Macbeth

• Act 1 Scene 2 - "Bellona's Bridegroom"

  Macbeth: Ambition, Tragic Hero
• Act 1 Scene 7 - "I have no spur... only vaulting ambition"

  Macbeth: Ambition, Tragic Hero
• Act 2 Scene 1 - "Is this a dagger which I see before me?"

  Macbeth: Supernatural, Guilt
• Act 2 Scene 2 - "What hands are here! Ha, they pluck out mine eyes."

  (Knocking on the door after Duncan's murder)

  Macbeth: Guilt
• Act 5 Scene 4 - "tyrant"

  Macbeth: Tragic hero
• Act 5 Scene 5 - "Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, a tale told by an idiot, signifying nothing."

  Macbeth: Tragic hero
• Act 1 Scene 5 - "The raven himself is hoarse that croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan."

  Lady Macbeth: Ambition, Gender
• Act 1 Scene 5 - "Come you spirits...unsex me here, make thick my blood."

  Lady Macbeth: Gender, Supernatural, Ambition
• Act 1 Scene 7 - "live a coward in thine own esteem."

  Lady Macbeth: Manipulation
• Act 1 Scene 7 - "when you durst do it then you are a man."

  Lady Macbeth: Gender, Ambition, Manipulation
• Act 1 Scene 7 - "tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me", "pluck'd my nipple", "dash'd the brains."

  Lady Macbeth: Violence, Gender, Ambition
• Act 5 Scene 1 - "Out damned spot, Out I say!"

  Lady Macbeth: Guilt, Ambition
• Act 5 Scene 1 - "Hell is murky"

  Lady Macbeth: Guilt, Ambition
• Act 5 Scene 5 - "a cry within of women"

  Lady Macbeth: Guilt
• Act 1 Scene 1 - "fair is foul and foul is fair"

  Witches: Supernatural, Corruption of nature
• Act 1 Scene 3 - "so foul and fair a day I have not seen"

  Macbeth: Corruption of Nature
• Act 2 Scene 2 - "Macbeth doth murder sleep!"

  Macbeth: Corruption of Nature
• Act 3 Scene 6 - "some holy angel"

  Macduff: Kingship
• Act 4 Scene 3 - "O Scotland, Scotland!", "O miserable nation"

  Macduff: Kingship, Patriotism
• Act 4 Scene 3 - "Bleed, bleed poor country", "It weeps, it bleeds"

  Macduff: Kingship
• Context:

  • King James I's ship nearly sunk - believed to be supernatural forces
  • King James I was a descendant of Banquo
• Shakespeare's Intentions: Wants to dissuade people who want to assassinate James.

  Makes it clear that ambition is wrong.

  Consequences of regicide.
• Shakespeare's Intentions: Wants to discourage consorting with the supernatural.

  Reveals that they disrupt the natural order.
• Shakespeare's Intentions: Outlines archetype of a true monarch

  Ruling through fear leads to unrest.

  Women in power don't understand the consequences of their actions.