Ideas to add into your essay

• The prophecies act as the initial spark that ignites his desire for power.
• From a 'brave' and 'valiant' soldier to a ruthless and paranoid ruler. The murders of Banquo and Macduff's family showcase the lengths to which Macbeth is willing to go to secure his position, but also reveal the moral deterioration he undergoes.
• His relentless pursuit of power blinds him to the consequences of his actions and the growing opposition against him, ultimately resulting in tragedy.
• ideas of macbeth:

  1. disrupting the great chain of being
  2. challenging divine rule
• It is a cautionary tale and acts as a warning that violence will lead to the downfall/ tragedy of the violent
• Writer's ideas:

  • In support of king james
  • Cautionary tale/ warning to nobles not to even think of rebellion
• Killing the king was the most heinous crime in the jacobean era
• Shakespeare is criticizing this Jacobean society that values violence as proof of manhood
• Macbeth has fallen as he is repeatedly linked with animalistic characteristics which according to the great chain of veing is nearly at the bottom. 'serpent' 'full of scorpians is my mind'
• Shakespeare ultimately shows that men, not supernatural evil, are responsible for their own hamartia and downfall.
• 'why do I yield to that suggestion / Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair?'

  Macbeth immediately begins thinking of regicide, a powerful sin because it attacks God, who has chosen the king to head The Great Chain of Being.
• Macbeth calls Fate only “chance”. Chance implies that Macbeth instead wants to be certain and so takes action.
• he challenges Fate, by trying to stop Banquo’s sons from becoming kings. But fate has instead presented Macbeth with a visage of Banquo's ghost. '“thou canst not say I did it"
• “By the pricking of my thumbs, / Something wicked this way comes.” They know him as innately evil.
• He blames Fate or God who he claims has written his script, the “tale told by an idiot”. In this metaphor, life is meaningless
• Shakespeare stages the death of Macbeth as a cautionary tale against the treachery which might be in the minds of nobles.
• The witches speak in an almost childlike manner due to their short sentences, simple rhymes. To play or toy with Macbeth instead of bending his actions to their will which could be argued that they are not inherently evil but are instead desires and bloodlust of Macbeth.
• MAcbeth goes against fate and ultimately acts of his own free will.
• Banquo refers to the witches as 'instruments of darkness' which starkly contrasts to Macbeth's reaction to the witches almost spellbound.
• natural order restored
• Macbeth:

  • voracious murderer
  • Inherent evil