Vidas 1

Ethan Vidas

Ms. Starry

English 9 H

26 March, 2017

Ambition Speech

How would you describe ambition? Would you think that ambition is a good or bad asset

to have? Ambition can help push one to achieve their most outstanding goals that seem

impossible to earn. Unfortunately, Ambition can be used in bad ways too. Too much ambition

can turn someone into a crazy psychopath craving for more power. Even though ambition can be

good or bad, ambition is an outstanding asset to have; ambition can help push through goals, but

too much ambition can cause a tragic downfall in a person.

Ambition can teach a person to never give up. Ambition pushes people to accomplish

extraordinary goals for an individual. For example, Walt Disney, was a very ambitious person.

Throughout his career, Walt Disney constantly tired to keep his company in good shape, but

eventually, his company always hit rock bottom. Disneys first crash was with the creation of

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Disney never really owned the rights to Oswald, so Disney then had to

restart and imagine another invention Since the distributor owned the rights to Oswald, Disney,

then twenty-seven, had to start from scratch again(Gabler 1). After the loss of Oswald, Disney

then had to dream bigger and better. The ambitious drive from Disney eventually led him to

making famous movies and the theme park, Disneyland. Disneys ambition of never giving up

led to the success of his company In the end, the company flourished precisely because Disney

was such an indifferent businessman(Gabler 3). Disney never gave up and became a huge

success.
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Ambition can help one strive for a goal, but too much ambition can turn one into a

psychopath craving much more than what they need. Macbeth, In William Shakespeares,

Macbeth, is a perfect example of someone who was turned evil because of ambition. Macbeth is

a nobleman of King Duncan. After an encounter with 3 mysterious witches, Macbeth learns that

his destiny is to be king, but in order to be king, Macbeth must him. Macbeth follows the orders,

but becomes crazy with power and ruling as king. Eventually, Macbeth becomes too ambitious

and this leads to horrible events for him. While fighting Macduff, Macbeth loses the duel and

died and Macduff announces,Behold where stands the usurper's cursed head. The time is

free(Shakespeare 5.8.54-55). Macbeths excessive ambition and power led to his own downfall

and death.

Even though tons of ambition seems great, it really isnt. Too much ambition can cause

terrible events for a person, even if it's not bad ambition. Finny in John Knowles, A Separate

Peace, is described as a combination of an earnest kid, a super-athlete, and a mischievous devil

by Gene Forester. Finny drags around Gene almost everywhere he goes, Even though Finny

believes he was just being a good friend, Gene assumes that Finny is setting out to destroy his

studies. Gene later makes Finny fall out of a tree and breaks his leg. Finny is still a very

ambitious person after that and provides people with fun and entertainment. Eventually, Finny

falls down a flight of stairs and breaks his leg again. This time during surgery, bone marrow

escapes into his bloodstream, straight into his heart, and kills himPhineas had died from the

marrow of his bone flowing down his bloodstream to his heart(Knowles 194). Phineas wasn't

using his ambition in bad ways, but he was just overusing by trying to make people happy.

Many famous people didn't start out with a perfect novel, song, or invention. Many of the

had tons of failures they had to overcome to create something better. Before being the richest
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person in the world, Bill Gates owned his first company called the Traf-O-Data. This was

designed to read the raw data from roadway traffic and create reports for traffic engineers. Bill

Gates attempted to get everything up and running, but the machines failed They first tried to sell

the processing service to the local country, but the first demo failed because the machine didn't

work recalled Gates(Balosa 2). After this failed attempt, Bill then worked on his next company,

Microsoft, which became a huge success. Because of Bills ambition to make a new company,

Bill is now one of the richest people to live.

Some people aren't blessed with an amazing life. People can struggling for their jobs and

their lives. Stephen King is a famous author whose life was changed because of his ambition.

Before he was a famous author, Stephen King lived in a trailer with his wife. They both worked

many jobs to try to support the family. King worked on his dream of being a famous writer, but

he always got rejected. Even his best selling book wasn't accepted at first. Kings ambitious drive

to never give up and continue his dream led him to being a great success. King finally sold to a

publishing company and changed his life Soon after, though, Signet Books signed on for the

paperback rights for $400,000, $200,000 of which went to King(Scottberg 3). Stephen Kings

ambition to never give up on his dream led him to being one of the most famous and best-selling

authors in the world.

Ambition helps people push through strenuous goals, but some people overuse it or use

ambition for bad. Even though ambition is good or bad, it is an amazing asset to have and is

helpful throughout your life. How would you use your ambition in your life? Would you use

ambition for better, or for worse?

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Works Cited

Balasa, Victor. Failure Is Feedback: How 5 Billionaires Had To Fail To Succeed. HKDC,

www.hongkiat.com/blog/fail-to-succeed-billionaires/. Accessed 27 Mar. 2017.

Gabler, Neal. Walt Disney, a Visionary Who Was Crazy Like a Mouse. The New York Times,

The New York Times, 12 Sept. 2015,

www.nytimes.com/2015/09/13/business/media/walt-disney-a-visionary-who-was-crazy-

like-a-mouse.html?_r=0. Accessed 27 Mar. 2017.

Knowles, John. A Separate Peace. Macmillan Publishing Company, 1959.

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Scottberg, Erin. 9 Famous People Who Almost Didnt Reach Their Dream Career.LearnVest,

28 Feb. 2014, www.learnvest.com/2014/02/famous-people-who-almost-didnt-reach-their-

dream-career/?gallery=750. Accessed 31 Mar. 2017.

Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. The Language of Literature. McDougall Littell, 2002, 327-416.