Criticism Of Macbeths Ambition - 1452 Words

Macbeth criticism Hypothesis: Macbeth is a slave to his overarching ambition. The historical play Macbeth written by Shakespeare tells a story of a man who succumbs to his ambitious demons and consequently develops a manic-depressive persona. After studying Macbeth and reading various criticisms I can conclude that Macbeth is a slave to his overarching ambition. The ambition was always there but when he encounters the â€Å"weird sisters† who tell him half-truths as a prophecy his weak mind choses to believe it and thus begins his journey to his own demise. The critics I will be referencing are John Charles Bucknill (1858), Vassilki Markidou (2003), Bert O. States (1985). Each critic argues that Macbeth’s ambition is ultimately responsible†¦show more content†¦John Charles Bucknill writes â€Å"It must be remembered that the drama brings Macbeth face to face with the supernatural, with that devil’s brood the weird Sisters, so unlike the inhabitants of earth, who, after a prophecy immediately fulfilled, â€Å"made themselves air into which they vanished. What would be the effect upon a man of nervous sensibility, of such appearances? Surely most profound. Well may Hazlitt say, that he can conceive no common actor to look like a man who had encountered the weird Sisters. The great interest of this drama is most skilfully made to depend upon the conflicting emotions of sympathy with a man struggling under fearful temptation; horror excited by treachery and foul murder; awful amazement at the visible grasp of the Spirit of Evil upon the human soul; and of satisfied justice at the hell of remorse into which he is plunged. In this respect there is an obvious parallelism between Macbeth and Faust; since in both the hero-criminal of the piece is not responsible as a free agent, so far as he is but the mortal instrument of the fiend in deeds of evil.† Macbeths weak mind is shown in this criticism, which aids my hypothesis of his downfall being stemmed from his overarching ambition. John Charles Bucknill wrote, â€Å"He discovers that Lady Macbeth is the mock fortitude of a mind deluded by ambition. She shames her husband by a superhuman audacity of fancy which she cannot support, but sinks in the season of remorse,Show MoreRelatedThe Downfall of Lady Macbeth in William Shakespeares Macbeth1399 Words   |  6 PagesThe Downfall of Lady Macbeth in William Shakespeares Macbeth William Shakespeares Macbeth has been a theatrical favorite since Elizabethan times. Its timeless themes of ambition, fate, violence, and insanity collaborate to produce a captivating plot. 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