The Theme Of Ambition In Breaking Bad And Shakespeare’S Macbeth
A person is not truly ambitious unless they are willing to make sacrifices in the name of his ambition. Even though sometimes it is not worth it but the greatest achievements of men were either through ambition or accidents. Ambition is like the dangling carrot that drives the donkey. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts, depending on the principles that direct them. ” Some people seem to have naturally born ambition, while others develop ambition through trials. In either case, ambition can be a positive or negative trait and can lead to positive or negative outcomes. Some men are driven by more than money and power; they are driven by their insatiable quench of attaining complete authority and answering to no one. An example of this type of ambition was written by Shakespeare. The tragedy of “Macbeth”, reveals a character that uses his ambition to become king and reign over Scotland. Throughout the play ambition is portrayed as a corrupting and unquenchable force that produced negative outcomes and would soon diminish Macbeth and his kingdom. This ambition also reveals itself in the T. V. show “Breaking Bad. ” The main character, Walter White, gets a taste of power after establishing a successful drug empire. His ambition to stay on top leads to his downfall. The same ambition resigns today in companies such as Volkswagen. Their desire to occupy the position as the number 1 car brand leads them to poor choices that would ruin their reputation. Volkswagen did anything to stay on top even if it meant raising carbon emissions for years. What does it mean to make sacrifices in the name of ambition? Ambition is a strong desire to achieve something requiring determination and hard work. Many times when someone chases power, authority or money they take losses, whenever it is time or even their closest friends.
As seen in the tragic story of Macbeth, he would sacrifice anything to have complete authority and power. Realizing that the prophecy of the witches was true and that Banquo's sons would so reign over the throne. “I’ve handed over my everlasting soul to the devil so that they could be kings. Banquo’s Sons, Kings! Instead of watching that happen, I will challenge fate to battle and fight to the death” (Macbeth Act 3 Scene 1). Macbeth gets furious and goes to the extent of killing his closest friend, Banquo. Whatever it takes Macbeth will do. His ambition to have complete power and reign over the throne cost him his best friend. Walter White also sacrifices his closest thing in order to pursue his desire to be a great drug lord. He wanted to secure his family's future if he falls victim to lung cancer, but he got so caught up with his meth business that he forgot who he was doing this for. At the end of the TV series we see why he continued to do it. Walter says, “I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it. And I was really -- I was alive. ” (Breaking Bad Season 5) He might of started his drug business in order to support his family but soon lost them trying to gain power in the drug business. Volkswagen is another example of sacrificing something in the name of ambition. Their ambition to gain a foothold in the market of cars blinded them to the harm that their cars were causing.
The results of their blindness and selfish ambition ruined their reputation and lost their leaders who were connected to the emissions scandal. Sometimes selfish ambition for power is not worth the sacrifice as we see in Macbeth, Breaking Bad and the Volkswagen scandal. Ambition should be the great pursuit of something positive because everything in life comes with a cost and we have to make sure that we set our limits to where ambition can take us. Sacrificing something good for their own selfish desiresIt is commonly known that it is human nature to crave power. Shakespeare shows how this power can be corrupted through the character Macbeth. Macbeth becomes corrupt after the thought of becoming king and having all the power. One force that leads to Macbeth's corruption is the three witches who can be seen as temptors saying, “All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!” (Macbeth Act 1 Scene 3). Macbeth starts off as a good soldier who is devoted to the king until the encounter of the witches. Shakespeare shows that someone like Macbeth will commit abhorrent acts to gain power. So what drives these horrendous acts of Macbeth? Ambition, it is the strong desire and determination to get something with effort. Ambition can often be good and can be the driving force for many of our dreams. Macbeth was naturally born with ambition and found favor with the king, but his ambition became a weakness and was allowed to be manipulated by his wife and evil powers. Although ambition can be good,we see in Macbeth for instance, that it can be manipulated and become corrupted for their own selfish desires, such as Macbeth's desire to be king and have all authority.
The same instance occurs in “Breaking Bad," where Walter White starts as a chemistry teacher, who loves what he does, but it leaves him unfulfilled. He spends each day teaching students who have no interest in the subject. Walter has very little control over his circumstances, from his son's cerebral palsy, to having to work a second job at a car wash to make ends meet. Walter was not helpless, but he was just powerless. He wasn’t able to grab onto his future and control the things that were happening around him. After Walter was told that he was a victim of lung cancer he began seizing control of his life and tries to support his family before he goes away. His talent and realization of the huge potential in these highly lucrative meth enterprise put him in the drug business. Walter had nothing to lose, he was diagnosed with cancer and was desperate to support his family. This gave him permission to enter the criminal world. So what made Walter corrupt? What led him to the thirst for power? As 1 Timothy 6: 10 says, “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. ” Was it the love of money that influenced Walters's ambition and corrupted him? It may seem obvious that a drug kingpin who says he's in the "empire business" is interested in making a lot of money. Money defines each of Walter's relationships, his money laundering that has turned his marriage into an unpleasant business partnership and an even worse relationship with Walter Jr. , which Walter tried fixing by buying him a car. We can say that his ambition was influenced by money but what was Walter still doing in the drug business after he had so much money. It was Walt's love for power, he felt fulfilled cooking methAs the show moves from season to season, Walter becomes more ambitious, and plays recklessly with his life, and the lives of those around him. Jesse has become his puppet, and over time, Walt feels no guilt about exploiting Jesse for all he's worth. The meth, family, enemies people who stand in his way, they all become props, for him to manipulate, abuse, and destroy. It doesn't take long for the Walt we saw in Season 1 to die off, along with his love for those in his life. He lies, cheats, steals, manipulate and changes himself completely in order to deceive everyone around him and gain power.
