Ambition And Desire in Macbeth and Red Maggies Rise Essay

Macbeth and Red Maggies rise raises expectations

Ambition and desire can be both good and bad. Without ambition we wouldnt have leaders, a drive for success and we wouldnt push ourselves to excel at life. Yet if you take your ambition too far you can end up destroying your own moral code. You can lose your life, your good name, your family and every single inch of yourself. Peoples desires arent needs but wants. Things they feel they should have even if they havent really earned it.

Sometimes desires and ambitions are the push you need to get the things you really want in life.

Have you ever wanted something so badly youd kill for it?

The Australian printed an article called Red Maggies rise raises expectation which deals with political ambition and desire. The play MacBeth, written by Shakespeare also deals with ambition and desire, yet in MacBeth, he transgresses his moral code to get what he wants at great personal sacrifice.

The difference between ambition and greed is the line between what you morally feel you can do and whether you can transgress your moral code. MacBeth had a great life. He was highly ranked in court, well respected and greatly appreciated by the King. The witches planted a seed in his head. However MacBeth allowed the seed to feed of his ambition and his desires. They allowed him to look past whats right and wrong and try to obtain what he wanted.

When Lady MacBeth died MacBeth didnt cry, he barely reacted at all. It shows all the human qualities he chose to lose when he transgressed his moral code. He lost human qualities that everyone is born with, that everyone should carry through all of their lives. I think thats a great way to show that everything is attached to consequences. Human qualities like love and compassion arent things that people realise are at risk.

In the end MacBeth realised what he had done, what he had lost but realised that he was so far in that there was no escaping. MacBeth lost his wife, his name, respect from others, hes sanity and eventually his head. Fair is foul and foul is fair.

Julia Gillard has erupted into our lives from nowhere. She was at the bottom of the pile and now, with the help of ambition and desire, has climbed all the way to the top. Whether or not she transgressed her moral code is harder to understand because in business or politics sometimes people have to get hurt and sometimes you have to crawl over people.

She readily admitted her hand in the decisions that led to Kevin Rudds demise. Moving against Rudd will prove her advantage. Her strength is shown in her ability to realise that she helped make poor choices that ended up putting her at the top and Rudd on the backbench. Her ability to make mistakes, recognise them and be honest about them make her a leader that we just want to trust. Shes proved she is only human. Yes, greed, ambition and desire are all qualities that prove she is still human. She may have had her ambition and desire in her heart but I believe she is a strong enough character to know that this choice had to be made for someone other then herself, the people of Australia.

Political assassination is really nothing to regicide.

Lady MacBeth was a woman of power, yet her power was only gained through her husband. This idea kept with the times. In the Elizabethan era woman had no rights. They couldnt run their own lives, let alone run a country. Lady MacBeth encouraged MacBeth to kill Duncan so she could fulfil her ambitions and desires or being Queen. The guilt of planning the death of Gods anointed King ate away at Lady MacBeth. The blood imagery never left Lady MacBeths mind. It eventually led to her losing her mind. Thats another consequence of transgressing your moral code. I believe that you dont fully understand the consequences of transgressing your moral code until your feeling it yourself.

MacDuff in comparison understood the value of rightful place. That a man was God appointed to be King and that the people should follow that man, until God wills it. He lost his wife and his children because he was fighting for something he knew his country needed. His personal sacrifice says a lot about who he is and how his moral code looks.

His reaction to the slaughter of his whole family was exactly as anyone would expect which shows he still has his human qualities. He had to feel the pain of loss to move past it. He clearly had a very high moral ground unlike MacBeth and Lady MacBeth.

The bond between parents and children is one of the strongest bonds that humans can feel. Banquo was shown that his children one day would be Kings, but as there was no blood ties it was clear Duncan would have to be killed to attain the crown. Banquo chose to ignore the witches. By choosing this he took the moral high ground.

Margaret Thatcher was a strong woman. This was shown in her nickname the Iron Maiden. She got this nickname by being a strong, independent woman. The article indicates that Julia Gillard, if she continues to work well, could end up being Australias Margaret Thatcher.

Thatcher sat in the right wing, while Gillard is in the left. So politically they wouldnt have the same policies, views or opinions. But morally and ethically they could become one in the same. Gillard is even shown in a caricature as iron. That image is giving us the view that she is strong, bold, and metallic. Nothing can touch her. Will she be able to live up to this standard though? Will she be able to let her conscious dictate her choices and will she be able to stay firm with her beliefs?

Can ambition be without desire? I believe not. Its what propels us through life.

Ambition and desire go hand in hand. They can lead to great things, but it can bring out greed and destruction in even the best of us. They can be constructive or destructive, they can make or break us, and they can lead to greatness or to someones downfall. No matter how it is worded it can be both good and bad.