Please enable JavaScript.

Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.

Macbeth (Themes (Good & Evil (Gender (The Witches gender is ambiguous,…

- - - - Its the driving force of deceitful ways
    - - "valiant soldier" to "dead butcher"
    - - Can quickly spiral out of control
        
        Initially, he is reluctant to kill Duncan, but later on isn't hesitant for Banquo
        
        Shows that initially he's moral and shows how dangerous ambition is
      - Macbeth quickly becomes ruthless in order to get what he wants
    - - Good
        
        Malcolm & Macduff
        
        Ambitious for their country
        
        Want to take Macbeth's power away for the good of Scotland
        
        Banquo
        
        Ambitious for his sons (after the prophecy)
        
        Doesn't act on it like Macbeth
      - Not only corrupted
        
        Can be positive if its motivated by the desire to help others
      - Depends on whether you're ambitions or act upon your ambition
        
        Macbeth is "not without ambition, but without/The illness should attend it" -Lady Macbeth
  - - - Betrayal is linked to power
        
        Power can be given or taken based on loyalty
      - Macbeth betrays his own sense of right and wrong
        
        Leads to a loss of self worth
      - Old Thane of Cawdor was executed for betrayal
        
        Macbeth was rewarded for being loyal
        
        Cyclical
        
        Ends with Macbeth being killed for betraying Scotland, and Malcolm rewarding the Thane's loyalty
    - - King
        
        Thanes to Duncan - "great" king
        
        Macbeth gives Duncan "service and loyalty" by fighting for him
      - Beliefs
        
        Banquo to his sense of honour
        
        He will keep his "allegiance clear"
        
        He won't allow the witches prophecy/ambition affect him (unlike Macbeth)
      - Country
        
        Macduff to Scotland
        
        Would rather leave Scotland an have it ruled by a bad king
    - - Macduff is loyal to Scotland, but betrays his family
    - - The Macbeth's pretend to be loyal
        
        They're initially loyal to Duncan (which makes their betrayal more shocking)
        
        Lady Macbeth fakes her loyalty
        
        She tells Duncan that Macbeth and her are "Your servants ever" even though they're plotting his murder
        
        It's easy to pretend you're loyal
  - - - He wins the throne by killing the King and framing Malcolm and Donalbain
    - - Described as "gracious" and inspires loyalty in his subjects: "most sainted king"
      - Macbeth is a "tyrant" ruling selfishly using violence
        
        He isn't referred to as "king" which shows that other characters don't accept him
    - - Macbeth's reign
        
        "avaricious" - motivated by selfish greed
        "false" and "deceitful" - he lies
        "bloody" - uses violence to keep control
      - Duncan's reign
        
        "temperance" - calm, peaceful manner
        "lowliness" - (being humble) gracefulness for loyalty
        "justice" - when dealing with those who betray him
        "bounty" - generocity
    - - A good king should be holy - people believed that the king was appointed by God
      - The king of England, Edward has a "healing benediction", uses "holy prayers" to cure the sick and is surrounded by "blessings" that "speak him full of grace"
      - Macbeth is "Devilish" - committing murder and talking to witches. He isn't the chosen king.
  - - - Once he's tempted to give in to his ambition, his goodness is overcome by evil desires - it shows good people can be led astray by ambition and power
        
        He becomes increasingly evil as he becomes hardened to the crimes he commits
    - - Lady Macbeth links aggression with masculinity
        
        Hence, she wants spirits to "unsex" her and fill her with "direst cruelty" - she thinks her femininity holds her back
      - LM relies on manipulation rather than action
        
        She sees M's weaknesses and uses emotional blackmail to persuade him to commit evil
      - The Witches gender is ambiguous
        
        Banquo - "should be women" but they have beards
        
        They, like LM, rely on manipulation rather than physical force
    - - The supernatural events are presented as evil and powerful
      - The Witches are linked to the devil - Banquo calls them "devil" and Macbeth calls them "fiends" which associates them with evil deeds
    - - Used to symbolise good and evil
      - In the opening, there's a battle between Scotland and Norway - the enemy is led by a traitor: "merciless Macdonald", whose "villanies of nature" show that he's evil
      - In the end, there's a battle against Macbeth - Malcolm's men have "dear causes": to "dew the sovereign flower" (restore the rightful king. They are fighting against an "abhorrèd tyrant" who represents evil
    - - Macbeth is "cursèd" and has a name "More hateful" than the devil
      - Young Siward is "God's soldier" because he died fighting an evil "tyrant"
  - - - Evil supernatural force
      - "Strange intelligence" - gives them the ability to predict the future and have power over humans
      - Their power may be limited - when they're planning to harm the sea captain, his ship "cannot be lost"
      - Not in many scenes but drive the action of the play
        
