Essay: Compare Macbeth and A Simple Plan: Ambition and Understanding Human Condition

Despite being from two vastly different eras, the comparative study of Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth and Sam Raimi’s movie, A Simple Plan offer to me deep insights into the human condition through forms contemporary to their time, illustrating the timelessness of concerns with uncontrolled ambition that lead to moral corruption. In these tragedies, two successful men become embroiled in devastation after their ambition is tested with the opportunity of becoming king for Macbeth and gaining millions of dollars for Hank. In the following, these two texts will be compared, analysed and understood through the use of literary and film techniques as well as their representations of unbridled ambition.
There are significant parallels between Macbeth and A Simple Plan where both main characters have their ambition tested, struggling to maintain their morality in face of temptation. In Act 1 Scene 3 of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, after the witches inform Macbeth of his future as king, Macbeth already struggles with his growing ambition, thinking: “Why do I yield to that suggestion [of murdering King Duncan]/Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair…” Shakespeare’s foreshadowing and verb choice of ‘yield’ suggest that Macbeth is submitting to his horrid thoughts of murdering King Duncan to achieve his ambition of being King, defying contextual norms of Christian morality and also the Divine Right of Kings which allow monarchs to rightfully inherit the throne as such with King James I controversially inheriting the throne at the time of writing. This is re-imagined in Raimi’s A Simple Plan, where after being exposed to 4.4 million dollars, Hank struggles with his growing ambitions in the context of the American Dream which emphasises the importance of hard work and material wealth: After this, Hank submits to his underlying ambitions and decides to keep the money. Raimi uses the barren landscape of snow to contribute to the ominous atmosphere, foreshadowing the consequences in cheating the ‘American Dream’ while also using close-up shots to showcase his inner conflict between this conceptual ideal and his ambitions of wealth. Therefore, despite Macbeth being in pursuit of power and Hank being in pursuit of wealth, there are major parallels in both characters submitting to their ambitions, disregarding the moral contextual values of their times.
The two texts further depict Macbeth and Hank struggling with their unbridled ambitions, ultimately leading to devastation and loss. In Macbeth, Lady Macbeth succumbs to her lust for power, convincing Macbeth to follow his ambitions to kill King Duncan. This leads to dire consequences with Lady Macbeth suiciding out of guilt and Macbeth hallucinating over his guilt-ridden actions leading him to absolute regret, showcased in his soliloquy in Act 5 Scene 5: “Life’s but a walking shadow…Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury/Signifying nothing,” Shakespeare uses this metaphor and melancholic, futile tone to display Macbeth’s nihilistic perspective on life, transgressing his moral boundaries in the pursuit of his own selfish ambitions that have become meaningless. Shakespeare demonstrates to us that unchecked ambition is a major human flaw that leads to deviation from Christian morals, shown through Macbeth interfering with the Divine Right of Kings, creating societal chaos. This corruption of morality is similarly reflected in A Simple Plan where Hank kills Farmer Dwight to protect his brother and his own ambitions for wealth, soon leading to the deaths of Lou and his wife. Although Hank’s wife, Sarah, who like Lady Macbeth, urges her husband to follow his ambitions, this results in simply more deaths, including Carl and Jacob. Just as in Macbeth, this suffering is meaningless after Hank burns all the cash to evade arrest: . Hank’s anguish is reflected through his facial expressions and the non-diegetic sombre soundtrack. In the shot, Raimi makes the burning money the focal point, symbolising Hank’s suffering as a result of his unbridled ambitions for wealth that lead him to disregard morals and ideals of the American Dream. Thus it is evident in both texts that the composers, despite representations through different mediums, warn of the dangers of unchecked ambition that only leads to despair.
In conclusion, Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Raimi’s A Simple Plan have deepened my understanding of the human condition through representations of unchecked ambition. While ambition is important for leadership and also success through the ‘American Dream’, unchecked ambition is proven through the two texts to dangerously lead to moral corruption and despair. Whether it be in Shakespeare’s time, in the late 1990’s or in the future, it is evident to me and the audiences that the universal themes of ambition and the human condition transcend time and all contextual boundaries.