Showing that if he were to become king, it would happen without him having to do anything. Macbeth thinks upon this prediction that he will become king, “If chance will have me king, why chance may crown me without my stir”. He then makes a leap between being a passive figure in the face of destiny to entertaining the idea that he may himself direct the workings of fate.
Shakespeare quickly reveals Macbeth’s ambition for the crown after him and Banquo have an encounter with the three witches and hear of the first prophecy, he was careful not to show his excitement from the prophecy after Macbeth snaps at the hags “Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more!/…Speak I charge you” the reaction to the witches flags the reader to notice Macbeth’s uncontrollable desire of overthrowing Duncan. The King thanks him and Banquo, calling Macbeth a “Valiant cousin, worthy gentleman,” to which Macbeth replies “The service and loyalty I owe.” These gestures portray irony as Macbeth would soon become his murderer and also deceives the reader about Macbeth’s ability to kill a friend and his uncontrollable desire to take the crown. King Duncan orders the death of the traitorous Thane of Cawdor, and Macbeth is rewarded with the title, giving him his first taste of power. Initially, it clear that Macbeth is an honorable man who is repleted by his comrades due to his bravery on the battlefield against the Norwegians An injured soldier reports back to King Duncan concerning “Brave Macbeth”: “For brave Macbeth–well he deserves that name– / Disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel, / Which smoked with bloody execution…” (I.2.16-18). "I bear a charmed life.Finally, we see how Macbeth is driven to extremes of cruelty as he pushes his ambition in order to maintain the highest position of the power he can.
#MACBETH AMBITION QUOTES FULL#
"Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." (Act V, Scene V) "All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand." (Act V, Scene I) "Out, damned spot! out, I say!" (Act V, Scene I). "Double, double toil and trouble Fire burn, and cauldron bubble." (Act IV, Scene I) "By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes." (Act IV, Scene I) "What's done is done." (Act III, Scene II)
"There's daggers in men's smiles." (Act II, Scene III) "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red" (Act II, Scene II) "Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand?" (Act II, Scene I) "I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself, and falls on the other." (Act I, Scene VII) "Screw your courage to the sticking-place." (Act I, Scene VII) "I dare do all that may become a man Who dares do more is none." (Act I, Scene VII)
"Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under't." (Act I, Scene V) "Yet do I fear thy nature It is too full o' the milk of human kindness." (Act I, Scene V) "Nothing in his life became him like the leaving it he died as one that had been studied in his death to throw away the dearest thing he owed, as 't were a careless trifle." (Act I, Scene IV) "If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me." (Act I, Scene III) "When shall we three meet again in thunder, lightning, or in rain? When the hurlyburly 's done, When the battle 's lost and won." (Act I, Scene I) "When the battle's lost and won." (Act I, Scene I) "Fair is foul, and foul is fair." (Act I, Scene I) You just might be surprised to learn of all the everyday sayings that originally came from Shakespeare! Here are some examples of Shakespeare's most familiar quotes from Macbeth. Shakespeare coined many popular phrases that are still commonly used today.