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Daniela Grgas

Starry

English 9 H, Period 2

03 April 2017

Ambition Speech

Is ambition good? Is ambition bad? Is ambition just another word that youll never use

again? Ambition can be detrimental; however, ambition can be used to help a person get what

they want. But what is that supposed to mean? Is it not right to strive for what you want? The

only way I can answer this question for you is it depends.

Ambition relies on a force, in other terms, ambition is similar to lighting a match. When

you strike the match, you realize what you want, and then a flame ignites. Sooner or later the fire

can burn you or give you light. Although this is such an odd comparison, it is utterly true,

because if you let ambition get the best of you, it bites you in the end. On the flip side, if your

ambition drives from positivity, ambition will be a key trait in life.

Ambition is a central theme in both A Separate Peace by John Knowles and Macbeth by

Shakespeare. These pieces of literature show the struggle between the character, themselves, and

morals. For example, in A Separate Peace Gene envied his best friend, Finny, who had always

been athletically gifted while Gene was school smart. So Gene purposely jounced a limb he and

Finny were on so Finny would fracture his leg and be unable to play sports. Moreover in

Macbeth the main character, Macbeth, finds out he will become the King of Scotland along with

other prophecies from three witches. With that information, Macbeth didnt want anything to get
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in the way of his throne, and it led him to committing several murders and losing sense of moral.

Robert Samuelson from the Washington Post states, As ambition inflates, so does self-

absorption. Everything else in life deflates. The single-mindedness can smother self-restraint and

common sense (Samuelson 2) It is shown that ambition leads one to make poor choices

because their mind is clouded by the drive to succeed in one certain aspect of their life.

It may seem as if I am against ambition and what it has to offer since I am describing

such negative affects ambition, but ambition is credited to welcoming entrepreneurs such as

Henry Ford, Walt Disney, and Martin Luther King. Looking specifically at Dr. Martin Luther

King Jr., many people stood in his way trying to stop his actions to end racial injustice. His

ambition helped him block out the people that stood in his way. His drive to thrive blocked out

the people who told him what he was trying to do is wrong. Thanks to his ambition he has been

awarded one of the greatest accomplishments Bringing America together. So, when ambition

provides a positive drive, things seem limitless because the influence to succeed is so strong.

After doing extensive research on the topic of ambition, I have heard multiple views on

its effects, both positive and negative. In my opinion, ambition is a catch-22. I am assuming the

majority of us in this room want to be successful when we are older, and eventually become

wealthy, it has been said that Getting an education is the best way to become rich because the

richness will come from the persons success (Northridge 2); however, if you take the ambition

to become wealthy and successful and use it to steal money or marry someone due to what they

have allows ambition to get the best of you. This theory also relates back to Macbeth. After Lady

Macbeth received a letter entailing Macbeths prophecies that he will become the King of

Scotland, she forced him to do wrongful deeds when he did not want to do them. Lady Macbeth

believes Macbeth is to kind to kill King Duncan in order to get the throne as she says, Yet do I
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fear thy nature. It is too full o the milk of human kindness. To catch the nearest way. Thou

wouldst be great; Art not without ambition (Shakespeare 1.5.20) as Lady Macbeth states To

catch the nearest ways she is referring to the fact Macbeth would rather gain power virtuously

rather than through murder. Relating back to being wealthy, Lady Macbeth urges him to kill King

Duncan and get the throne so then she can reap the benefits of ruling a kingdom along with

Macbeth, so she doesnt influence Macbeth through love, but greed.

As shown in Macbeth Lady Macbeth only thought of herself, and this is applicable in A

Separate Peace as well. Gene was always jealous of Finnys ability to talk his way out of trouble

and to pick up any sport he tried, so Gene purposely hurt Finny and caused him to break his leg

so he wouldnt be compared to Finnys athletic excellence. There are two cases of ambition in

this scenario. Finny was very confident in himself, and people with high degrees of

conscientiousness, and who are extroverted, are more likely to have that drive to succeed

(Borzykowski 3), and he had ambition that led him to succeed in many sports. On the other hand,

Genes ambition was fueled by negativity and resentment of Finnys capabilities, so he lashed

out and hurt Finny out of envy.

All of these accounts of ambition were from books, so lets take a look into real-life

ambitions of high school students regarding college. Regardless of a familys income, it has

become more imperative than ever to attend college. Out of 601 surveyed students, only twenty-

seven percent said they felt very prepared for college (Ruiz 1)and seventy percent of the

students were set on attending college, and how does this relate to ambition? In order to be

successful in life after high school you need to have the drive and aspiration to be prepared to be

independent. As you leave home you have to channel ambition in positive ways to then obtain

wanted job positions, manage income, and in general take care of yourself. Using ambition to not
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be dependent on someone or something allows you to be a leader, and businesses want

ambitious leaders, but they want that drive to be for the good of the company (Borzykowski 3),

so you are a valuable asset.

Id have to say the question of whether or not ambition is good or bad is too vague to

answer for you. In A Separate Peace and Macbeth ambition was used negatively for personal

desires. In contrast, ambition has led to the great success of Martin Luther King and several

business leaders. So, Ill leave the answering to you: Is ambition good or bad?
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Works Cited

Borzykowski, Bryan. Ambition: do you need it to succeed? BBC, www.bbc.com. Accessed 15

Feb 2017.

Knowles, John. A Separate Peace. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, n.d. Print.

Northridge. Ambition Use For Success. California State University, Northridge,

http://www.csun.edu/~hblst144/paper2.html. Accessed 20 Feb 2017.

Ruiz, Rebecca R. A New Look at A High School Students Ambitions. The New York Times,

www.nytimes.com. Accessed 20 Feb 2017.

Samuelson, Robert. The Downside of Ambition. Real Clear Politics.

Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth. Leicester, United Kingdom: Sweet Cherry

Publishing. 2013. Print.