Macbeth

• Macbeth


  The eponymous character of this Shakespearean tragedy
• Macbeth


  • Starts out in a position of glory and success, but falls from grace due to an error in judgement of his own making
  • His fatal flaw is his unchecked ambition
• When we are introduced to Macbeth, he is presented as the stereotypical hero, the ideal warrior
• Tragic hero


  A character who starts out in a position of glory and success, but falls from grace due to an error in judgement of their own making
• Macbeth's character


  • Allows Shakespeare to explore gender, power, and morality
• Macbeth's relationship with his wife


  Allows Shakespeare to examine gender roles, marital relations, and power in his own society
• Macbeth's character


  Is defined by both his ambition and his guilt
• A question Shakespeare explores through Macbeth is one of predestination; Macbeth's life seems to be controlled by fate, but how much of Macbeth's story was foretold, and how much was of his own making?
• Macbeth's gender performance


  • Is ambiguous, as Shakespeare uses him to explore both toxic masculinity and femininity
• Macbeth's ambition


  Strives for indisputable 'manliness' more than to be king
• Macbeth's relationship with Lady Macbeth


  Influences his decisions and the power dynamics change as the play progresses
• Macbeth's relationship with religion


  Suggests he is worried about the destination of his immortal soul
• Killing Duncan is a landmark decision in Macbeth's moral path, as it is a conscious choice to put an end to his good ways and embrace corrupt temptation
• Scotland after the murder


  Is constructed by Shakespeare as a godless, Hellish land to match its king
• Male friendships and loyalty

  Were important values in Jacobean society, and Macbeth's betrayal of these ideals is shocking
• Tragic hero


  • Goes through stages such as hamartia, hubris, peripeteia, anagnorisis, nemesis, and catharsis
• Macbeth's hamartia


  Is his unchecked ambition
• Shakespeare uses the tragic hero to teach his audience the importance of morality and respecting God's will
• Macbeth


  • Is ambitious, guilt-ridden, and violent
• Macbeth's ambition propels him into inescapable regret, suggesting that the real punishment for regicide isn't execution, but guilt
• The play of 'Macbeth' is filled with violence and conflict, both internal and external
• ambition propels him into unescapable regret


  Suggesting that the real punishment for regicide isn't execution, but guilt
• Even when no one suspects him of foul play, Macbeth is troubled and cannot enjoy the life he sacrificed his immortal soul (what Christians believed lived on after death and went to Heaven or Hell) for
• Shakespeare suggests that the conscience, or inner voice of God, that we all have ensures that no crime or sin can go unpunished
• He proposes that no one can cope with the guilt our conscience creates, nor can we live with the knowledge of our own evil
• The play of 'Macbeth'


  • Filled with violence and conflict, both internal and external
• The smallest scale of conflict Macbeth endures

  His internal conflict
• The largest conflict Macbeth endures


  The conflict between free will and fate that takes over the whole universe
• Conflicts in the play

  • Good and evil
  • Supernatural and the natural
  • Appearances and reality
• Violence


  Largely associated with manhood and masculinity, particularly by Macbeth
• Whenever his manliness is challenged, Macbeth responds by committing a violent, ruthless act
• Weakness


  Viewed by Macbeth as signs of femininity
• Cruelty and violence


  Linked with masculine ideals of honour and bravery
• Men are supposed to be noble and strong leaders, and Macbeth interprets this as bloodlust
• Shakespeare could be implying that ideals such as bravery and honour are used to disguise injustice
• Warfare and violence are presented as necessary and respectable measures, allowing men to follow selfish emotion rather than selfless logic
• Shakespeare demonstrates how violence and bloodshed are used to maintain tyranny and corruption
• They are tools for bad kings
• Unlike Duncan's reign


  Macbeth's reign is plagued by disease and murder
• "blood will have blood": 'Shakespeare argues that violence breeds more violence'