No sacrifices, no gain

Sacrifices can be a best friend or an enemy, sometimes they help you climb the hill and sometimes they lead you to the top, let your hands go and make you fall. Making sacrifices is the key to success, because something is being given up in order to receive something more valuable. Sacrifices are not worth it when an innocent person is involved and he/she could be hurt as a part of the sacrifice. However, giving up something for a greater good is really worth it because even though someone is losing something, other people will benefit from it. The play Macbeth shows how ambition leads the main character, Macbeth, to sacrifice his morals, love relationship, happiness, and his reputation in order to fulfill a selfish ambition. Lady Macbeth also makes lots of sacrifices in order to help her husband with his ambition, she gives up her sanity, relationship, happiness and peace. Macduff, on the other hand, sacrifices his family to help people in Scotland to restore the peace that has disappeared when Duncan, the previous king, has been murdered. Macbeth’s life has changed completely at the moment that he has decided to kill the king, Duncan, for his ambition. In the beginning of the play, Macbeth is referred to as ‘noble’, ‘brave’ and ‘worthy gentleman’, but after his first deed, he has been called a ‘tyrant’. . He has given up his dignity and has paid murderers to kill his own friend, Banquo, and an innocent family, Macduff’s family just to feel safer and more confident. His love relationship has changed as well, he has loved his wife so much that he always share every thought he has had, but after the crimes, Macbeth has been keeping things from his wife, such as Macduff’s family and Banquo’s assassinations. Later on, Macbeth has received the news that his wife has died but Macbeth has not shown any grief towards his wife's death. Macbeth reacts strangely by saying, "She should have died hereafter; there would have been a time for such a word."(5, 5, 17-18), and he has decided to add a philosophical speech in the end, "The way to dust death. Out, out, brief candle... It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." (5, 5, 23-28). In other words, Macbeth is saying that everyone will die one day that life is as short as a candle. He realizes that everything he has done so far has been meaningless and what he achieved will disappear at the moment his life comes to an end. These statements are significant because it shows how cold Macbeth has become; he does not feel sorrow for his dead wife. In addition, Macbeth shows that he, at some point, regrets doing such sacrifices which will be meaningless at the moment he dies. Finally, Macbeth has lost everything; he is basically selling his soul to the devil in order to obtain power. All the sacrifices that Macbeth has been doing is not worth it because ever since Macbeth has been crowned king, he has never showed any sign of happiness, in fact, he has only lived with the fear of being discovered, insecurity and he has never had a good night of sleep since the night of Duncan’s murder.

Furthermore, Lady Macbeth also becomes a victim of her own sacrifices. She has to give up her moral values to participate in a cruel murder, her love relationship has changed; Macbeth has not shared anything with her after becoming king of Scotland. In the early scenes, Lady Macbeth has been the most influential person to Macbeth, but their relationship is twisted when Macbeth’s character changes. Lady Macbeth suspects that Macbeth has made plans for Banquo secretly; therefore she has demanded Macbeth to give her some clue of what is happening but Macbeth does not want to tell her and replies, “Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, till thou applaud the deed.” (3, 2, 45-46). In other words, Macbeth says that Lady Macbeth should not worry about anything, because he has planned everything and once his goal is