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Ryan Savin

Ms. Dill

British Literature

30 May 2019

The Evil of Ambition: Macbeth’s Downfall

In ​The Tragedy of Macbeth,​ a Scottish noble’s ambition sparks both his ascent to power

and his descent into madness. Macbeth, the noble, viciously slays the traitorous Macdonwald on

the battlefield, to the horror and amazement of the observing captain. When reporting Macbeth’s

actions to Duncan, the king, the captain recounts, “He unseamed him from the nave to th’ chops,

/ And fixed his head upon our battlements” (​Macbeth​, 1.2: 22-23). Through this horrific display

of dominance and ruthlessness, Macbeth plants the seed of power and ambition in his mind.

Macbeth uses Lady Macbeth and the witches to cultivate this seed throughout the play, which

culminates in the murders of Duncan and Banquo. Despite the minor influence of these other

characters on Macbeth, it is clear to see that Macbeth’s downfall is the result of his ambition

consuming him. In William Shakespeare’s ​The Tragedy of Macbeth​, Macbeth’s downfall may

not appear to be his fault at first glance, but upon further scrutiny, Macbeth is ultimately

responsible for his tragic fall.

Initially, the witches may seem to control Macbeth’s fate through the prophecy, but the

prophecy is not a prediction and only assures Macbeth of his pre-existing ambition. During

Macbeth’s first encounter with the witches, the witches hail him as the Thane of Cawdor, but this

is not a prediction of a future event. Macbeth only believes the prophecy is a prediction because

“news of his new title—which has already been conferred by Duncan in Macbeth's absence—has
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not yet reached him” (Nelson). By the time the witches inform Macbeth of his new title, he is

already the Thane of Cawdor. Shakespeare has the witches take advantage of the time delay

between two events in order to convince Macbeth that the witches are capable of foretelling the

future. The witches then hail Macbeth as king, but this is merely a provocation based on his

deep-seated ambition to become king. As the cousin of king Duncan, Macbeth already has a

treacherous desire to ascend the throne, which he demonstrates with his barbaric actions toward

Macdonwald, and again when he contemplates the prophecy: “If good, why do I yield to that

suggestion / Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair / And make my seated heart knock at my

ribs” (​Macbeth​, 1.3: 136-138). The witches never mention murder but Macbeth is clearly

considering that possibility. Neither the witches nor Lady Macbeth plant the idea to kill Duncan

in Macbeth’s mind, Macbeth plants it himself. The entrancing words of the witches merely

hasten Macbeth’s inevitable murder plot. Macbeth uses their words to water his seed of ambition,

as he disregards Banquo’s concerns and blindly follows the prophecy. Altogether, the witches’

prophecy is only a provocation that Macbeth utilizes with the intent to further his own ambition

to become king, which is similar to how he deals with Lady Macbeth.

Macbeth fears his ambition at first, but he learns to take advantage of Lady Macbeth’s

words instead of letting her manipulate him. Macbeth is aware of the dangers of his ambition and

rightly fears the potential consequences of his actions. In his soliloquy about the conflict between

his morals and his ambitions, Macbeth confesses, “I have no spur / To prick the sides of my

intent, but only / Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself” (​Macbeth​, 1.7: 25-27). Macbeth

realizes that ambition is his only motivation, and he knows that ambition causes people to act

foolishly and doom themselves, as he sees firsthand with Macdonwald and the Thane of Cawdor.
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His moral compass is a barrier that is preventing Macbeth from achieving his goals; accordingly,

the growth of his ambition is halted until he can find further “nourishment.” Lady Macbeth is the

perfect opportunity to stimulate Macbeth into denying his consciousness. Macbeth employs his

wife’s emasculating instigation to reinforce his ambition. Even though Macbeth seemingly

cannot kill Duncan without the support of the witches and Lady Macbeth, “had it not been in him

at all, the women would never have been able to awaken such a cruel and violent force” (Hacht

8). Macbeth decides to harness his wife’s persuasive words for the purpose of emboldening

himself enough to kill Duncan. Shakespeare makes use of Macbeth’s later murders throughout

the play to prove Macbeth’s willingness to kill and that Lady Macbeth is not nearly as

indispensable as she appears at first. On the whole, Macbeth uses Lady Macbeth as nurturing

sunlight for his seed of ambition, which results in the successful murder of Duncan, but the

murder also proves to be Macbeth’s undoing.

