Macbeth

Macbeth is a strong warrior who fights bravely in battle. - "brave Macbeth - well he deserves that name"

Macbeth is ambitious as he wants to become King of Scotland and will do anything for this to happen - "I have no spur to ***** the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition".

He's got a conscience and doubts whether he is doing the right thing. He often spends time feeling guilty. - "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand".

Lady Macbeth is:

Cruel - "And fill me from the crown to the toe topfull of direst cruelty"

Cunning - "Look like th'innocent flower but be the serpent under't"

Disturbed - "She is troubled with thick coming fancies"

She changes over the course of the play - towards the beginning she is the mastermind and manipulator behind Duncan's murder, but these eventually get the better of her, causing her to commit suicide due to guilt.

Is Macbeth a hero?

Towards the beginning of the play, Macbeth is described as "valiant". He is compared to "Bellona's bridgeroom", saying he is like the God of war.

Macbeth's actions impress the king, hence he is named Thane of Cawdor.This shows that the King recognises Macbeth's "personal venture" and loyalty.

Macbeth feels most comfortable on the battlefield and that is where he dies too. Even though he knows he is doomed, he fights "bear-like" to the end. He says that he "will not yield".

Is Macbeth a murderer?

He murders Duncan because he wants to be King. He has Banquo and Macduff's family killed as he is afraid of losing his position.

His ambition is stronger than his morality.

At the end, Macbeth is called a "hell-hound", a "tyrant", and a "butcher". Macbeth's violent ambition has ruined his noble characteristics.

Macbeth's Conscience:

He has a strong sense of right and wrong. He worries about the consequences of his actions because there is "judgement" on earth and "deep damnation" after he dies.

He doesn't want to kill Duncan saying "he hath honoured me of late" and "we will proceed no further in this business". He sounds confident and as if he has made up his mind because he realises that Duncan trusts him and he has a duty to protect him.

After Duncan is dead, Macbeth suffers terribe guilt and kills anyone who threatens his position.

After killing Duncan he hears a voice saying "Macbeth does murder sleep".

By the end of the play he no longer has this conscience because he thinks that a person's actions don't matter and that life means nothing.

Lady Macbeth's Influence:

Lady Macbeth persuades him to kill Duncan by suggesting that he will be "more the man". Macbeth and Lady Macbeth constantly link masculinity with strength.

If Lady Macbeth wasn't part of the play, he wouldn't have killed Duncan. She manipulates him and he does it as he doesn't want to be seen as unmanly or a coward.

She doesn't have to influence Macbeth much after he has killed Duncan. The more lives he takes, the easier it becomes.

Supernatural's Influence:

The first time he meets the witches, he trusts them immediately, saying "Two truths are told". Banquo however doesn't trust them and thinks they want to "win us our harm".

"Is this a dagger that I see before me" - leads him to Duncan's room before he murders him.

The Witches' prophecies begin to come true, so Macbeth starts to act upon those which haven't yet, leading him to becoming the king, but also leading to his downfall.

Lady Macbeth's ambition:

As soon as she receives the letter, she assumes that they must kill Duncan. She is more ruthless than Macbeth. - She says that Macbeth is "too full o'th'milk of human kindness" and thinks this makes him a coward, using this to manipulate him to do what she wants.

She feels no ordinary woman would plan this murder, which is why she appeals to the spirit to "unsex" her and fill her with "direst cruelty".

Lady Macbeth links masculinity to strength and violence, but Shakespeare uses her to show that women can be just as ruthless and cold-hearted as men.

She is clever:

She is the mastermind behind the plot to kill Duncan.

When Duncan's murder is discovered, she faints. This could be a pretence which draws attention away from Macbeth's poor speech. She also covers him up when he sees Banquo's ghost, showing she is always in control.

When she pretends to faint, she takes advantage of the way women were viewed at the time. She is using the stereotype of a weak woman overcome by the shock to hide the reality of her cruel nature.

Importance of Gender:

She thinks that women were made weak because of their maternal instincts - "Come to my woman's breasts and take my milk for gall". She is asking to lose her femininity.

In the Jacobean era, women were seen to be kinder than men so Shakespeare uses Lady Macbeth to show that this isn't always true. She says that she would kill her own baby if she had sworn to do so. 

She is contrasted with a caring, nurturing mother portrayed by Lady Macduff.

She does have a softer side however as she says she couldn't kill Duncan as he reminds her of her father. She may not be as cold-hearted as we are led to believe.

She can only achieve what she wants through Macbeth as it is set in a violent, male-dominated society.

Macbeth may have been troubled with guilt towards the beginning, but by the end it is Lady Macbeth who is driven mad by guilt.

When she starts sleepwalking the doctor describes it as a "great perturbation in nature" because her mind is so disturbed that it has affected her ability to sleep well. Shakespeare used this because sleepwalking was thought to be unnatural at the time of this play so the fact that Lady Macbeth can't sleep peacefully emphasises her madness.

In her sleep, she keeps washing her hands similarly to how she did after Duncan's murder. She is hoping she can wash away her guilt just as easily as she did with the blood - "Out, damned spot".

Guilt and isolation affect her that much that she eventually kills herself because she can't live with what she has done.

Her language reflects her state of mind. She speaks confidently at the start in structured verse but by the end she speeks in rambles and repeats herself showing she has lost all self-control - "Come, come, come, come, give me your hand."

Throughout the play, the Macbeth's relationship changes. Towards the start their marriage seems loving as Macbeth calls Lady Macbeth "my dearest partner of greatness".

As the play develops Lady Macbeth starts to dominate Macbeth, she covers up his behaviour and manipulates him into killing Duncan.

As Macbeth gets further away from her, she becomes anxious and alone. She is clearly unable to cope without Macbeth.

The Witches are:

Evil - "instruments of darkness"

Ambiguous - "this supernatural soliciting cannot be ill, cannot be good"

Strange - "so withered and so wild"

The Witches are not often called "Witches" in the play, instead they are known as the weird sisters. They look like ugly women with beards, which tells the audience immediately that they are unnatural and evil.

They can see into the future as all their predictions come true. They don't gain anything from their actions, they just like causing trouble.

They speak in short rhythmical lines which makes them different to the other characters - "eye of newt, and toe of frog, wool of bat, and tongue of dog"

Banquo is unsure whether the witches are even real. He is suspicious that their appearance is misleading - "are ye fantastical, or that indeed which outwardly ye show?"