Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to try to fulfill their ambitions Macbeth and his wife act on their own to fulfill their deepest desires. Macbeth, a good general, a good man, allows his ambition to overwhelm him and becomes a murdering, paranoid maniac. Lady Macbeth, once she begins to put into actions the hidden thoughts of her mind, is crushed by guilt. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth want to be great and powerful, and sacrifice their morals to achieve that goal. By contrasting these two characters with others in the play, such as Banquo, Duncan, and Macduff, who also want to be great leaders but refuse to allow ambition to come before honor, Macbeth shows how ambition, freed from any sort of moral or social conscience, takes over every other characteristic of a person. Unchecked ambition, Macbeth suggests, can never be fulfilled, and therefore grows into a monster that will destroy anyone who gives into it.