How Ambition can be Pointless

Macbeth: He was Told he would be king by witches but that all kings who come after him would be Banquo descendants. Yet he still tried to stop this from happening by committing lots of murders and starting a war. But he ultimately ended up failing in his task and was killed. ” Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale, Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.” As a direct quote said by Macbeth himself, it is not too hard to come the conclusion that in the end, you can try all you want but you can’t beat life. But Macbeth still tried too, even when he was directly told by supernatural forces that he would not remain king and the kingship wouldn’t even stay in his family. He still tried to outsmart the inevitable. And he failed. Just as everyone else who tried did.

Ozymandias: He created a statue that was supposed to show all who saw it that he was indeed the “king of kings” and having all of his works on display. But when someone did find it, there was nothing but desert and all that was left was the legs and base of the statue and a half sunken face in the sand. Even after trying to immortalize his legacy of power in stone, Ozymandias still wasn’t able to beat the power of time in the end.

Gattaca: In the film Gattaca, Jerome Eugene Morrow has the most superior genes seen, he used to be the best of the best. He had been told and had believed that he was to be the best, for he should’ve been with his great genetic makeup. But even though he was supposed to be the best, and tried to be the best. He finished second in a swimming championship and tried to commit suicide, but only succeeded in putting him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. There is a dark ironic twist in this scenario though, as Eugene’s genes were supposed to be “second to none”, and still he ended up second place when he was supposed to win.

Red Queen: In Red Queen, society is separated by the colour of your blood. You’re either a Red, or a Silver. A peasant or high class. And if you’re born a Red, well there’s nothing you can do to be accepted in the much higher status class of the Silvers. Not even if you start a revolution to get rid of the corrupt system of Red and Silver. You just have to accept what you are, and you can’t do anything to change that.