character Macbeth

• themes Macbeth shows?

  ambitious

  fate and free will

  kingship

  guilt
• structural techniques Macbeth shows

  soliloquies

  dramatic irony

  foreshadowing

  character parrels
• ambitious?Macbeth

  by relentlessly seeking power, murdering king Duncan and other and resorting to increasingly ruthless methods to maintain his position as king
• fate and free will?Macbeth

  as he grapples with the prophecies of the witches, ultimately choosing to act on his own ambition despite is awareness of the potential consequence
• kingship?Macbeth

  knows Duncan is a good king, and that killing him would damage Scotland. Macbeth places his own desires above his love for Scotland - this hint he will be a bad king
• guilt?Macbeth

  his guilt manifests in his tormented conscience as he haunted by hallucination of bloody daggers and ghostly apparition's reflecting his inner turmoil and moral decay
• 'is this a dagger which i see before me'


  hallucinating

  deteriotion of mind

  influence of lady Macbeth and witches

  
  

  the word 'is this' represents his state of mind, uncertainty + doubt

  the word 'dagger' implies his mind is corrupted by violence

  the dagger almost inviting him

  weaker warrior compared to society expectations
• 'whole as the marble founded as the rock...but now i am cabined, crippled, confined'

  links back to start of play

  first part of quote shows how he used to be

  
  

  the word 'whole' suggest he was the complete solider

  the words 'marble' 'rock' show a strong, unbreakable warrior

  tri colon suggest feeling claustrophobic and restricted

  alliteration of 'c' emphasises vulnerability
• 'the mind i sway by, and the heart i bear, i shall never sag with doubt, nor shake with fear'


  came full circle

  'never' before 'doubt' 'fear' finally regained control

  'mind' suggest thoughts

  'heart' suggest emotions

  'sag' 'shake' weak movements that Macbeth explicitly rejects
• 'life's but a walking shadow'


  had an epiphany

  no real substances

  metaphor shows depicting life

  'shadow' life is empty, no meaning

  'walking' implies life is a journey

  'shadow' shows being controlled or followed
• 'o full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife'

  'scorpion' represent how Macbeth's ambition has been poisoned

  the metaphor resembles more of a savage creature of moral human
• 'so foul and fair a day i have not seen'

  echo's witches paradox

  Macbeth is a mouthpiece for witches evil

  he is a vessel for the witches conduct
• 'before my body, i throw my war like shield'

  'shield' connotes protection, links to Macbeth's former noble image

  the last words contain violent semantic field