Eng 10 - Macbath and a Mother’s Desperate Journey out of Leningrad

Jackie Rhinesmith

Mrs. Mather

English 10

3.21.17

Ambition

When one thinks of ambition they usually think of determination and grit. They picture someone in their head who they believe is ambitious and just list off characteristics of that person. For example, Lady Macbeth is ambitious because of her dedication towards her husband fulfilling his prophecy and becoming king. Not only in Macbeth was there ambition, but during WWII a mother used all her willpower to keep her baby alive, and a soldier used all of his drive and energy to get up onto a beach with bullets flying all around him. The role of ambition in one’s life is the strong desire that is fueled by personal benefit or for someone else’s benefit.

In Macbeth and a document from WWII titled “A mother’s desperate journey out of Leningrad,” both Lady Macbeth and the mother, Zina Generavola, have great ambition, but not for their personal benefit. In the play Macbeth, Lady Macbeth receives a letter from her husband that informs her on the witches prophecy for him, and she immediately starts to form a plan “Glamis thou art… the illness should attend it” (1.5.15-20). In the document Zina hadn't eaten in days, and had no more strength left in her, but then, “suddenly in my ears I heard the cry of my baby… I did not think that I could have run so fast… my baby saved my life” (....). Both of these examples prove the thesis on ambition because first, Lady Macbeth, as soon as she read the letter, started to set her goals and what she wanted to achieve so that her husband could one day be king. Second, Zina is on the brink of death, but when she hears the sound of her baby's cry she perseveres and is there for her child.

Lady Macbeth also relates to a soldier from WWII through ambition. The soldier, Clair Galdonik, shows outstanding determination when he is trying to get onto the beach in Normandy. He even said to himself, “‘nothing is going to stop me until I get on that beach,’” (...), and though other soldiers were falling all around him and there was gunfire everywhere, he still made it. Lady Macbeth’s ambition isn’t as heroic as the soldiers, but she also won’t stop at anything until her husband becomes king. She is talking with Macbeth and promising him that no one will find out they killed King Duncan by saying, “I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you. Have done to this.” (1.7.64-67). The soldier proves the role of ambition by achieving something he set his mind to. Lady Macbeth proves the part where she will do anything, even kill her own child, to show how much she wants it.