is foreshadowed, because a king can never be selfish and expect to hold his kingdom for very long. The fourth and final time that Shakespeare chooses to use the word slave comes when Macbeth hears of Macduff coming to defeat him (V.v.37). It is different from the other uses of slave in the fact that in this one the one using the word is the slave himself. After a messenger tells him of the moving Birnam wood, Macbeth calls him a Liar and slave!(V.v.37). Although the word seems to be out of context in this instance, after a careful look at it, one sees that it is actually a perfect word. Ever since Macbeth killed his king, he hasnt been able to trust anyone. Also, he has been so far from what is true for so long that he is not able to understand and accept it. Thus when the messenger tells Macbeth of the moving woods, he believes that the messenger is a slave to ambition, for it appears to be an ambitious move to try to lie to a king. In actuality, this messenger is not ambitious at all; he is simply delivering a message to his king. But because Macbeth is so far from the center by the end of the play, he is not able to see this mans true intent. Therefore, Macbeth is the real slave; a slave of his own ambition and of his distorted thoughts. Although Shakespeare uses the word slave only 4 times in Macbeth, it is still a pivotal word that puts into the readers mind a key symbol of the play, the slave of ambition. Through his use of this word, Shakespeare tells us that ambition causes deterioration. By the end of the play, Macbeth was obviously deteriorating both physically and mentally. As the reader knows, this downfall began once Macbeth killed King Duncan, and therefore is a product of his ambition. Also, through his use of slave, Shakespeare teaches that instead of letting our want for power overtake us, we must accept things the way they are and never try to change our fate the way Macbeth did. After all, no one wou...
