Macbeth

Question 1

State of mind (madness, guilt, paranoia)

Macbeth

Answer 1

• Before Macbeth kills Duncan, he is nervous and already feels guilty. This is clear in the part where he has the vision of the bloody dagger, which clearly shows that he is uncertain about what he is about to do.
• Following the murder of Duncan, Macbeth becomes increasingly unstable. His guilt about killing a friend and paranoia about maintaining the throne lead him to madness, which also makes him ruthless and bloodthirsty.
• As Macbeth’s mental state declines he retreats into himself and becomes fixated on keeping his title. He has become unreachable by reason or moral thought and his relationship with his wife has changed - they are no longer a couple - as he pushes her away and only trusts the witches.
• Macbeth begins to lose sleep and even sees Banquo’s ghost during a banquet feast.

“Methought I heard a voice cry, ‘sleep no more!’ “
“Is this a dagger which I see before me?”
“To be thus is nothing but to be safely thus.”
“O, full of scorpions is my mind.”

Question 2

State of mind (madness, guilt, paranoia)

Lady Macbeth

Answer 2

• At first Lady Macbeth is in control and focused with helping Macbeth achieve his goals.
• Ironically, She scorns Macbeth for his guilt and gets angry with him for being occupied with his guilt instead of enjoying his kingship.
• Lady Macbeth’s gradual spiral into insanity starts once Macbeth stops confiding in her in favour of the witches. This is because she depends on him, though this is less obvious at the beginning.
• She starts thinking about the murder constantly and has sleepwalking episodes where she is seeing Duncan’s blood on her hands. Soon after she kills herself as she can’t take the guilt anymore.

“A little water clears us of this deed.”
“Out, damned spot.”

Question 3

Kingship and tyranny

Answer 3

• The play presents examples of good and bad rule in the form of Duncan and Macbeth.
• Duncan was chosen by God to be king and is just and fair. He rewards his men with honours, for example when he makes Macbeth Thane of Cawdor.
• However, Macbeth comes to be king through immoral means and his rule continues in this way. Macbeth is tyrannical and becomes murderous. His rule is a brutal dictatorship.
• Duncan is willing to work for the trust and love of his subjects, whereas Macbeth shortcuts his way to the throne through killing.
• King Edward, similar to Duncan, is portrayed as a good king, well-liked by his people. In contrast to the way Macbeth is destroying his country, King Edward heals his country of the King’s Evil.

“I have begun to plant thee, and will labour to make thee full of growing.”
“Bleed, bleed, poor country!”
“Such sanctity hath heaven given his hand.”

Question 4

Honour

Answer 4

• At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is a man of honor. He bravely enters the battle against the Norwegians, risking his life in service of his king.
• Macbeth kills his king, his guests, his best friend, women and children. Not only is he killing people that are innocent and trust him, but he is also doing it in a cowardly and dishonourable way since he pays murderers to do most of this for him.

“He’s here in double trust.”

Question 5

Masculinity and feminity

Answer 5

• Masculinity and femininity are not portrayed in uniform ways in Macbeth.
• Lady Macbeth directly opposes the common Elizabethan idea that women are nurturers and givers of life when she wants to give up her femininity and become a man so that she can become a taker of life.
• The gender roles are swapped when Lady Macbeth takes on the dominant role in the her marriage; on many occasions, she rules her husband and dictates his actions.
• Good men in the play: Macduff makes a great sacrifice (his family) to save Scotland; Banquo displays strong a sense of morality regarding the prophecies, never acting on them; Duncan is a gracious, kind and the representative of God on earth; Malcom has courage, fortitude, and stableness.
• Macbeth is only a good man for a small amount of time before becoming self-serving, a liar and a murderer.

“Unsex me here.”
“Take my milk for gall.”
“Too full o’ the milk of human kindness.”
“To thy good truth and honour.”
“I dare do all that may become a man; who dares do more, is none.”

Question 6

Natural and unnatural

Answer 6

• When Macbeth killed God’s representative on earth, it was such a heinous crime that it disrupted the natural order.
• The unnatural events of the physical world emphasize the horror of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s acts.
• Macbeth and Lady Macbeth try to hide from nature and command it, which causes an imbalance in nature since they have themselves become unnatural.
• Duncan is surrounded by natural imagery, whereas Macbeth is surrounded by bloody and violent imagery.

“Stars, hide your fires.”
“The earth was feverous and did shake.”
“Unnatural deeds do breed unnatural troubles.”

Question 7

Violence

Answer 7

• The nature of violence is that every violent act, even those done for selfless reasons, seems to lead inevitably to more violent acts.
• Macbeth takes the throne through violence, and this opens the way for others to try to take the throne for themselves through violence, so Macbeth must commit more violence, until violence is all he has left.
• The problem starts with violence and ends with violence; it starts with Macbeth killing Duncan and ends with Macduff killing Macbeth.
• Ironically, Macbeth is praised for killing at the start, but hated for it at the end.
• Shakespeare is suggesting that violence in the battlefield with a worthy cause is acceptable, but violence off the battlefield for a selfish cause is unholy.

