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Macbeth · 1623
I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself, and falls on the other.
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
Macbeth diagnoses himself before he commits the crime. The picture is of a rider so eager that he leaps over his horse and falls on the far side: ambition without any other reason, which defeats itself. It is one of Shakespeare's neatest warnings about overreaching, and commentators still reach for it when someone's rise looks set to end in a fall.
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In context
Spoilers for MacbethShow the scene
Macbeth, Act 1, scene 7, in Macbeth's castle. While King Duncan sits at supper as his guest, Macbeth slips out of the hall and alone on stage works through the plan to kill him that night. He lists reasons against: Duncan is his kinsman, his king and his guest, and so gentle a ruler that his virtues would cry out against the murder. These lines end the speech, with Macbeth admitting he has no motive except ambition. Lady Macbeth then comes in to ask why he has left the table. He says they will go no further, and she shames him into going on.
Sources (1)
- Macbeth, Act 1 Scene 7 (MIT Shakespeare)Act 1, scene 7, end of Macbeth's opening soliloquy and Lady Macbeth's entranceReference checked
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