1. Characters
Themes
MACBETH
LADY MACBETH
THE WITCHES
BANQUO
MACDUFF
Ambition (/Power/ Order)
M's ambition for power is sparked by the witches at the start of the play - realises that it is wrong to upset the 'Great Chain of Being' but LM fuels his ambition, and unlike M, does not realise the danger of her own ambition.
‘Stars, hide your fires!/ Let not light see my black and deep desires’ M (1.4)
‘I have no spur/ To prick the sides of my intent, but only/ Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself/ And falls on the other’ M (1.7)
M’s ambition accelerates through the play (and the violence w/ it), spiralling out of control. ‘It is concluded – Banquo, thy soul’s flight,/ If it find Heaven, must find it out tonight.’ M (end of 3.1) – M goes so far as to kill his own friend.
Fate vs. Free Will
M debates whether it is in/ out of his control that the witches predictions come true. His decision to take action is then key to the rest of the play (although leaves the audience wondering whether this was fate/ not).
M believes the witches prophesies are fate but acts to ensure they come true. He later goes against them to ensure that all he has done is not just to make ‘the seeds of Banquo kings’ (3.1).
‘And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,/ The instruments of darkness tell us truths,/ Win us with honest trifles, to betray's/ In deepest consequence’ B (1.3) – B notes that the Witches may so far be speaking the truth, but changing parts of it in order to manipulate B + M, so therefore they ought to disregard them.
Natural vs. Supernatural
M’s decisions through the play are ultimately the result of the witches prophesies. M invests in the supernatural, thinking he has become almost supernatural himself as he descends into insanity, reciting to Macduff ‘I bear a charmed life, which must not yield/ To one of woman born’ (5.8)).
Deceit
‘Let not light see my black and deep desires’ M (1.4) - ‘black’ – dark, immoral, supernatural, ‘deep’ – engrained, hidden
‘He’s here in double trust’ M (of Duncan) (1.7) – M points out that D is entrusting them yet they are going to murder him
Order
M disrupts the ‘Divine Right of Being’ by taking the throne despite lack of ‘royalty in nature’.
After M murders Duncan, it is said that ‘Tis unnatural/… /A falcon, tow’ring in her pride of place,/ Was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed.’ by an old man (2.4). ‘Falcon’ - royalty symbol
Gender (Masculinity/ Kingship)
‘I dare do all that may become a man;/ Who dares do more, is none.’ (1.7) LM challenges M’s masculinity and this forces him to prove himself by murdering Duncan. ‘Dare’ – adventurous, almost criminal (‘who dares do more…’)
‘Feed and regard him not. Are you a man?’ – LM to M (3.4) – associating M’s masculinity w/ disregard for others.
M is ‘too full of the milk of human kindness’ says LM showing M too compassionate (associated with femininity – ‘milk’). ‘Milk’ – pure and white. ‘Too full’ – overflowing, uncontained or so full, no room for hatred – explaining why he goes insane after acting w/ hatred. Audience almost feel sorry for M as his worst actions are often brought by LM expectations.
Guilt