The promotion that poisons
Imagine someone told they're destined for the top job — the hunger grows until they'll wreck everything, even themselves, to grab it. That's Macbeth: ambition unchecked, sliding step by step from hero to ruin, the shape of a tragedy.
Ambition unchecked
Macbeth dramatizes how unchecked ambition corrodes conscience. Spurred by prophecy and his wife, Macbeth murders his king and spirals through guilt toward ruin.
Dramatic irony
We know what characters do not — Duncan praises Macbeth's castle as he walks to his death.