Ambition is a very important aspect of a person’s life just like a core belief. Ambition is a strong desire to do or achieve something. Ambition can have a positive and negative force on people pushing them to the extremes of their capabilities. The only thing stopping us sometimes from achieving our goals is our integrity and stops us from falling into the hole of no return. Through the last 4 centuries, ambition has been weaved into all sorts of written text and movies showing what the effects of ambition can produce. Certain films have this such as Gattaca and Iron man and written texts like Macbeth and Ozymandias which portray ambition. Ironman and Gattaca both show the positive outcomes of having ambition whereas Macbeth and Ozymandias both show the negative outcomes of having ambition.
In Macbeth, William Shakespeare uses symbolism to show how ambition affects Macbeth. Shakespeare communicates to us that, because of Macbeth’s ambition he has started to go down a road that may not be so good for him with Macbeth saying “Is this a dagger which I see before me” telling us his senses are playing tricks on him trying to make him slip up and also makes the audience think that even Macbeths senses think that Macbeth has reached to deep into the hole. Macbeth also tells the audience “The prince of Cumberland is a step on which I must fall down, or else o’erleap, For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires.” which tells us that what he will do, will send him down a new path and Macbeth does not want the heavens to see because it is so horrible so he wants the clouds to create a barrier that God cannot see through. This use of symbolism that Shakespeare uses shows us that the ambition that Macbeth has is a very negative effect on him.
Gattaca a film by Andrew Niccol which has different uses of symbolism that in the end shows how ambition can have a positive effect on Vincent such as the stars. This is shown by the use of Vincent always being scared of being caught because he is genetically different which shows that humans are able to operate the best when they have to overcome the problem. This is shown when Vincent says ” Of course, they say every atom in our bodies was once part of a star. Maybe I’m not leaving… maybe I’m going home.” this shows that he thinks because he is different to everyone else he might be a completely different being. This compared to Macbeth shows although they both have ambition Macbeth’s is a force that pushes him giving him no control whereas Vincent is pulling his ambition right until he reaches his goal.
Jon Favreau and the Marvel team created iron man to show a posh and arrogant rich man who could do anything he wanted but once his life changes due to a piece of shrapnel going towards his heart, ambition is created to stop the people that hurt him and many other people using his weapons. Tony says at an interview with the press “I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them, and I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability.” which shows us that the ambition he had, had shown him how horrible some of the things he made were when used with negative ambition. Iron Man and Gattaca link together showing that positive ambition can not just be a selfish person’s will but also can also help others. The ambition in Gattaca for Vincent was showing that a small man can do great things whereas, in Iron man, Tony Stark’s ambition shows that a rich person that has everything with one near to death moment his whole life changes so that he goes and helps destroy the thing that he previously made.
Ozymandias a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley is written about a King who was the big man but because of his ambition everything he did became worthless and covered over by sand. Ozymandias’s ambition has a negative affect after he dies and his statue is the only thing left to remember. In the poem, Percy says “Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. ” showing that sometimes what our ambition takes us towards generally ends up to being nothing. For Ozymandias, this is that having an army that is thought to be indestructible can actually once the person with the ambition is gone leaves nothing to drive the army. Iron man shows that with an external force for just one person can help complete the ambition that someone has, whereas in Ozymandias since he has multiple external forces it will be harder to get more ideas meaning the ambition becomes negative and shows that you may have everything helping you but yet what you accomplish will eventually become nothing.
In conclusion, ambition can be used positively giving people a feeling of meaning and accomplishment but yet it can also be negative and for all that you tried it will eventually become nothing. This shows that ambition has a very important effect on people’s life pushing them to the very edge of their capabilities and can be very destructive if used in the incorrect way. Through my texts Iron man and Gattaca it shows that a person when they have been shown something they did or people said they couldn’t do the ambition they have is so overwhelming that it ends up positively affecting their lives. The opposite of this is Macbeth and Ozymandias which show that Ambition to get something can push the person into a state where what they did is horribly wrong and then no matter what they do the end goal they achieve is nothing. This shows that ambition throughout peoples life’s is needed.