Themes Flashcards
Ambition
Ambition is the main theme in ‘Macbeth’:
ambition motives Macbeth to commit terrible deeds.It changes him from a “valiant” soldier to a “dead butcher”.
The play shows that ambition is dangerous because an quickly spiral out of control. Macbeth considers
The morality of killing Duncan for a long time but doesn’t hesitate about killing Banquo.
Once Macbeth starts killing, he has to kill more people to get what he wants and to try and make his position secure. it shows that ambition can make people ruthless and selfish.
Both Macbeth and lady Macbeth are eventually destroyed by their ambition, so the play can be read as a warning against ambition that isn’t balanced by reason or morals
Ambition is macbeth biggest weakness:
Ambition is Macbeth’s ‘fatal flaw’. He’s a brave hero at the start -Duncan calls him “noble” and lady Macbeth says he “wouldst not play false” to get what he wants
Macbeth’s reluctance to Kill Duncan shows that he’s moral but his actions emphasise how strong his ambition is-his ambition makes him act against his morals
It also makes him act against his better judgment.he knows that ambition often “o’erleaps itself/And falls”- it can lead a person to aim too high so that they fail and lose everything.This foreshadows Macbeths own tragic downfall.Bybthe end of the play ,Macbeths lost everything and he does an “abhorred tyrant”
Context -tragedy:
In Shakespeare’s tragedies , the hero is usually a noble person with one main character flaw which leads to their downfall.This is their “fatal flaw”
Character:lady Macbeth
LM sees that there’s a difference between being ambitious and acting on ambition.She say that Macbeth is “not without ambition, but without/the illness should attend it” .she thinks that Macbeth isn’t ruthless enough to takes action to get what he wants
Ambition can be good or bad:
Not all characters are corrupted by their ambition , as Macbeth and lady Macbeth are . Ambition can be a positive thing if it’s motivated by a desire to help others rather than yourself
Malcolm and Macduff are ambitious for their country
.They want to Take Macbeth’ power away from him , not their own selfish , but for the good of Scotland
Ban who is ambitious for his sins once he’s heard the witches phropecy. He wants them to be kings , but he doesn’t act on the predictions in the violent way that Macbeth does
Describe to theme of ambition
Loyalty and betrayal
Characters show loyalty thorough their actions:
There’s a difference between characters who say that they are loyal(like Macbeth) who talks about the loyalty he woes D even when he’s plotting to kill him
And characters whose actions show their loyalty(Iike Macduff) .the Characters show loyalty to different things:
Country
King
Beliefs
When characters betray their loyalty, it’s usually to pursuer their own selfish
Loyalty is rewarded , betrayal is punished….
D has the old thane of Cawdor executed for betraying him and rewards Macbeth’s loyalty by giving him the title.The play has a circular structure-it ends with Macbeth being killed for betraying Scotland and Malcolm rewarding the thanes’loyalty
Macbeth betrays his own sense of right and wrong.this eventually leads to his loss of self/worth and his death
Betrayal is often linked to power(on form of titles) can be given or taken away
Depending on a persons loyalty
*Loyalty and betrayal often go hand in hand .e.g, Macbeth’s loyalty to Scotland leads him to betray his family
The Macbeth’s pretend to be loyal:
Macbeth Is initially loyal to D as “how’d kinsman and his subject”-this Makes it even more shocking when he puts his owns desires ahead of his loyalty to the king.
LM fakes an appearance of loyalty .she tells D that she and Macbeths are “your servants ever” , even though they’re plotting his murder.It shows how easily she can pretend to be loyal
Shakespeare juxtaposes LM plotting to kill D with her welcoming him in their castle.This develops her characters and makes her murderous intentions more dramatic
Theme-reality and appearance
LM two-faces nature helps her to betray Duncan-he trusts her as a “fair noble hostess” and doesn’t see her lust for power
Describe the theme loyalty and betrayal
Kinships
A king didn’t have to be the old king’s son:
In the play , M suddenly becomes king, even though he’s not the heir to the throne. D chooses his eldest son as his heir, but he makes Macbeth next in line after Malcolm and donalbain
Macbeth wins the throne by killing the king and framing Malcom and Donalbain.Gardually, other character realise Macbeth is not a true king
Historical context:
In Scotland at the time, the successor didn’t have to be the kings eldest son , even though it often was
Malcolm describe good rulers and bad rulers:
D is an example of ideal king-he’s described as “Gracious” and inspires loyalty in his subjects , who see him as a “most sainted king” and therefore the rightful ruler of Scotland.
