Bradley Stuewe

Mrs. Cox

English 9 Honors

21 March 2017

Ambitions Role

When you think of ambition, do you think of successful people who are

hard working and strive for their goals? Or do you think of failures who were

greedy and corrupt? Ambition is a characteristic that can be both positive and
negative. There can be different levels of ambition in each person and that is

what decides if ambition is good or bad. People who have tunnel vision of their

goals and lose sight of everything else are the ones who can become the greedy

and corrupt people we know. Ambition is one of the greatest traits a person can

have, however, if ambition is left unchecked it can be a flawed characteristic

In Shakespeares tragedy Macbeth, we can see the negative side of

ambition. Macbeth started out as a noble soldier who was thane of Glamis.

Macbeth then found out his prophecy from the three witches who told him one

day he would become king. This is when Macbeths ambition and hunger for

power started. He cheated his way to king by murdering King Duncan. Eventually

Macbeth was overthrown by Macduff because Macbeth was a brutal ruler. This

shows how ambition can be bad and shows the greed and selfishness that can

come with ambition.

A good side of ambition today can be seen by Jimmy Butler of the

Chicago Bulls. Jimmy was born outside of Houston Texas to a single mom whose

husband left her. When he was just thirteen, his mom kicked him out saying I

dont like the look of you. You gotta go Then for years, Butler bounced around

from the homes of friends until his senior year when the mother of one of his

friends took him in and made him a part of her family a family that already had
7 kids in it. Jimmy used his disadvantages to push himself to become better. His

ambition led him to become one of the best players in the NBA.

Examples of negative ambition can be seen not only in Macbeth but also

throughout history. One of the most famous examples of bad ambition is Richard

Nixon. Richard Nixons ambition had won him the job of president, but a twist of

fate caused that same ambition to take it from him just six years later. Richard

Nixon was involved in the watergate scandal in which five men were arrested for

breaking into the democratic headquarters in the watergate hotel and were
intended to sabotage the democratic presidential candidates. After many

accusations, Nixon became the first president to resign.

Ambition is one thing that almost all successful people have, however

ambition can also be a trait that causes people to fail. There are examples of

those who use their ambition to help them become successful like Jimmy Butler.

And then there are examples of those who had tunnel vision on only their goals

and eventually became corrupt like Macbeth and Richard Nixon. All in all,

ambition is something that can be your best or worst trait. It depends on what

role you give it.

Works Cited:

Wagner, Jason. "Crime and Ambition: Richard Nixon Watergate." Ashbrook. Res
Publicia, n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.

Ford, Chad. "Jimmy Butler Finds a New Home, Hope." ESPN. ESPN Internet
Ventures, 18 June 2011. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.

Shakespeare, William. "Macbeth." Collections. Orlando: Houghton Mifflin

Harcourt, 2015. 213-289. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.