ambition

• stars, hide your fires, let not light see my black and deep desires (a1,s5)

  People believed that stars controlled fate and by Macbeth ordering them to hide their fires he is taking control of his fate because of his ambition
• o full of scorpions is my mind dear wife! (a3, s2)
• "Is this a dagger which I see before me the handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee," (a2, s1) 


  Establishes murderous intent and his realisation that such actions are wrong. questions not only the dagger, but intentions and ability to follow through. "the handle toward my hand" - the dagger being offered to him, ready to take, even pointing the way to the chamber. The presentation of the dagger at the exact moment he needs it shows the simplistic nature of the act by which he can become king. Almost the entire soliloquy is the hallucination of the dagger, luring him to killing Duncan.
• Vaulting ambition which o'erleaps itself and falls on th'other (a1, s7) 


  His only motive is ambition, but he knows that is what is causing him to go forth blindly.
• tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow (a5, s5) 


  reflective monologue marks the climax of macbeth's existential crisis, showcasing his tragic realisation of the emptiness of his ambitions. his nihilistic (belief that life is meaningless) soliloquy reflects his despair and disillusionment, emphasising the fleeting nature of life and the futility of his actions
• LADY MACBETH: what's done is done (a3, s2)


  LM's resigned acceptance reflects her attempt to suppress guilt and rationalise her actions, highlighting the theme of moral corruption. this brief statement encapsulates her psychological state, illustrating her internal struggle with guilt and the consequence of her ambition.
• macbeth is a symbolic conscious construct of shakespeare's own "vaulting ambition" at a time when he was highly ambitious and perhaps questioning the morality and danger of human ambition, something we all possess.