Ambition

Question 1

Ambition

What was Lady Macbeth and Macbeth’s Ambition seen as in Jacobean times?

Answer 1

-LM and M’s behaviour was seen as the largest sin on Earth

-King was at the top of the mortal section of the Great Chain of Being. To have ambition to move up social rank in Jacobean England or commit regicide was largest form of sin person can commit

-Being overly socially ambitious and trying to take higher places than your birthright in society was seen as sinful

-The Great Chain of Being was a Divine Order put in place by God so therefore, no one attempted to change it or play with it.

Question 2

Ambition

Why would James I approve of the play?

Answer 2

-Yes because it warns those who would have the ambition to commit regicide and overthrow the Great Chain of Being to regret it as they would end up dying like Macbeth.
-Play helps to reinforce his power
-He had** interest in witches **so he wrote book ‘Demonology’ to make people feel fearful of witches - he disliked witches as he thought witches killed his mother

Question 3

Ambition

‘Vaulting ambition that overleaps itself’

Answer 3

Act 1, Scene 7
-Moment when Macbeth begins to find his ambition for power and kingship.

Question 4

Ambition

“When you durst do it, then you were a man”

Answer 4

Lady Macbeth, Act I, Scene 7

-Lady Macbeth suggests that Macbeth must murder King Duncan to prove he’s truly a man.
-This follows Macbeth expressing doubts about the murderplan.
-Lady Macbeth challenges Macbeth’s masculinity, implying he is weak.
-This challenges traditional gender roles, with Lady Macbeth taking a dominant, manipulative role unusual for women of the time.
-Lady Macbeth’s power comes from her ability to deceive and manipulate.

Question 5

‘Hence Horrible Shadow!’

Answer 5

-Act 3, Scene 4 - The Banquet - shows that Macbeth believes in the supernatural as he thinks he sees Banquo’s ghost.
-Lady Macbeth calls this ‘folly’ which shows that she thinks Macbeth is foolish to be so believing of supernatural forces.

Question 6

‘Stars hide your fires, let not them see my black and deep desires’

Answer 6

-Act 1 Scene 4
-Macbeth says this as he doesn’t want people to see his dark temptations like murder

Question 7

Tell me, thou unknown power’

Answer 7

– Act 1,Scene 3
- Macbeth commands the witches to know more about the prophecies
-He sees them as powerful and impressive

Question 8

‘Speak……………….. ‘Tell me’

Answer 8

Macbeth says to witches in** Act 4 Scene 1**
-Shows his ambition is becoming** too much** for him as he keeps asking them for more information.

Question 9

‘How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags? What is ’t you do?’

Answer 9

-** Act 4, Scene 1**
-Shows how much he is questioning the witches, shows how he wants to know about the prophecies

Question 10

‘Art not without ambition, but without/The illness should attend it’

Answer 10

Act 1, Scene 5
-Lady Macbeth says this to Macbeth to persuade him into being ambitious as she states men without ambition are ‘ill’.

Question 11

‘If chance will have me king, why chance may crown me
Without my stir’

Answer 11

—** Act I, scene 3**
-Macbeth realises he does not have to do anything to take the throne. So the murderousness does not come straight from the promises of the Witches, but from somewhere else.
-This would perhaps Shakespeare warning his audience not to commit crimes or go against God who underpins the Great Chain of Being so therefore do not commit regicide as you will** never recover** form the** guilt** and will live in fear of** going to hell**.