Dalia Marks

Dumas
Pd. 8

Synthesis Essay

The two authors explore the topic of ambition in different eras by giving their characters a goal
and showing what they do to try and achieve it. The play "Macbeth" was set in 11th century Scotland;
Shakespeare writes of a Thane, Macbeth whose wife, Lady Macbeth seeks to become queen and doesn't
care what it takes to get there. The play "Fences" by August Wilson is set in the 60s and is about a father,
Troy, who didn't get to accomplish his dream; he stands in the way of his son, Cory accomplishing his.
Troy Maxson had what it took to excel in baseball when he was young but was arrested before he
could get very far with his talents. Troy ignores his age and simply blames it on society not wanting the
black man to get ahead. Cory Maxson is an aspiring football player; his mother, Rose supports him in his
goals but for some reason, Troy does not. Macbeth is already a Thane and honoured warrior in the
community, but his wife wants to become queen and convinces him to kill his dear friend and current
king, just so she will have that title, but she won't do it herself. The two plays are similar because they
both have females pushing males to aspire to be something greater.
The authors writing in different eras helps give different points of view. For example, Lady
Macbeth tells her husband to kill a man to get what she wants. In the setting of "Fences", that wouldn't
have worked because of the time period. Killing someone in the 60s would be much harder to get away
with; and usually wasn't someone's first idea of a way to get what they want. Also, in the 11th century
Scotland people were more inclined to stay in the social classes in which they were born. That was what
was expected, while in the 60s people in America had more drive to be moving upward in society and
accomplishing more with their lives.
When Cory asks Troy to sign permission slips so a recruiter can come see him, Troy dismisses it
immediately because he thinks "The white man ain't gonna let you get nowhere with that football noway

(Wilson 35)." While when Lady Macbeth first proposes her plan to Macbeth he thinks it over. But
throughout the scene he goes back and forth with his conscience; from "If it were done when 'tis done,
then 'twere well It were done quickly." to thinking of how the "Bloody instructions, which, being taught,
return to plague the inventor (Shakespeare 1.6 )." Pertaining to the role of the female characters in this,
Rose asks Troy why he "just don't let the boy go ahead and play football?(Wilson 39)". Troy says he
doesn't want Cory to turn out like him and denies Rose's claims of him just being too old for the sport.
Shakespeare, on the other hand, has Macbeth consider his wife's thoughts as soon as she voices them.
Even though they are born solely from her own desires and completely disregard his own feelings. All the
way up to the night of the murder Macbeth struggles internally with the decision, but in the end goes
through with it; all for Lady Macbeth. Seemingly one could argue that his ambition was also fueled by the
possibility of becoming King; but Macbeth feared that even after becoming King, his people would find
out what he'd done to get there and turn against him.
In conclusion, Wilson and Shakespeare effectively explore the topic of ambition with the aid of
the eras they were written in. They give their characters different motives, and different limits and
distances to which they'll go to acheive their goals.