Macbeth’s murder of Duncan violates the divine right of kings, disrupts the natural order

of the universe, and initiates his demise. According to the divine right, God appoints men to be

kings and grants them power. The regicide of Duncan is so horrible because “Duncan is old,

good; he is at once Macbeth’s kinsman, king, and guest; he is to be murdered in sleep. No worse

act of evil could well be found” (Knight 236). God does not grant Macbeth the Scottish throne;

therefore, Macbeth resorts to murder, an act of evil and of the Devil, in hopes of obtaining the

throne for himself. However, Macbeth does not achieve his goal without a price, which Macbeth

acknowledges when he proclaims, “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood / Clean from

my hand? No, this my hand will rather / The multitudinous seas incarnadine” (​Macbeth,​ 2.2:

57-59). Macbeth displays that he undoubtedly understands the enormity of his actions; he
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irrevocably disrupts the natural order and ensures his downfall. Duncan’s unnatural death at the

hands of Macbeth, not the witches and not Lady Macbeth, throws nature out of balance.

Shakespeare reveals these disturbances through characters such as Lennox, Ross, and the Old

Man, who describe chaotic winds, horrifying screeches, darkness during the day, and

cannibalistic horses. Scotland is diseased and needs a cure, a cure that kings can provide.

Malcolm informs Macduff that “King Edward . . . has the capacity to become the agent of

celestial powers, can use spiritual force to heal rather than to destroy, is an instrument not of

darkness but of light” (Goddard 289). God gifts rightful kings, such as Edward and Malcolm, the

ability to cure with the divine right. Malcolm eventually cures Scotland through the removal of

Macbeth, whose actions disease Scotland. Macbeth sets events into motion that aim to revert

Scotland to its original state. Specifically, Malcolm’s escape into England gives rise to an

English resistance army that brings an end to Macbeth’s tyranny when “Birnam Wood comes

like a sudden spring to the walls of Dunsinane castle. Sun, sons, and seedlings all return together

to destroy the man whose ambition has made him their enemy” (Watson 79). Macbeth’s murder

of Duncan disrupts the natural order, which indirectly kills Scotland; therefore, Macbeth’s death

restores the natural order, revives Scotland, and allows light to shine down once again. Overall,

Macbeth rebels against the divine right and disturbs the natural order, which ensures Macbeth’s

defeat when coupled with the murder of Banquo.

Banquo’s murder signals the triumph of evil over good, further solidifies the collapse of

Macbeth’s reign, and emphasizes the loss of Macbeth’s potential. The murder of Banquo is the

second time Macbeth displays independence from Lady Macbeth’s machinations; the first time is

killing Duncan’s guards. Suspicion between Macbeth and Banquo first emerges when Banquo
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inquires, “Good sir, why do you start and seem to fear / Things that do sound so fair?” (​Macbeth​,

1.3: 52-53). Here, Banquo reveals that he notices Macbeth’s apprehension about his treacherous

thoughts; similarly, Macbeth takes notice of Banquo’s observation. Banquo’s insight into

Macbeth’s true nature and Banquo’s descendants are major threats in Macbeth’s eyes. Macbeth’s

fear of Banquo drives him to arrange Banquo’s assassination without any motivation from Lady

Macbeth whatsoever; therefore, Macbeth is entirely responsible for the severe repercussions of

the murder. As Macbeth organizes Banquo’s death, he exclaims, “Mine eternal jewel / Given to

the common enemy of man, / To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings!” (​Macbeth​, 3.1:

68-70). Macbeth, of his own free will, decides to kill Banquo in fear of Banquo’s descendants

seizing the throne, while he also admit that he is consciously selling his soul to the Devil to

achieve his goal. He clearly realizes that he is destroying his humanity forever and “has directed

his will to evil, towards something that of its very nature makes for chaos and the abnegation of

meaning” (Knights 319). Clearly, any and all hope of Macbeth’s redemption is lost to his

irredeemable corruption. Macbeth is aware that killing Banquo eliminates the sliver of God’s

light that is still left within himself, which assures his downfall when Banquo’s spirit causes

