Macbeth Question Plans

Question 1

How is the theme of Kingship presented in Macbeth?

Answer 1

Thesis: In the time Macbeth is set, kingship is treated as the pinnacle of divinity and greatness, being at the top of a strict natural order that places all living things into hierarchy. In his 1606 tragedy Macbeth, Shakespeare looks to demonstrate what effects chaos and destruction can have on this order and kingship when the supernatural becomes involved, and warns of the dangers of meddling with witches the Jacobean audience would be so terrified of.

• The great chain of being dictates the king should be the most powerful being, only second to God.
• The witches first introduce the idea of disruption with unnatural things they say in 1.1, such as paradoxes and weather foreshadowing.
• There power is proven through their influence over Macbeth - they put words into his mouth and make him ‘rapt’, planting the idea of murder in him.
• Lady Macbeth is unable to become king of Scotland, due to her being a woman. However, her ambition drives her to make Macbeth king - if she can control Macbeth as king, she effectively has the power. This is an interesting take on kingship – when Macbeth becomes king, we wonder if the power of the kingship may lend itself more to Lady Macbeth for all her manipulative power, despite her being lower in the natural order than Macbeth, and it being strongly against societal constructs.
• She also resorts to supernatural means, commanding the ‘spirits’, and commands and manipulates Macbeth, ordering him to ‘look like the innocent flower’, and emasculating him, saying ‘when you durst do it, then you were a man’.
• This means the seemingly least powerful individuals are the ones that make Macbeth king, for he at multiple points showed he didn’t have enough incentive to kill Duncan, from first deciding ‘if chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me without my stir’ to concluding he will ‘proceed no further’, since he was Duncan’s ‘host, who should against his murderer shut the door, not bear the knife himself’.
• This has disrupted the natural order, and regicide is one of the biggest sins to commit, so Macbeth inevitably serves his punishment. This is important, since King James was on the throne when Shakespeare wrote the play – to be appealing if he were to write a play about regicide, it was essential that he were to present it in a way that condemned it fully, demonstrating the severe consequences of engaging in such a sin. Furthermore, around this time happened the failed gunpowder plot, which attempted to take down the monarchy– regicide would be a present fear in the mind of King James, so Shakespeare’s unwavering presentation of the matter as an extreme sin was necessary.
• Lady Macbeth serves punishment too, although she did not directly commit regicide, but this shows her sin was still acknowledged – no one can get away with even engaging in such a sin. However, the only people involved in the murder who go unpunished, who were arguable the soul initiators of the regicide, are the witches. The fact that they remain unpunished shows that they have such great unnatural power that they must be feared by all.
• The witches have no place on the great chain of being or the natural order, for they aren’t natural. This presents them as even more dangerous, and serves as a warning to the Jacobean audience. This would also have been particularly appealing to King James, for he himself wrote the book ‘Daemonologie’.

Question 2

How is the theme of fate vs freewill presented in Macbeth?

Answer 2

• The witches foreshadow inevitable darkness with ‘where shall we three…
• They then prove their influence by putting words into Macbeth’s mouth.
• Now we must decide – was it Macbeth’s ambition that drove him to become king, or was it purely fate?
• Macbeth’s first reaction suggests he will not act upon the prophecy, and will let fate decide.
• Macbeth has plenty of ambition to drive him, but not enough incentive to kill Duncan.
• It is the supernatural and Lady Macbeth that lead him into doing the act, and Lady Macbeth herself appears to be supernaturally influenced, for she commanded the ‘spirits’ during her soliloquy. Talk about Macbeth’s hallucination – the ‘fatal vision’ and ‘the bell invites me’.
• The witches manipulate Macbeth further, giving him more prophecies that give him a false sense of security. See how the entire basis of Macbeth’s safety and sanity in 5.3 stand on the prophecy being true – it is the only thing in his mind at this moment.
• We see Macbeth fully accept his fate when he consciously realises he has fallen for the prophecies. He says ‘I ‘gin to be aweary of the sun’, indicating how he has lost the will to live, backed up by how he also contemplates the meaningless of life, comparing it to a ‘brief candle’. This indicates how he has lost the will to live – without will, he cannot have freewill, and here, he fully accepts his fate.
• Throughout the play, Macbeth gradually lost more and more of his freewill through manipulation and prophecies until at the end, when he accepted his fate.

Question 3

How is the theme of appearance vs reality presented in Macbeth?

