Ambition

The character Macbeth’s overwhelming sense of personal ambition is not only what animates the plot of the novel, but the gradually obvious dark side of his ambition becomes one of the moral teachings of the work. From the beginning stages of the novel, before Macbeth has even carried out the murder of Duncan, Hecate and Strega not only recognize Macbeth’s personal ambitions, but they realize that those seemingly moral ambitions can be used for their dastardly means. Shortly after Strega delivers the initial “prophecy” to Macbeth, Strega confirms that Macbeth will act in the way that the criminal organization wants to by saying: “Human ambition will always stretch toward the sun like a thistle and overshadow and kill everything around it” (77). Even though Macbeth has been nothing but an everyman hero up to this point, Strega and Hecate both already recognize that Macbeth’s...