Starting with this speech, explore how Shakespeare presents ambition in Macbeth. Write about:
• how Shakespeare presents ambition in this speech
• how Shakespeare presents ambition in the play as a whole.
LADY MACBETH
Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be
What thou art promised; yet do I fear thy nature,
It is too full o’th’milk of human kindness
To catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great,
Art not without ambition, but without
The illness should attend it. What thou wouldst highly,
That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false,
And yet wouldst wrongly win. Thou’dst have, great Glamis,
That which cries, ‘Thus thou must do’ if thou have it;
And that which rather thou dost fear to do,
Than wishest should be undone. Hie thee hither,
That I may pour my spirits in thine ear
And chastise with the valour of my tongue
All that impedes thee from the golden round,
Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem
To have thee crowned withal.
The play Macbeth presents us with two types of ambition, a scheming and manipulative ambition as presented by Lady Macbeth and Macbeth and a humble and noble ambition through the character of Macduff. For a time, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth’s ambition enables them to gain power, but their cruelty and immorality leads to their downfall and in the end, they are defeated. It is Macduff who is written as a humble man and loyal lord, who finishes the play victorious. His is an honest and moral ambition, seeking to do right by his king and country.
In the extract, Lady Macbeth shows a strong desire and ambition for her husband to become king, although she believes Macbeth is too weak to do what he needs to do to claim the crown. She will eventually manipulate him into taking action, feeling that he is ‘too full o’th’ milk of human kindness.’ The metaphor of ‘milk’ symbolises purity and goodness as well as femininity, being the milk a mother may produce for her infant. This is something associated with women and would stand out to a Jacobean audience as shameful and a reversal of gender roles, a weakness on the part of Macbeth who allows his wife to dictate his actions. Furthermore, Lady Macbeth shows that she is willing to ‘chastise’ her husband to do what he needs to do to claim the throne: ‘I may pour my spirits in thine ear And chastise with the valour of my tongue.’ Here, Lady Macbeth is taking on a masculine role, the word ‘valour’ traditionally associated with warriors fighting on the battlefield. She is also talking about ‘spirits’ which links her with the supernatural and the witches, showing her corrupt and evil nature. A Jacobean audience would have been shocked by Lady Macbeth and horrified that she so easily abandons her femininity- ‘unsex me here’- to masculine ideas of ambition and conquest, which may explain why she goes mad later in the play, viewed by a deeply patriarchal society as going against her true feminine nature.
Macbeth’s hamartia and fatal flaw turns out to be his ambition: ‘Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires.’ While the rhyming couplet here shows he is conflicted about murdering King Duncan, ultimately, he allows his wife to goad him into action when she questions his masculinity: ‘When you durst do it, then you were a man.’ This shows the Jacobean audience his weakness in allowing himself to be so easily manipulated by Lady Macbeth’s scheming. They would be shocked by his act of regicide and would see him as going against the Divine Right of Kings and therefore against God. When Macbeth is wracked with guilt after murdering the king, the audience would see this as justice for his immoral act and applaud his and Lady Macbeth’s eventual downfall. Written around the time of the Gunpowder Plot, it may also be that Shakespeare wanted to warn people against regicide, showing the consequences of bringing chaos and disorder to the nation.
Indeed, it is Macduff who shows humility and loyalty to his king and country by fleeing Scotland with the king’s son and heir, Malcolm, in order to raise an army in England. But because he chooses the greater good over his personal life, his wife and children are ‘savagely slaughter’d’ by Macbeth. The sibilance here adds emphasis to Macbeth’s evil actions and opens the way for Macduff to kill Macbeth at the end of the play in revenge for their deaths. But Macduff’s focus always remains on his country: ‘O Scotland, Scotland,’ showing the audience that his ambition is noble and moral. Even when Malcolm tests his integrity by declaring himself to be too sinful to be king– rather than think to claim the throne for himself, Macduff stands by his morals and laments his country’s predicament: ‘Fare thee well. These evils thou repeat’st upon thyself Hath banished me from Scotland. —O my breast, Thy hope ends here!’ Malcolm must then assure him that he will be a good king: ‘Macduff, this noble passion, Child of integrity, hath from my soul Wiped the black scruples.’ It is fitting that when Macduff kills Macbeth in the climax of the play, he also shows honour by hailing Malcolm soon after as the rightful king of Scotland.
In conclusion, there are two types of ambition portrayed in the play, implying that the scheming, selfish ambition shown by Macbeth and Lady Macbeth only leads to corruption, soon descending into disorder and madness, whereas the noble, selfless ambition as shown by Macduff, wins in the end.