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Tragedy of Macbeth

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The tragedy of Macbeth is a play hat dramatizes the damaging effects of political ambition for those craving for power for its sake. Macbeth receives a prophecy that he will become the King of Scotland.  However, he becomes over-ambitious and kills King Duncan and thus becomes king immediately.  However, he becomes paranoid and guilty and counters that by killing those he is suspicious of threatening his throne.  Eventually, he becomes a tyrant, and subsequently, blood baths and civil wars lead him to madness and eventual death.  The tragedy of Macbeth is an ideal example of how ambition can corrupt a person (Bloom, 2005).

Ambition is a positive character trait that gives a person a direction in life.  Ambition is also considered a predictor of positive life outcomes as it pushes an individual to set life goals and work towards attaining them.  Ambition is defined as the persistent and generalized desire for success attainment and accomplishment.  Ambition is a personality trait that pushes an individual to have an enduring interest in seeing that their efforts result in success (Burton, 2014).  However, as depicted in Macbeth, too much ambition can drive a person to engage in immoral and illegal acts.  Too much ambition can push an individual to adopt inappropriate character traits such as dishonesty and dissatisfaction.  Unreasonable levels of ambition can also push an individual to greed where a person craves for more than what he can have.  Excessive ambition can also push an individual to impatience thus drawing an individual to engage in illegal, unethical or immoral acts so as to attain something.  Macbeth received information that he will one day become King.  His desire and greed for power pushed him to desire the power immediately thus leading him to **** the current King.  Macbeth could not wait for his time to come. Instead, he chose to acquire the kingdom immediately.

            Ambition is thus largely perceived as a positive trait that drives an individual to work hard towards something.  However, ambition is not always perceived as a positive trait.  It is sometimes perceived as a form of greed especially when there is the excessive desire for more than what is needed or deserved.  Ambition is a negative trait if it pushes an individual to greed.  For instance, an individual who desires for quick and easy money can engage in corrupt business activities so as to make quick cash.  Similarly, an individual can choose to bypass certain laws so as to save some money and pocket it for his private use (Burton, 2014).  Unfortunately, excessive ambition always results to financial and even psychological losses.  An individual can choose to steal from the needy and use the money or profits for his personal gains.  Therefore, as the person gets rich, the people around him become poorer. Increased poverty leads to a dissatisfied public thus increasing the threat of riots, demonstrations and reduced support for the individual.

Historically, there are leaders who have been corrupted by ambition.   Chairman Mao was a Chinese leader who was appreciated for his military strategies and tough political policies.  He was appreciated for taking over power in China and turning the nation from imperialism.  Chairman Mao turned China into a world power by improving education and health, increasing life expectancy and promoting the status of women in China.  However, his desire for power and turning China into a powerful nation saw him engage in numerous human rights abuses. For instance, he is responsible for the death of 40-70 million deaths through executions and starvation.  Just like Macbeth, Chairman Mao had power, but his ambition saw him record the highest incidence of human mortality.

 Other leaders such as ****** are good examples of leaderships that were corrupted by power.  ****** felt threatened by the presence of Jews in the country.  He resulted to the mass ****** of Jews through the concentration camps.  Currently, Kim Jong-Un of North Korea is an example of a leader who has been corrupted by ambition.   The leader is in conflict with nations such as the United States, China, and Australia over the perception of spying. Kim Jon-Un took over leadership from his father who had taken over from his father.  Kim Jon-Un is thus a leader who is aware that he is a leader who has been imposed on people.  His determination to demonstration his authority has seen him adopt a system of public executions, political prison camps and the use of forced labor (Reuters, 2011).  Currently, he is threatening to detonate nuclear bombs on “enemy” nations, an act that may trigger world war III.

 In conclusion, ambition is a positive trait until when it is applied in excessive measures.  Ambitions give individuals the drive to achieve a task successfully.  However, excessive ambition can push an individual to misuse their power especially if they are in a position of authority.  Excessive power can corrupt a leader to engage in illegal and unethical activities including the violation of the public’s basic human rights.   Macbeth acquired power and became king, but he never enjoyed his reign as extensive guilt and suspicion saw him **** anyone that he perceived as an enemy.  Historically, some political leaders such as Chairman Mao and ****** became over ambitious and violated human rights.  Kim Jon-Un is an example of a current leader who is consumed by power and ambition.

Work Cited

Bloom. H. (2005). Macbeth. InfoBase Publishing

Burton, N. (2014). Is ambition good or bad?

Reuters, (2011). North Korea: Kim Jong-Un deepens abusive rule.

Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in write my essay online if you need a similar paper you can place your order from write my essay for me services.

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