Sinowitz 1

Jared Sinowitz
Mrs. Starry
English 9 H, P.3

Ambition Speech
Ambition can be good or bad, either positive or negative. It can help people achieve
greatness, or drive them to commit crimes they would never normally carry out. More times than
not, it is heard about in the form of crimes, like murder, rather than tales of heroism or
overcoming and winning. Ill be focusing on ambitions negative, dark side.
Firstly, one book we all read in class pertaining to the element of negative
ambition was A Separate Peace. In the book, Genes drive ultimately leads to him pushing Finny
from a tree, causing Finnys untimely death. Gene strived to be better than Finny both
academically and physically, and when that didnt work out he was driven to harm Finny. Gene
is expressing determination in how he strives for something, and it turns dark quickly. Another
example of ambition in A Separate Peace is when Gene says, There was no rush to get into
fighting, no one seemed to feel the need to get into the infantry, and only a few were talking
about the Marines (Knowles 159). The soldiers Gene talks about are all scared and dont want
to fight, however, have been forced into it by their countrys leaders due to them having
ambition.
Next, we read Macbeth, a play revolving around ambitions dark effects. In
Macbeth, the main character is driven by negative intentions to kill Duncan, secure the throne,
and commit several murders. Other forces in the play cause him to carry out these deeds but
ambition is the main driving force. In Act five, Macbeth says, The cry is still, they come, our

Sinowitz 2
castles strength will laugh a siege to scorn (Shakespeare 5.5.1-2). This displays how Macbeths
determination causes him to be illogical and think he can win a fight that hes clearly destined to
lose. Ambition pushes him to commit murder and be executed.
I also read an article about a police raid in Belgium. In the article, the author
states, six police officers four Belgian and two French went into a building as part of an
investigation into the November thirteenth terrorist attacks (Breeden 1). This quote from my
article shows a governments aspiration to eradicate terrorism, and in the process, kill its own
citizens out of haste and political greed. Many people in France after the attacks can testify to
how horrific ambition can be.
Im sure weve all experienced ambition in one form or another at some point at
our lives. Whether it be winning that baseball game, or getting an essay done, it drives us.
However, that same ambition that determines people to do great things, can also lead to their
downfall. In that sports game that you need to win, sometimes you cheat, or get a foul, hoping
the ref wont notice, and if he does, you might have lost the game for your team. For that essay
due tomorrow that youve put off until the last day, sometimes the ambition to just get it done
causes you to cheat. You might plagiarize, or you might not put in your full effort, all because
you want to be done quicker, and not try your hardest, causing you to get a low grade.
All of these examples show how terrible ambition can be, from poor choices to
murder, ambition affects everyone. Ambition can be great or it can be terrible, but at its utmost
form, almost always it turns bad, fast in the people who possess it.

Sinowitz 3

Works Cited
Breeden, Allison. Belgium Says Algerian Killed in Raid May Have Had Links to Radical Islam.
New York: Stephen, 2016. Web. <www.NYTimes.com>
Knowles, John. A Separate Peace. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.
Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. England, 1606. Print.