In contrast Macbeth described as “tyrant” because he ruled selfishly , using violence. He’s rarely referred to as “king” which shows that the other characters don’t accept him as true king
In act 4 scene 3 , Malcom describes good and bad kings:
A bad king is…
‘Bloody , luxurious, avaricious , false , deceitful, sudden , malicious ?snacking of every sin that has a name’
Malcolm’s describing Macbeth reign here - he’s “avaricious” because he’s motivated by selfish greed.His lies make him “false” and “deceitful” , and he’s “bloody” because he uses violence to keep control over he people
A good king has:
‘King-becoming graces, as justice, verify, temperance, stableness , bounty, perseverance , mercy, lowliness , devotion , patience, courage , fortitude’
Malcolm could be describing Duncan in this speech-Duncan shows “temperance” in his calm , peaceful manner , “lowliness” (being humble) in his gratefulness. For loyalty , “justice” when dealing with those who betray him and “bounty” in his generosity.
A good king should be holy:
Malcom also says that a good ruler is holy -at the time, people believed their king was appointed by God.
The king of England , Edward, has “helming benediction” and uses “holy prayers” to cure sick people .He’s surrounded by “blessings” that “speak him full of grace”
In contrast, Macbeth is “devilish”-he commits murder and talks to evil witches.Hes not the chosen king
Describe the theme of kingship
Good and evil
Macbeth is good man who does evil acts:
At the beginning of the play , macbeth shows that he’s a “noble” person / he has the potential for greatness.Duncan recognises this and makes him thane of Cawdor
Once he’s tempted to give in his ambition , Macbeth goodness is over one by evil desires. It shows that even good people can be led astray by ambition and power
Macbeth becomes increasingly evil as he becomes hardened to the many crimes he commits
The struggle for the crown of Scotland becomes a battle between good and evil . Macbeth is the evil “tyrant”who must be killed before he destroys Scotland
Evil is linked to gender:
LM Macbeth links cruelty and aggression with masculinity.Shes wants the spirits to “unsex” her and fill her with “direst cruelty”-she thinks her feminity holds her back from taking violent action
Evil is linked to gender:
-LM links cruelty and aggression with masculinity.she thinks her feminitybhilfs her back from taking violent action
Masculine ideas or evil focuses on violence and bloodshed.though she want to be more like a man , LM relies on manipulation rather than action. She sees Macbeth weakness and uses emotional blackmail to persuade him to commit evil
The witches gender is ambiguous.Banquo says that they “should be women” but they have beards:like lady Macbeth, they rely on manipulation rather than physical force
Battles represent the conflict between good and evil:
Shakespeare uses battles to symbolise good and evil
In the opening scene , there’s a battle between Scotland and Norway-the enemy army is led by a traitor, “merciless mac Donald” , whose “Villanies of nature” show that he’s evil
The play ends with a battle , this time against Macbeth. Malcolm’s men have “dear causes” and fight to “dew the sovereign flower”- in other words , to restore the rightful king. Macbeth is an “abhorred tyrant” who represents evil
Writers technique-imagery
Shakespeare emphasises the conflict between good and evil through religious imagery- Macbeth is described as “cursed” and has a name “more hateful” than the devil.In contrast, young diehard is “God’s soldier” because he died fighting to defeat an evil “tyrant”
Describe the theme of good and evil
The supernatural
The witches are an evil a supernatural force:
The witches are an evil supernatural force- their “strange intelligence” ability to predict he future gives them power over humans.
However , when they’re planning to harm the sea captain , they say that his ship”cannot be lost” , which hints that their power is limited.
