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Quote: Virtue and William Shakespeare

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Quote: Virtue and William Shakespeare
"Virtue is choked with foul ambition"
William Shakespeare

"Virtue is choked with foul ambition..." What does it mean? What was the famous William Shakespeare trying to accomplish with this quote? What was in his mind at this time? How can this quote help us? Who was this quote addressed to? Who can explain more about this quote? During this essay I will try to answer these questions, I want to know more about this. "Virtue is choked with foul ambition..." But what is a virtue? A virtue is moral excellence, goodness, and righteousness. Another meaning for virtue is a particular moral excellence, example natural virtue, theological virtue, and cardinal virtues. How can we tell if people have good virtues? The person will be honest, respectful, courageous, forgiving, and kind to others. Choked. What does Shakespeare mean when he says "choked" in his quote? Choked, regarding a person or animal is effecting or completely stopping air from entering the body. But I don't think that is what he meant when he used the word choke in this quote. I believe he was using this word "choked" as an expression meaning forbidding, not allowing, or stopping from. Now what is an ambition? Taken straight from an online dictionary, an ambition is a strong desire for success, achievement, or distinction; something so desired; goal; aim. Now that we know what a virtue and what ambition means we can sort of see what William Shakespeare is trying to say, it makes a little more sense to me now. "Virtue is choked with foul ambition" basically says we are our goals are foul, not correct. We all want to be good, but things go bad. It is easier to do bad thing instead of good things, so that effects good virtues. It is harder to become good, especially if you sin. When we sin our love with God hurts and it effects our good virtues. On top of that, it makes us come bad people, not children of Christ.
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