        Without them it's unlikely Macbeth would have committed so many terrible deeds
      - They're associated with chaos
        
        Try to impose unnatural order on what's good and natural
        
        M says they "untie the winds" and make "castles topple"
        
        They're motivated by destruction rather than goodness - represent the struggle between natural and unnatural order
        
        Presented as completely evil - cruel, inhumane and don't show remorse and celebrate evil
    - - Examples
        
        Macbeth sees Banquo's ghost which gives him "strange infirmity". No-one else can see the ghost, which suggests that its a sign of his guilty conscience
        
        Lady Macbeth goes insane - her hands will "ne'er be clean" of Duncan's blood - her guilt is so great that she commits suicide
        
        Macbeth sees a vision of a dagger as he's about to kill Duncan - unclear whether this is leading him or warning him. It represents the "bloody business" he's about to do
      - Cause fear/desperation in characters
        
        M is "blanched with fear" by Banquo's ghost - his language is agitated and nervous: "Prithee, see there! Behold, look, lo!"
        
        LM's language when she sleepwalks is desperate: "O, o, o!" It shows that she's disturbed and has a vision of the blood on her hands: her guilty conscience
      - They're ambiguous - could be real/imaginary
  - - - Characters often hide their thoughts and put on a persona
      - LM encorages M to appear to be good so nobody suspects their plan
        
        "look like th'innocent flower, But be the serpent under't"
        
        The serpent links LM to Satan who tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden
      - M needs a "False face" to hide his murderous acts
        
        When he sees Banquo's ghost, his face is "the very painting" of his fear
      - LM can hide her evil behaviour at first: she pretends to faint when Ducan's death is discovered
        Her guilt becomes to great to hide, by the end, and she starts sleepwalking
    - - "Fair is foul, and foul is fair" - suggests that things that appear good are actually evil
      - The Witches use language to trick Macbeth and convince him of a false reality - he's told "none of woman born" will harm him, giving him false confidence to fight to protect his reign
      - Other characters speak using paradoxes - M says: "Nothing is / But what is not"
        
        Create uncertainty and show nobody can tell what's real
    - - Duncan trusts Macbeth and dies for it
        
        He made the same mistake trusting the old Thane of Cawdor
        
        Duncan says "There's no art / To find the mind's construction in the face" - he thinks that it's impossible to tell what someone's really like
      - Macbeth knows that reality and appearances don't match up but he still trusts the witches - this is his downfall
        
        The apparitions and visions seem real to the characters who see them - they're a sign the character can't tell reality from appearance
      - Malcolm is immediately sceptical that Duncan was murdered by his servants and suspects one of the thanes: "To show an unfelt sorrow is an office / Which the false man does easy"
        
        His awareness of what "false" men can do causes him to flee and probably saves his life
  - - - Shakespeare does not make this clear
    - - M believed in fate when he hear's the Witches' prophecy and seems happy for it to take its course
        
        He believes that "chance may crown me, / Without my stir" - he'll become King without doing anything
      - LM thinks M is fated to be king: "Fate and metaphysical aid doth seem / To have thee crowned withal"
        
        Although she believes in fate, the still acts to make it happen
      - By the end Macbeth says that life is "a poor player / That struts and frets his hour upon the stage"
        
        People are no more than actors playing a part and have no control of their lives
      - Perhaps Macbeth is doomed from the start due to his fatal flaw. If he wasn't ambitious he'd ignore the Witches and LM
    - - M initially makes a deliberate choice not to kill Duncan: "We will proceed no further" - he's considered the options which suggests that he's in control
      - LM acts on the prophecy despite Banquo warning that they're "instruments of darkness". Macbeth could have accepted the prophecy without acting
      - Some prophecies are self-fulfilling - Macbeth only acts because he hears his future, so he causes it to happen.
      - Macbeth was "Disdaining fortune" when he fought Macdonald - he killed him against the odds which may hint that he could have changed his actions if he wanted to