Ambition/Macduff Flashcards
“Boundless intemperance / In nature is a tyranny; it hath been / Th’untimely emptying of the happy throne / And fall of many kings,”
Macduff presents greed and unchecked ambition as bad qualities in a monarch, saying, “Boundless intemperance / In nature is a tyranny; it hath been / Th’untimely emptying of the happy throne / And fall of many kings,” (4.3). Though he is discussing Malcolm’s supposed greed, this wise statement can also be applied to Macbeth, and predicts his death. Saying it is a “tyranny” acknowledges how people will go to any lengths possible to satisfy their desires if they lack restraint. “Th’untimely emptying of the happy throne” may imply that even good kings can be corrupted by power, so that they lose their noble qualities and the throne is no longer “happy”. It may also express how treason and regicide (killing the king) are the results of other men’s greed, as was the case with Macbeth and Duncan.