Macbeth to expose his paranoia and instability to the Scottish thanes. The thanes proceed to lose

trust in Macbeth and join Malcolm, which fuels Macbeth’s spiral into madness, and triggers him

to kill anyone and everyone who gets in his way. By now, Macbeth’s downfall is set in stone, but

Shakespeare demonstrates an alternate path for Macbeth if he could control his ambition like

Banquo, his foil. Similar to Macbeth, “Banquo is taken with the prophecy that his heirs will sit

on the throne one day . . . however, Banquo's ambition is perfectly content in the future of his

family. He has no aspirations of his own to overthrow Macbeth” (Hacht 9). Banquo hears the
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same exact prophecy as Macbeth, but decides to not pursue power; conversely, Banquo stands in

God’s light and fights for justice. Banquo’s actions indicate that Macbeth could also ignore the

prophecies instead of having blind faith in them, further proving that the witches are not the

masters of Macbeth’s fate; Macbeth is the master of his own fate. As can be seen, Macbeth

ensures his own destruction with the death of Banquo, who represents not only God’s light but

also Macbeth’s potential for virtue.

At first, Macbeth supposedly plays a minor role in his own fate; however, Lady Macbeth

and the witches play a smaller role than initially thought, and Duncan and Banquo illustrate just

how much Macbeth is responsible for his downfall. The witches offer news in the guise of a

prophecy, a prophecy that Macbeth decides to bring about with murder, his method of choice.

Macbeth’s moral compass hinders Macbeth’s murder plot, so he makes use of Lady Macbeth’s

scathing words to embolden himself for Duncan’s murder. The regicide brings forth unnatural

occurrences as a result of the violation of the divine right; henceforth, Macbeth’s death is

required in the hope of restoring order to Scotland. Banquo’s assassination dooms Macbeth even

further because God’s light is eradicated from Macbeth, which erases any hope of salvation for

him. Banquo’s death also exemplifies how “ambition, in its inherent opposition to heredity and

the established order, thus becomes an enemy of all life, especially that of the ambitious man

himself” (Watson 74). Ambition leads Macbeth down a path of bloodshed, from Duncan, his

king and kinsman, to Banquo, his closest friend, to a mother and her children. As a prodigious

warrior, Macbeth could have utilized ambition as a great asset for propelling himself through

life, yet his ambition does not just squander his potential, it extinguishes his life. The complete
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and utter waste of potential is the real tragedy in William Shakespeare’s ​The Tragedy of

Macbeth.​
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Works Cited

Crowther, John, ed. “No Fear Macbeth.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2005. 4 February

2019.

Goddard, Harold C. "1951—Harold C. Goddard. “Macbeth,” from The Meaning of

Shakespeare." ​Bloom's Shakespeare Through the Ages: Macbeth.​ By Harold Bloom. Ed.

Janyce Marson. New York City: Infobase, 2008. 264-91. Print.

Hacht, Anne Marie. "Macbeth." ​Shakespeare for Students: Critical Interpretations of

Shakespeare's Plays and Poetry​. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. Farmington Hills: Gale, 2007. 435-68.

Literature Resources for Students.​ Web. 06 Mar. 2019.

Knight, G. Wilson. "1930—G. Wilson Knight. From "Macbeth and the Metaphysic of Evil,"

from The Wheel of Fire." ​Bloom's Shakespeare Through the Ages: Macbeth.​ By Harold

Bloom. Ed. Janyce Marson. New York City: Infobase, 2008. 235-39. Print.

Knights, L. C. "1959 —L. C. Knights. “Macbeth: A Lust for Power,” from Some Shakespearean

Themes." ​Bloom's Shakespeare Through the Ages: Macbeth.​ By Harold Bloom. Ed.

Janyce Marson. New York City: Infobase, 2008. 304-20. Print.

Nelson, Cassandra. "Fate in Macbeth." ​Bloom's Literature (Facts on File Online)​. Encyclopedia

of Themes in Literature, 3-Volume Set, 2010. Web. 07 May 2019.

Watson, Robert N. ""Thriftless Ambition," Foolish Wishes, and the Tragedy of Macbeth."

Bloom's Major Literary Characters: Macbeth.​ Ed. Harold Bloom. Langhorne: Chelsea

House, 2005. 73-110. Print.