ambition

• During their meeting the Witches reveal their prophecies to him. Although they don’t mention murder, Macbeth’s thoughts jump ahead to the possibility of killing the King: “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical"
• all protagonists have a tragic or fatal flaw - set in action a chain of events in which felicity is changed into disaster
• it's Macbeth’s ambition which ultimately leads him to murder Duncan: he sees it as the only option to continue on his ambitious path - "i have no spur"
• He compares his current situation to horse riding; ambition is the metaphorical spur he, the rider, uses to motivate his horse
• Lady Macbeth is seen as the other motivator of Macbeth's ambition to usurp the crown. She relentlessly criticises his actions and lack of masculinity, and it is her attitude which arguably leads him to kill Duncan
• She has both the ambition and the confidence to act on her desires, but doubts her husband’s capacities to do so. This is expressed in her soliloquy: “Yet I do fear thy nature"
• Shakespeare may have chosen to have her say these words when she is first introduced to the audience in order to foreground the fact that Lady Macbeth’s defining trait is her ambition
• Shakespeare demonstrates in his play that overwhelming ambition leads to loss and suffering. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth end up dead, and prior to their deaths they are less powerful and less happy than they were at the beginning of the play. However, while desire for power ultimately corrupts both characters, it also drives the plot
• "see my black and deep desires" - juxtapositions portrays lady macbeths inner-conflict within macbeth between his morality and loyalty and his ambition and desires
• "unsex me here" - imperitave highlights LM's desperation to remove her femininity and instead adopt more masculine traits that'll allow her to action out her plans