When Laertes had learned of the actions of Hamlet, he was poisoned in the same fashion as Hamlet when he had learned of the incident involving his father. Ophelia was weaker against the poison and let it pull her into insanity. Ophelia escapes the poison when she takes her own life by drowning herself. In Macbeth, Shakespeare uses the leit motif of poison in the same manner. Although there is no actual poison being used, the mental poison is being used frequently. The first instance would be when the witches had told Macbeth that he would eventually become the king. He instantly became infatuated with what would happen to him. He believed that he could confide in Lady Macbeth, his wife. To speed the process of Macbeth becoming king, Lady Macbeth creatively devised of some way to murder the king. When Lady Macbeth learns that the king will visit her house, she said, "Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe, top-full of direst cruelty Come to my woman breasts, and take my milk for gall ." (Act I Scene v) She said this for the spirits make her stronger, but alas, it was to late because the poison had already taken its toll on her mind. The theme of ambition also plays a key role in both of Shakespeare's plays. Although in Shakespeare time, ambition was seen as wrong, he was still able to fit it into his plays. In Hamlet ambition is the cause of the downfall of two of the major characters; Polonius and Claudius. Polonius" ambition to be trusted and all knowing led him to a life of spying. He would spy on people to learn the truth of private conversations and other important events. While he was spying on Queen Gertrude and Prince Hamlet, Hamlet made the mistake of stabbing at Polonius when he was hiding behind a curtain. Claudius is the entire reason the story of Hamlet is even told. His ambition to become king was overcome by greed.