English lit- Macbeth themes

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  • English lit- Macbeth themes
    • ambition
      • "i have no spur to ***** the sides of my intent, only vaulting ambition"
      • ambition "o'erleaps itself and falls" which foreshadows macbaths own tragic downfall
      • This is Macbeths fatal flaw
      • this is what changes Macbeth from a "valiant" to a "dead butcher"
    • Loyalty and betrayal
      • macduff is loyal to his country
      • thanes are loyal to duncan
      • Banquo is loyal to himself by not letting the witches prophesies get into his head and hes loyal to his son by saving his life
      • thane of cawdor is executed for betrayal
      • Macbeth betrays his own sense of right and wrong
      • betrayal is often linked to power
      • Macbeth and lady Macbeth pretend to be loyal- Shakespeare juxtaposes lady Macbeths plotting to kill Duncan with her welcoming Duncan to the castle which makes her murderous intentions seem more dramatic
    • kingship
      • Duncan described as "glorious" which shows hes the rightful ruler but Macbeth is decribed as "tyrant" which contrasts this
      • Shakespeare uses an ordered and pieceful country to shoe duncans rightful reign but days turn to nights during Macbeths reign which shows an unworthy ruler
      • kings should be holy because they were believed to be chosen by god. Macbeth contrasts this as he is described as "devilish"
    • good and evil
      • change links to good ans evil as we see Macbeth go from being a good man to an evil man
      • Macbeth becomes hardened to the crimes he commits throughout
      • evil is linked to gender shown by "unsex me here" by lady Macbeth which shows that men were seen to be more evil than women
        • this links to the witches gender and how they "should be women" but have beards (their gender is ambiguous)
      • battles represent the conflict between good and evil
        • in the battle at the start the thane of cawdor is the "merciless macdonald" who is a traitor which represents evil
        • Shakespeare emphasizes the conflict between good and evil through religious imagery when describing Macbeth as "cursed" and has a "more hateful" name than the devil. in contrast to this, young siward is "gods soldier" because he died fighting to defeat an evil "tyrant"
    • the supernatural
      • the witches are a supernatural force
        • social context- at the time the audience would have been shocked and scared of these characters as they thought to be real at the time
        • the witches are associated with chaos as they try to impose an unnatural order on whats good and unnatural
          • "untie the winds" and "castles topple" shows that the witches are motivated by destruction rather than goodness- they represent the struggle between the natural and unnatural order
      • visions are supernatural signs of guilt
        • visions are ambiguous- could be real or imaginary
    • reality and appearances
      • "look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under't"
        • serpend links lady Macbeth to satan who tempted adam and eve in the garden of eden, therefore giving lady Macbeth  significance
      • "false face" shows Macbeth hides his murderous acts
      • "fair is foul and foul is fair" shows how things may not be as they seem
      • they use language to trick Macbeth and convince him of his false reality- they tell him that "none of women born" will harm him which gives him false confidence to fight to protect his reign
      • "theres no art/ to find the minds construction in the face"- cant tell what people are really like
      • other characters speak using paradox, Macbeth says "nothing is/ but what is not" which creates uncertainty
      • False face must hide what the false heart doth know"
    • fate and free will
      • Untitled

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