Eric Goldstein

Friday, June 5, 2015

Honors English 11B
Mr. Dumas
Period 8
Semester B Synthesis Essay
Ambition causes many people to be determined and committed for their long
term goal. With too little ambition, you will never get what you want and never
achieve your dreams and desires. On the other hand, if you have too much
ambition, like Macbeth from Shakespeares Macbeth, you might go too far and over
achieve your goal, making the past forgotten. Even though Macbeth and Fences
were from different eras, Shakespeare and Wilsons main characters were driven by
ambition, which made them forget about their true selves.
Ambition drove Macbeth and Troy too far and become the person they were
not supposed to be. Macbeth, who was the main character of Shakespeares play,
was the most focused out of all of the characters ambitions. What pushed Macbeth
to kill Duncan was not his hatred of him, but instead his vaulting ambition
(Shakespeare 1.7) to become the new king of Scotland. Macbeth later became the
new King, saying it was only for his own good (Shakespeare 3.4). Macbeth
became selfish and power-hungry, only later killing more people whom he thought
was going to rebel against him. These newly developed characteristics, which were
voluntarily given to him when he was King, made Macbeth lonely and hated by
innocent people who had worsening relationships with him. Troy, from Fences had a
similar goal to what Macbeth had. Troy, who was the main character of Wilsons
play, was very ambitious to become a baseball player in the MLB but could not due
to his race. This made Troy irritated at mostly everything for the rest of his life and

cold-hearted. Since Troy was forced to get a blue-collared job, he wanted his son
Cory to get a same type of job where he can make a living (Wilson 8) instead of
playing football. Troy showed that he was mad at Cory, but was actually afraid that
his son would eventually end up like him. Troy wanted Cory to learn from his firsthand experiences and mistakes so he can reflect on them and make better choices.
Instead, Cory ignored his fathers advice and continued to pursue football, making
Troy angry at him and eventually kick him out of his house. In addition to being
cold-hearted and irritated after failing at pursuing his ambitions, he was also jealous
at African- Americans who actually made the MLB when he did not. For example,
Troy had an overwhelming hatred for Jackie Robinson, saying he wasnt nobody
(Wilson 10). Troy was actually extremely jealous of Jackie, since he thought that
could have been him. Unlike Macbeth, Troy was never motivated towards his goal
and gave up when he did not succeed.
Ambition made Troy and Macbeth forget about their true selves. Before
Macbeth became the power hungry person he was when he was king, he used to be
a brave person who was curious and took life for granted. He liked people around
him, and especially did not have the thought to kill anybody, but lost all of those
characteristics when he became King. When Troy was younger, he acted differently
than when he was an adult. When he was growing up, he was mostly lonely and
had a tragic childhood, since his father left him at a very young age. Troy was not a
good father towards his children mainly because he did not have a father figure he
grew up with. In addition, he did not reach his ambitions of being a baseball player
and instead became a garbage collector.
Secondary characters in each book also had their own ambitions they wanted
to achieve. Like Macbeth, Lady Macbeths ambition was to rule over Scotland. She

came to this conclusion after she read the letter from Macbeths account with the
prophecies, thinking that Fate and metaphysical aid (Shakespeare 1.5) was willing
Macbeth to become king. To become Queen, she was willing to do anything, even
Murder Duncan. This made Lady Macbeth turn into a power-hungry monster that
convinces Macbeth to kill Duncan instead of her, since she was too afraid to do it
herself and get into huge trouble. This also makes Lady Macbeth a coward, since
she was slick and did not do any of the work herself. Even though Troys ambition
was stated earlier in the book, the secondary character Roses ambition was the
most focused on in the book. To keep her strained family together and never break
apart, she wanted Troy, Lyons and Cory to build a fence around their house. Troy
did not want to build the fence, but was told by his brother Bono that she wanted it
To hold onto you all (Wilson 62). Having the intention that her familys
relationship would heal, the fence was finally built, but it later led to the opposite of
what she thought it would be. The fence did not bring the family close together,
and instead brought it even farther apart, with Cory getting extremely mad at Troy
and moving out. These horrific events made Rose disappointed and depressed
instead of being happy and her family closer together. Lady Macbeth and Rose
together were the same towards achieving their goal, since they both did not face
the challenges themselves and instead got someone else to do the tasks.
Before Lady Macbeth found out that the prophecies from the witches were
true, she was completely different. When Macbeth was promoted to Thane of
Cawdor, she was extremely happy for him and did not have the intention to kill
anybody, especially Duncan. Before Roses family was having a trouble time
together, and before she wanted to build a fence to change that relationship, she
acted less tense and friendlier towards her family. She also did not focus all of her

time trying to make her family build a fence, and felt happier. Both Lady Macbeth
and Rose never had any intention in the beginning to try to achieve their ambitions
and instead took life for granted
Even though the two books were from different eras, both compared and
contrasted in many ways. Both books characters ambitions were different, since
Macbeth and Lady Macbeths ambition was the same goal, while the ambitions in
Fences were based on each characters personal needs. While the ambitions had its
differences, all of them were similar because even though most of them succeeded
when they just reached their goal, they eventually failed and pulled them farther
away from reality. For example, when Macbeth and Lady Macbeth finally became
king and queen, they later were killed from a rebellion due to their dictatorship and
killings of innocent people. When Troy tried to become a baseball player, he failed
to make it to the MLB and never became famous. Thirdly, when Rose finally got the
fence done, it did not achieve the intention of keeping her family in, but instead
acted as an invisible barrier that did not help her families current situation.