Ambition. A strong drive that pushes you to accomplish a desire or goal. The need to overcome obstacles and challenges and put strategies in place to grow your successes. In order to act on our ambitions, we must learn to prioritize what we love and can sometimes forget the means in which must be taken to rise above the normal. To achieve our ambitions, our integrity and ethics are put on the line. Purity or success? Virtues or greed? The idea of ambition has made appearances for years. Macbeth, the labyrinth, Ozymandias and Gattaca teach ideas, the effects ambition can have on the human soul. Macbeth, a play written by Shakespeare in 1606, shows the damaging consequences of having to much ambition. Macbeth teaches the lesson that humans will never be content with what they have, which leads to hurting the closest people around them. The labyrinth, a film directed by Jim Henson, shows the change in ambition as soon as the thing you love is taken away. Forgetting to remember that everything that they once achieved will one day be lost on them, Ozymandias written by Percy Shelly showcases the idea of power that has now been consigned to oblivion. And lastly Gattaca, a film that shows how positive ambition can be.
Shakespeare has Macbeth be a victim of greed and power, his deteriorating state of mind caused by a grand ambition. As Macbeth’s ambition slowly grows larger as does his insanity and irrationality. He slowly becomes more selfish and narcissistic, only doing things that benefit him. This causes him to make rash decisions under pressure such as the murder of King Duncan. Before proceeding with the murder Lady Macbeth advises her husband to “look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it.” By this, she means that he should appear to be innocent to disguise his devious and murderous plans. Not only is he being pushed by his own drive, but we also learn that Lady Macbeth is a powerful force behind his actions. She’s ambitious. she plans to share the throne and its wealth once Macbeth has killed the only thing stopping them. Hide underneath an innocent facade but at any point in time, he should be ready to strike. The serpent symbolises death and evil. In the Christian bible, Satan (in the appearance of a serpent) prompts the downfall of eve by tricking her into breaking Gods authority and eating the forbidden fruit. Hence the idea of serpents representing temptation, the devil, and deceit.
This is exactly what Jareth, played by David Bowie, conveys in the movie The labyrinth. The serpents’ actually shown to us near the beginning of the movie, when Sarah and has her brother taken away. Jareth presents her with a wish, a wish to grant anything she could ever dream of. This wish is presented to her in the form of a glowing orb. however, Sarah kindly declines as the only she wants now is her brother ‘I can’t, it’s not that I don’t appreciate what your doing for me but I want my brother back, he must be so scared.’ After her refusal, Jareth turns the orb into a snake yelling ‘don’t defy me’ before throwing her opportunity to receive anything she desired around her neck. In order to give some context, we must know that at the beginning of the film it was seen that the only thing Sarah wanted was to have her baby brother taken away, but as soon as her wish is fulfilled she immediately regrets it and there is a shift in her ambitions. She must now go through the labyrinth to find her baby brother. Her main motivation to go through the Labyrinth is the never felt before feeling of caring for a baby more than herself, an early experience of motherhood. the theme of the whole movie is about growing up and the struggles one has as they learn about the hardships faced with adulthood. Sarah innocently waltz’s her childhood into the arms of a monster, a monster that slowly falls in love with her. these experiences will have great impacts on her as she grows up.
Vincent’s childhood also affected him as he grew up and matured. Gattaca, a film directed by Andrew Niccol, tells the story of a young boy, his whole path carved out by the things that happened in his childhood. Vincent was born as a ‘godchild.’ This meant that there was no interfering from scientists when his parents decided to have the child. Most of the other newborn babies had been genetically chosen in order for the parents to receive the best child possible. This clearly affected society as we hear him say “They used to say that a child conceived in love has a greater chance of happiness. They don’t say that anymore.” Vincent’s brother Anton was a genetically chosen baby so when both were pitted against each other growing up, Anton had the advantage and would win. This taught Vincent that he would have to work for want he wanted to achieve, to reach space. Vincent strives to succeed no matter how disadvantaged he is, his ambitions drive his every move, affecting the choices he makes, however, these ambitions prove to be beneficial for him as at the end of the movie he reaches the stars. “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.”
Being connected by a serpent, Sarah from the movie Labyrinth is promised everything she could ever desire in exchange for her brother. when declining her wishes are turned into a snake suffa