Ambition is the desire to achieve something. The four texts that I talk about in this essay each have their own ambition, either good or bad. The four texts are Macbeth, Ozymandias, Gattaca, and Harry Potter. Each of their ambitions controls their lives and each of them wishes to for fill their ambitions. Some of their ambitions are bad which corrupt their lives and leaves them with nothing but a big ego, an everlasting ambition and a bad reputation. Other ambitions are good, which lead them to live on and for fill their ambitions and see the good outcomes because of their ambitions.

Macbeth is overflowed with his ambition to become king, after hearing the witches prophecies.” All hail Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter”. His ambition leads him to do unspeakable things such as murder. The witches never make Macbeth do anything they just tell him their prophecies about him and Macbeth fills in the blanks and does anything to make them true. It isn’t until Lady Macbeth’s death that Macbeth realizes that his ambition has lead him to his dark fate, death. Ambition is the key to his downfall, it’s what crushes him. Macbeth’s ambition becomes his obsessive trait, that he has no control over. Macbeth becomes more and more hungry for more power, and he lets his ambition to have that control his life. Macbeth throughout the play is never truly satisfied with the power that he has and craves for more. An example of when Macbeth’s ambition is when it drives him to kill King Duncan, but also with the pressure of Lady Macbeth’s ambition for her to become Queen, and for her husband to become King. This is the final push that made Macbeth commits the murder, he did this through his greed to become King, his ambition. This dark side of ambition is shown also in Ozymandias.

Just like in Macbeth, Ozymandias thinks he is untouchable even after his death he still puts himself above everyone else. The poem is saying that ambitions are so powerful, that they carry on even after life,nwe can see this in the quote ” which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things”. This quote can give us the image that ambition lingers in the air around us and rardates off us, enven after life.  The statue of Ozymandias is to show his ambition, his pride and power and how highly he thinks of himself. The crumbled statue is to show that even governments fall and break, due to the greed to for fill their ambitions. Ozymandias ambition is power, the same as Macbeth’s ambition. The greed for power to rule, is a dark ambition that changes people for the worse. Ozymandias and Macbeth show the dark side of ambition and what it can lead to when the greed to for fill your ambition becomes the most important thing. There is also th more lighter side of ambition, the side where the persons ambition is about doing good, or doing good for them, proving to themselves that they can do something and beat the odds even though the odds are against them. This is shown is Gattaca. 

Gattaca is the story about Vincent Freeman. At birth, his parents were told that he would have heart problems and wouldn’t live past thirty. Vincent that the ambition to go to space. He dreamed about it, but because of his “heart disease” he wouldn’t be able to. Vincent puts all his eggs into one basket. We can see this idea that he has put all his eggs in one basket in the quote ” you want to know how I did t Anton, i never saved anything for the swim back”. He leaves home and takes the identity of Jerome. After taking the identity of Jerome his dreams of going to space are in sight. Vincent puts everything he has into being able to pull this off, he risks so much just to make his childhood dreams come true. His ambition to go to space rules his life, it controls it, but his ambition never hurts anyone, unlike Macbeths and Ozymandias. Vincent doesn’t have the greed to have power, he has the greed to have his dreams come true, to go to space.

In the last movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2, during the break in between the magical war, Lord Voldemort calls Harry to the forbidden forest, to sacraifice himself in order to save his friends and loved ones. Harry’s ambition is to stop Lord Voldemort and to protect his friends and loved ones. Before Harry leaves Hermione tells him that she’s coming with him, Harry knows he has to do this alone to protect his loved ones, which is his ambition. Harry goes to the forest to meet Lord Voldemort, on the way Harry stops. He takes out the resurrection stone (brings loved ones back) and talks to his family and loved ones that died protecting him. One of Harry’s lines are ” I never meant for any of you to die for me”. Harry has always had the ambition to protect his loved ones from anything. Harry’s ambition is for the greater good and to help others, not himself. He is the complete opposite from Macbeth and Ozymandias whos ambitions are all about power over others.

Through the four texts ambition is shown in two ways, for good and for bad. Macbeth and Ozymandias have the greed for power over people that destroy their lives and Gattaca and Harry Potter have the ambition to fulfill a childhood dream and to protect his friends and loved ones. At the end of Macbeth he died at the end of Ozymandias we are given the image of a broken statue. At the end of Gattaca he goes to space and at the end of Harry Potter he kills Lord Voldemort and saves his friends and loved ones. We can see that the darker side of ambition breaks and destroys you and the good side of ambition for fills their ambition and lives.

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  1. Achievement Achievement with Merit Achievement with Excellence
    • Explain significant connection(s) across texts, using supporting evidence.
    • Convincingly explain significant connection(s) across texts, using supporting evidence.
    • Perceptively explain significant connection(s) across texts, using supporting evidence.

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