Answer 3

• The characters’ perceptions of each other are so different from reality, creating dramatic irony. This portrays the destructive nature of deceit and manipulation.
• Fair is foul -> ‘so foul and fair… ‘why do you start and seem to fear… – is the prophecy in fact foul? Banquo sees that the ‘instruments of darkness…’ can lead to ‘deepest consequence’, but Macbeth does not – the prophecy appears good but is bad, Macbeth doesn’t see, this leads to dire consequence.
• ‘There’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face’ - dramatic irony – Duncan trusted Macbeth’s ‘false face’, to dire consequence.
• L Macbeth appears fearless – ‘infirm of purpose’, ‘I shame to wear a heart so white’ – but we later realise she was afraid all along (‘who knew the old man had so much blood in him?)
• This front she put on ultimately led her to persuade Macbeth to kill the king, creating dire consequences of guilt and madness.
• Macbeth puts on a front of being fearless, which ends up in him meeting his death, for he has now committed too much murder. (5.3)

Question 4

How does Shakespeare present the theme of guilt in Macbeth?

Answer 4

• Banquo felt guilty before even thinking of ambition – ‘could they not be my oracles as well? But hush! no more’
• Macbeth felt some guilt – ‘his host, who should against his murderer shut the door’
• Lady Macbeth feels no guilt beforehand – instantly: ‘the fatal entrance of Duncan’
• Macbeth feels instant guilt – ‘will all great Neptune’s ocean…
• Lady Macbeth hides any initial guilt –’infirm of purpose!’
• Macbeth becomes resistant to guilt – ‘I am in blood stepped so far…
• Lady Macbeth’s guilt becomes too strong, leading to her death.

Question 5

How does Shakespeare present the theme of the supernatural in Macbeth?

Answer 5

• Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are aligned with the supernatural, whereas Banquo and Duncan are aligned with nature.
• Whereas Macbeth wonders the meaning of the prophecy (‘cannot be ill, cannot be good’), Banquo is wise and wonders the reliability of the prophecy (‘the instruments of darkness tell us truths’).
• Macbeth: ‘nature seems dead, witchcraft celebrates’
• Banquo: ‘and his royalty of nature’, ‘the least a death to nature’
• Natural order broken - mousing owl kills falcon - symbolic
• Nature turns against Macbeth: ‘you lack the season of all natures, sleep’, ‘till Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane’
• Punishment is served.

Question 6

How does Shakespeare present the theme of ambition in Macbeth?

Answer 6

• Compare Macbeth’s and Banquo’s responses to the prophecies –meaning vs reliability.
• ‘I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent… –ambition is not enough. Macbeth takes time and caution to weigh up the idea.
• Contrastingly, Lady Macbeth’s response is instant – she clearly has more than enough ambition.
• While Lady Macbeth can control Macbeth, his power is her power (the bell invites me, look like the innocent…, when you durst…) . When she loses power over him, her ambition dies, then so does she.
• Ambition becomes useless when Macbeth is king – there is nowhere else to go, and his position is not safe. Fear takes over (bring me no reports: let all fly etc)
• Punishment is served.

Question 7

How does Shakespeare present Macbeth as a tragic hero?

Answer 7

Tragic hero terminology:

Hubris
Harmatia
Peripeteia – change of fortune (for the worse) – starting from when Duncan is killed
Anagnorisis - the realisation of bad circumstances – ‘I am in blood stepped so far…’ or ‘Out, out brief candle

Punishment served - was it deserved?

Question 8

How does Shakespeare present fear in Macbeth?

Answer 8

Macbeth starts out as a fearless, brave warrior, noble of nature, who is well respected, which is almost stereotypical of the time, for the ‘warrior culture’ of medieval Scotland where the play is set was a strong concept proving your worth through bravery. As we go through the play, we see Macbeth troubled by various fears, of consequence, of detestation, but the one thing we discover to be the leading fear of Macbeth is that of showing weakness.

• Witches – audience fear, but Macbeth feels no fear. Link to Macbeth’s fearless unflinching performance in battle – he is not afraid of danger, because he believes there will be no consequence.
• Lady Macbeth - fearless of the idea, instantly eager vs Macbeth’s caution.
• Lady Macbeth persuades – Macbeth fears consequences, but after ‘when you durst do it…’, he fears showing weakness more
• Guilt - regret, but also fear of retribution?
• 5.3 – ‘noble macbeth’ vs how he is acting.
• 5.7 - fear of death vs fear of showing weakness: weakness is feared more.