“Blood will have blood.”
“Dashed the brains out.”
“I am in blood stepped in so far.”
“Cannot be called our mother, but our grave.”
“Unseamed him from the nave to th’ chops(…)o valiant cousin! Worthy gentleman!”

Question 8

Fate and free will

Answer 8

• The witches predict Macbeth’s future and this could mean that all of the events in Macbeth’s life are preordained, and that his actions, too, have already been decided upon.
• However, when Macbeth comes to the conclusion that if his destiny is determined, he doesn’t have to take any action at all for it to come true, the fact that he does act after thinking this shows that he has freely decided on the action.
• The witches exploit Macbeth’s weakness and use his gullibility against him. They have manipulated the situation, but it is Macbeth who chooses to interpret it the way he does.
• Given that Banquo was also given a prophecy from the witches, but didn’t give in to the temptation of trying to make it come true, this shows it was possible for Macbeth to do nothing about the prophecies - he just had too little willpower.

“If chance will have me King, why, chance may crown me.”
“Restrain in me the cursed thoughts.”

Question 9

Appearance and reality

Answer 9

• Shakespeare examines how appearances can be deceptive and that the reality behind them is often unpleasant - this starts even in the first act of the play.
• Characters say one thing yet mean something else.
• Wicked and violent acts such as murder are covered up or the blame is shifted onto someone else.
• The witches mislead Macbeth, or they at least make half-truths which allow him to mislead himself. Their second predictions promise Macbeth a long reign to give him a false sense of security. The appearance of the predictions lures Macbeth, but the reality behind them destroys him. (Birnam wood cannot actually move to Dunsinane hill, but it appears that way.)
• Ghosts, visions and apparitions occur regularly.
• What seems good is really bad—Macbeth; and what seems bad is really good—Malcolm (who looks guilty when he flees Scotland).
• The witches are evil, even if they seem to bring good tidings.
• Macbeth and Lady Macbeth act as honourable and gracious hosts to Duncan, when in reality they’re plotting his murder.
• Macbeth convinces the murderers that Banquo is to blame for the bad fortune they have recently experienced.
• Malcolm pretends to be something he’s not (a bad king) to test if Macduff is pretending to be something he’s not (working for Macbeth).

“Fair is foul, and foul is fair.”
“Know Banquo was your enemy.”
“Look like th’ innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t.”

Question 11

Ambition as a corrupting force

Answer 11

• Ambition is what plants the idea in Macbeth to kill Duncan, but his gullibility is what drives him to do it since the witches and Lady Macbeth convinces Macbeth he’s invincible.
• Ambition is what motivates Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to murder Duncan, however it is the need to stay secure in his title which becomes Macbeth’s main motivation to keep killing.
• Lady Macbeth is ambitious and wants to help Macbeth become king and this ambition is what helps her stay calm and take control during Macbeth’s breakdown after Duncan’s death.
• Ambition can only get you so far since you need to be willing to go against what you know to be right. Therefore Lady Macbeth sees kindness as a weakness which is stopping Macbeth from following through on his ambitions, and tries to suppress it (as well as her femininity).
• Unchecked ambition corrupts the state of mind and the natural order, showing that it is unnatural. This is shown when giving in to his ambition and murdering Duncan has not brought Macbeth peace, but has left him paranoid and unhappy.

“Art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it.”
“I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition.”
“To be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus.”

Question 12

Supernatural

Answer 12

• Shakespeare uses evil and the supernatural as a background to all the events which take place in the play, however the witches are the most important example of this is.
• Dramatic function:
• They start the play and set a creepy tone.
• They provide visual creepiness for the audience.
• No one knows who they are—they’re nameless and vague, which sets them apart from the other characters. Even their gender is uncertain. An undefined threat is more unnerving than a known threat.
• They say enigmatic things repetitively, in unison and in rhyme—super unnerving.

•Narrative function:

• They act as a catalyst to Macbeth’s downfall.
• They chant, summon apparations, curse people, make potions using nasty ingredients, make prophecies which are manipulative and control the weather.
• They give Macbeth false security, replacing his wife as his advisors.

•Thematic function:

• Unnatural.
• They are vengeful; they go after a woman’s husband and threaten to ‘suck him dry’ just because she doesn’t share her chestnuts with them.
• They set the tone for the dark imagery in the play—Macbeth and Lady Macbeth pick it up and starts talking like them.
• They’re the devil’s ministers on earth, in contrast to the king who is God’s minister on earth—the fact that Macbeth trusts and listens to the devil’s representatives show how bad a king he is.
• They are a group of 3—they also talk in groups of 3.

”The earth hath bubbles.”
“To win us to our harm, the instruments of darkness tell us truths.”
“You should be women, and yet your beards forbid me to interpret that you are so.”
“All hail, Macbeth! That shalt be King hereafter!”
“The Fiend that lies like truth.”