which the eyes fears, when it is
done, to see (1.4.58-60). Macbeths only motivation to kill Duncan results directly from the
theme of greed. In order to appear masculine in the eyes of his wife, Macbeth wants to bury his
darkest desires and turn a blind eye to the crime he knows he must commit. Macbeth shows
fondness towards Duncan and delays harming him, but sadly Duncan becomes an obstacle in his
way of accomplishing his goals and Macbeth explains, Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps
itself / And falls on the other (1.7.27-28). Macbeth uses personification when comparing his
greed and ambitions, by leaping from one treacherous action to another in the same way a horse
leaps over poles in equestrian shows. When the story progresses, Macbeth through the influence
of his wife ventures down a murderous path by killing his best friend, guards, King Duncan, and
hiring bounty hunters to murder a few more loose ends that remain a threat to his throne. When
he finally obtains the power of King, Lady Macbeth realizes that they accomplished all of their
goals. Recently named Queen, Lady Macbeth wanders helplessly inside Castle Dunsinane one
night imagining herself covered in blood. She feels overwhelmed with guilt and craves to rid the

blood from her hands. The doctor and a gentlewoman observe her bizarre demeanor while she
attempts to scrub off the blood but cries, Out damned spot, out, I say! (5.1.37). Lady
Macbeths comments ironically contrast earlier in the play when she tells Macbeth that a little
water will purify and cleanse him of his transgressions. She belittles the significance of the
amount of blood resulting her husband's actions, however even though she constructs this
illusion, her sanity becomes overpowered with guilt and through her eyes the blood tarnishes her
hands. As a result, she later commits suicide and conclusively validates the claim that her
downfall culminates from excessive ambition.
Consequently, in William Shakespeares playwright The Tragedy of Macbeth,
Shakespeare supports Lady Macbeth's and Macbeth's incessant ambitions catalyze their atrocious
crimes through dominating influences of evil and greed; thus, he affirms how evil and greed
destructively lead to their inevitable downfalls. Shakespeare juxtaposes the relationship control
between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth to confirm that Lady Macbeth acts as an influential voice in
her husband's mind. He presents her as a scapegoat in the readers perspective and the one truly
responsible for the numerous murders, although she never laid a finger on a single soul. Macbeth
becomes blind to the truth and allows greed to push himself into partaking in devious actions just
to obtain power. Pursuing goals and ambition desires comes at the expense of Lady Macbeth's
and her husbands lives, revealing the ironic question if power and dominance over others acts as
a necessity in this society. The inclusion of powerful symbols such as the snake, flower, and
water all reflect irony when Lady Macbeth ignores them in the beginning, but finally comes face
to face with her own fate and simply dies from internal destruction. Although, she abstains from
the physical act of murder, her words and thoughts demonstrate such sovereignty and just as
much damage. Her greed leads to misfortune and the overwhelming guilt becomes very

commanding that an illusion of blood stains influence her to commit suicide. Ultimately,
Shakespeares persuasive theme of ambition supports that all humans crave authority and will
divulge in mischievous acts to achieve their deepest and darkest desires.