Identify an idea that Shakespeare explores in Macbeth. Explain, using two quotes, how Shakespeare uses language to convey this idea.
Shakespeare explores the idea of ambition in Macbeth. It is the main idea of the play, significantly featuring in the two main characters – Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. The use of Shakespeares language gives us an indication of what’s inside their minds. Lady Macbeth displays her ambition in the beginning of the play by saying ‘Thou wouldst be great. Art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it’. She says this when she believes that Macbeth can hold ambitious dreams, but she thinks he doesn’t have the drive or desire to get him there. At the start of the play, it looks like Macbeth isn’t ‘ruthless’ enough to fulfil the plan he and his wife had made, which was the murder of Duncan. This quote also reflects on Lady Macbeths character, as we can see here that she believes she does hold that almost evil ambitious drive. We get an insight on Macbeth’s ambition with the quote ‘I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself
And falls on th’other’. Macbeth says this when he starts to become unsure of his plan to kill Duncan. This is also a metaphor, comparing his troubles to someone riding a horse. Macbeth says he can’t motivate himself, like a horse that won’t move no matter how hard the rider kicks their spurs into its side. The thing he is depending on now is his ambition, but he says he is like a horse that overestimates its obstacle and ends up falling down. This shows how Macbeth knows that his ambitious plan is going to result in something bad, but he keep going anyway.
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