Ambition, although useful in allowing people and forces to get what they want, may have severe detrimental consequences in addition to the positive outcomes that come from expressing it. Although ambition is “socially useful”, being ambitious for selfish reasons may end in chaos.
An example of ambition gone awry can be found in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. Hester’s husband, Roger Chillingworth, definitely possesses quite a bit of ambition, but the risks that he takes do not help society, but rather end up hurting everyone around him and causing severe conflicts. The source of Chillingworth’s ambition comes from his eagerness to get revenge on Reverend Dimmesdale, the man who aided his wife in committing adultery and the father of Hester’s daughter. In this case of ambition, Chillingworth’s perseverence and eagerness to harm Dimmesdale clouded his mind, and instead of getting revenge and fulfilling his goals the morally and ethically correct way and turning Dimmesdale in, he used his medical expertise and knowlege to torture Dimmesdale with the thought of his own sins. Not only did this ambition gone wrong harm Dimmesdale, a fellow Puritan, but it also pushed him away from his own Puritan faith. His obsession with getting what he wanted and punishing Dimmesdale for his sins led him to sinning himself, putting him in quite the hypocritical situation. Chillingworth’s actions mirror what ambition does to people in our society today. His obsession with bringing down Dimmesdale in order to make himself feel better about his wife’s unfaithfulness is similar to how, for example, political candidates will release negative statements and scandalous facts about their opponents in order to bring them down. Neither of these situations are beneficial to society in any way, and are examples of how ambition can get to your head and have a negative impact on others. Taking ambition too far and focusing solely on how you can benefit from your actions has been a recurring issue throughout history.
The Essay on Scarlet Letter Hawthorne Dimmesdale Chillingworth
Hawthorne. Hawthorne. Visibly names are of importance to Nathaniel Hawthorne as evident in the "w" placed within his own to disassociate himself from his great great grandfather, a Salem judge. So, it would be logical to say that he took the naming of characters in his literary piece, The Scarlet Letter, into serious consideration: Chillingworth. Dimmesdale. Pearl. At nothing more than a glimpse ...
Historically, Robber barons are perfect examples of people who took their ambition too far. Although some may argue that the progress brought by the actions of some Robber barons such as Andrew Carnegie outweighed the detrimental effects that their actions had on society, the social issues caused by the actions of these business masterminds outweighed the positives by far. Carnegie, now a familiar household name in America, monopolized the steel industry in the late nineteenth century. In order to revolutionize this industry, he had to take many risks and business moves that negatively impacted the people of the United States. One of these moves was taking advantage of the Homestead Act, an act that gave westward settlers a certain amount of land for free in order to promote settlement in the newly purchased Louisiana territory. Carnegie and other business tyrants somehow got around this act and used the western land to expand their businesses further, using the railroads as their basis for transportation and communication. By doing this, Carnegie prevented farmers and poor settlers from claiming their piece of the pie and getting land for themselves. In addition, Carnegie incorporated vertical and horizontal integration into his business agenda, meaning that he bought out his suppliers and competitors, practically eliminating all competition in his industry.
By doing this, many people lost a choice when it came to job opportunities and were forced to work in Carnegie’s factories, which often lacked optimal working conditions and were ridden with disease. Carnegie’s ambitious actions, although they promoted industrialization across America and grew the steel industry, created an economic collapse eventually and severely negatively impacted the people of the United States. Carnegie let his ambition get to his head, and only focused on expanding his business and benefiting himself, making him a perfect example of how when uncontrolled, a person’s ambition can be detrimental to society.
The Business plan on International Business Environment Impacts On Retail Industry
In this individual term report, I will write a report to analyze how the international business environment impacts on retail industry. In the body of this report, 1 Identify the retail industry and the function of this industry. Present some researches on retail industry on economic, financial factors by focusing on over the past two years. And then, show the effect of socio-cultural in retail ...
Although ambition has proved to be necessary in growth, development, and progress, it often has a greatly negative impact on at least one group in society. In the case of Roger Chillingworth, his ambition contradicted his Puritan faith, and he not only focused all his time and effort on harming another Puritan, but lost grasp of his faith in the process. Robber barons such as Andrew Carnegie had a more seemingly positive impact than that of Chillingworth, but still caused hardships for the working and lower classes. All in all, ambition may help aid progress, but it holds us back from certain aspects of development by causing social issues and conflict, which have hindered civilizations from achieving success for as long as we can remember.