They’re not in many scenes but they drive the action of the play. It’s unlikely that Macbeth would have committed so many terrible crimes if he hadn’t been influenced by the witches
The witches are associated with chaos- they try to impose an unnatural order on what’s good and natural.Macbeth says they “untie the winds” and make “castles topple”.The witches are motivated by “destruction” rather than goodness-they represent the struggle between the natural and unnatural order
Shakespeare presents then as completely evil.They are cruel, inhuman and don’t show any remorse-in fact they celebrate evil
Social context:
At the time Shakespeare was writing , many people thought that witches were real , so the weird sisters would have seemed believable and frightening to an audience in the 1600s
Writers technique:
The supernatural Elements add to the atmosphere -they make the play darker and more frightening.Shakespeare only hints at what’s real and what’s not, which adds to the drama
Victorians are supernatural signs of guilt:
Macbeth and LM have buns which remind the audience is their terrible guilt
Act 2 S1
Act 3 S4
Act 5 S1
The visions are ambiguous- they could be real or imaginary
The visions fill the characters who see them with fear .Macbeth is “blanched with fear” by Banquos ghost and his language agitated and nervous:”pithee ,see there! Behold, look,lo!”.his fear has made him lose control of his speech.Macbeth calls his Own reaction a “strange in infirmity”-it links to other signs of madness in the play
LM language when she sleepwalks is desperate,”O , O ,O!” And shows that she’s disturbed by the vision of blood on her hands.The Doctor says that her heart is “sorely charged!”- he sees that the vision is the result of her guilty coscience
Describe the theme of the supernatural
Reality and appearances
Appearances can be deceptive:
In Macbeth, characters often hide thoughts and pretend to be something that they they’re not
LM encourages Macbeth to appear to be good o nobody suspects that he plans to kill Duncan
“Looks like th’innocent flower but be the serpent under’t”
Act 1 S5 -the serpent links LM to Satan who tempted Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden
M knows that he needs a “false face” to hide his murderous acts.however , when Macbeth sees Banqou’s ghost “the best painting” of his fear and betrays his feelings
At first LM has no trouble disguising he evil behaviour.She pretends to faint with shock when Duncan’s death is discovered .however, her guilt becomes too great to hide and she’s starts sleepwalking
Meanings of words are unclear:
-the witches’charr “fair is foul, and foul is fair” suggests that things that appear good are actually evil
They use language to trick Macbeth and convince him of a false reality-they. Tell him that “none of woman born” will harm him, which gives him the false confidence to fight to protect his regin
Other characters speak using paradoxes , e.g, Macbeth says , “nothing is/But what is not”. These paradoxes create uncertainty-they show that nobody can tell what’s real
Some characters trust too much in appearances:
In a word full of deception and lies , characters suffer when they trust in appearance too much
Duncan trust Macbeth and dies for it , even though he made the same mistake by trusting the disloyal thane of Cawdor. When this happens Duncan says “there’s no art/to find the minds construction in the face”- he thinks that there’s no way of telling what someone’s really like
Macbeth knows that reality and appeances don’t always match up , but he completely trusts the witches prophecies.This leads to his downfall:
-apparitions and visions seem real to the characters who see them, but they’re a sign that the character can’t tell reality from appearance
In contrast, Malcolm is immediately sceptical that Duncan was murdered by his servants and suspects one of the thanes:”To show an unfelt sorrow is an office/which the false man does easy”
His awareness of what “false” men can do causes him to flee and probably saves his life
Describe the theme of reality and appearances
Fate is the opposite of free will:
Fate is the idea that everything has already been decided, so people can’t change what happens to them
Free will means that humans choose their own course of actions, so their future is made up of the results of their choices
If it’s fate that everything that happens was destined, then it’s not Macbeth’s fault that he murders Duncan.If free will exists then Macbeth own choices lead to his downfall
The play raises a lot of questions, but Shakespeare doesn’t make it cowards whether it’s Macbeth fate to kill Duncan
Perhaps Macbeth is doomed from the start:
At times, Macbeth seems to believe in fate.After he hears the witches’ prophecy , he seems happy to let fate take its course -he believes that “chance may crown me/without my stir” so he’ll become king without doing anything to make it happen
LM thinks that Macbeth is dated to be king-“fate and metaphysical aid Roth seem/ to have thee crowned withal”. Despite believing in fate , she decides Macbeth must act to make it happen
By end of the au , Macbeth says hat life is “a poor player/that struts and frets his hour upon the stage” . He feels that people are no more than actors playing a part who aren’t in control of their lives
Character-the witches
It’s not clear whether the witches are messengers of M fate or whether their prediction inspires M to make bad choices
Character-Macbeth
Perhaps M is doomed t the start because of his ‘fatal flaw’ . If he wasn’t so ambitious , he’d ignore the witches and LM
or that he acts out of his own free will:
At first, M makes a deliberate choice not kill D after he’s considered the options:”we will proceed no further”.He carefully weighs up the pros and cons which suggests that he’s in control
Later , M acts on the witches prophecies despite B earlier warning that they’re “instruments of darkness” .M could do as B does and accept the prophecies without acting
Some of the prophecies are self-fulfilling- Macbeth only acts because he hears his future, so he causes it to happen.This suggests that he has free will
Character:Macbeth
The captain says that M was “disdaining fortune” when he fought McDonald-it shows that Macbeth killed macdonald against the odds.It hints that M could have changed his actions if he’d wanted to
Describe the theme of fate and free will
