Macbeth

• Macbeth


  • Valiant
  • Noble
  • Heroic
  • Brave
  • Courageous
  • Violent
  • Malleable
• Macbeth's reputation precedes him to set up a noble notoriety to live up to, however throughout the play he falls short of this expected virtue and becomes tyrannical and mentally perturbed
• Macbeth's descent from being a respectable brave man to being a hell hound characterises the play as a tragedy
• Instantly Macbeth's malleable nature is shown as the witches use Macbeth as their mouthpiece and a vessel for misconduct and duplicitous behaviour
• Shakespeare creates an atypical relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth as Lady Macbeth is a femme fatale, Macbeth is presented as susceptible to her malevolent schemes, his submissive nature fails to align with the masculine archetype of the Jacobean era
• Banquo


  • Macbeth's foil to amplify his flaws
  • Virtues expose Macbeth's dishonesty, disproportionate ambition and susceptibility to temptation
• Macbeth's soliloquy manifests as a volta for his character, Shakespeare utilises his soliloquy to highlight his inner mental turmoil and Macbeth's disintegrating mind as he feels an overwhelming plethora of guilt
• Banquo's murder allows Macbeth's peripeteia to come to fruition, initiates a series of unexpected events, Shakespeare dramatises Macbeth's inability to control fate as an illegitimate king as he is dressed in borrowed robes
• Banquo's ghost is a physical manifestation of Macbeth's guilt
• Banquo serves as a tool to expose Macbeth's deceptive facade of remaining composed
• Act 3 dramatises a shift in power dynamic between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, it is shown that Macbeth now extrapolates the evil she demonstrated in act 1 and now Lady Macbeth subdues him
• Lady Macduff and her children are killed, therefore their murders are emblematic of excessive blood-thirst, they presented no threat yet he's on an unstoppable trajectory of murder
• The first time Macbeth intentionally encounters the witches reinforcing his apparitions, he doesn't have to pretend to be scrupulous, he's now embraced a tyrannical demeanour
• Lady Macbeth's death brings out a moment of anagnorisis for Macbeth as he realises the futility of his actions and as a result submits himself to the battle and disregards his own life
• Macduff and Macbeth's battle is almost an anagnorisis for Macbeth and the audience as it releases built up tension whilst Macbeth's fate still equivocal
• Macbeth's anagnorisis could be the slewing of Duncan or Lady Macbeth's suicide, however a redounding moment that marks his anagnorisis is the revelation of Macbeth not being woman born and Macbeth realises that his death is imminent and inescapable
• Ambition


  The driving force for tragedy in the play, Macbeth is constructed as a tragic hero who has a fall from grace because of his overindulgence of ambition, Shakespeare allows his audience to examine the inherent flaws and capriciousness of human nature, he illuminates when in the wrong mind ambition can lead to the belligerent pursuit of power, status and violence
• Macbeth: '"valour's minion"'
• Macbeth: '"Vaulting ambition"'
• Macbeth: '"With Tarquin's ravishing strides"'
• Violence


  A critical theme that is inextricably linked with the relentless pursuit of ambition, the allure of power and unchecked ambition inevitably causes violence to be a means of fulfilling human desire, the theme of violence illuminates the psychological and social implications of tyranny, the motif of blood highlights the consequences of murder, Shakespeare constructs a cautionary tale to emphasise the detrimental consequences of bloodthirst and critiques the potential for violence to spiral out of control when driven by personal ambition
• Macbeth: '"Disdaining fortune"'
• Macbeth: '"Smoked with bloody execution"'
• Supernatural


  Shakespeare cautions the audience about the perilous consequences of succumbing to the irresistible allure of the supernatural powers, emphasising with engagement with such dark forces will lead to a quick and catastrophic demise
• Macbeth: '"So foul and fair a day I have not seen"'
• Shakespeare creates an atypical relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, where Lady Macbeth is a femme fatale and Macbeth is presented as susceptible to her malevolent schemes, his submissive nature fails to align with the masculine archetype of the Jacobean era
• Macbeth is presented as a tragic hero who has a fall from grace because of his overindulgence of ambition
• Macbeth is constructed as a malleable character who is used as a mouthpiece and vessel for misconduct and duplicitous behaviour by the witches
• Macbeth slowly and painfully descends into madness, he's haunted by a persistent guilt rather than episodes, unlike his wife Lady Macbeth who succumbs to the mental burden of their heinous crimes