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THEMES (REALITY IS AMBIGUOUS (Shakespeare uses this to improve his…
THEMES
REALITY IS AMBIGUOUS
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"The castle hath a pleasant seat" - This shows Duncan's positivity when entering the home of his murder. he is fooling himself, he should know better
"Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell" -Questioning God. Even God was able to be fooled by Satan as he was a noble angel,until he disobeyed God and was thrown of Heaven. Satan was going to be a traitor,like Duncan,we all fool ourselves. we all think we are wise enough to see the world as it is.
This shows another purpose; political propaganda.Full of says,intrigue and the topic is whether or not you are a catholic. traitors are everywhere, "False face must hide what the false heart doth know" "there's no art to find the mind's construction in the face"
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This shows Shakespeare is holy in favour of King James. He is loyal "look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it" - convince the king e has nothing to do with it. Links to the medal that was made to celebrate his survival, flattery. Do not treat me with any suspicion
Shakespeare grew up with Christopher Marlowe, who was arrested for being an atheist and politically assassinated in 1593. Lots of documentation that links him Catholicism and the plotters. Does not want to be targeted by King James, so he chooses to praise him and show his loyalty
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The Witches (said by Hecate) "Love for his own ends, not for you"
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The Witches cannot achieve any form of love because they are so ugly, they are outcasts from society and presumably poor
No one will want to marry them or love them, so they will never have power
The witches turn to witchcraft in order to replace that missing hole, they simply want to be loved
It can been shown as the witches do achieve this aim because Macbeth does seek them out again and he does love what they offer him, and if you like they keep turning to them as objects of his desire
Hecate is correct, he only loves them for his own ends, not for themselves
Shakespeare here could be talking about how marginalised women are in society and what they really want is love and understanding, but what they get is an arranged marriage and security through political alliance
PSYCHOLOGY OF GUILT
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"Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible / To feeling as 'to sight?"
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So, yes there is a morality here. Shakespeare is clearly suggesting that if we go against what we know as right, it will destroy us in the brain
Shakespeare also was interested at showing how we become disconnected with ourselves and create alternative realities to justify ourselves
The dagger is pointing towards the King's chamber - the way Macbeth goes - and this is used as an excuse as he believes he is being forced (could be a reference to supernatural force
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"Sleep no more"
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This is actually his own mind telling him that there are consequences, more importantly mental consequences of what you are about to do and you won't be able to rest again if you do it
"Put on your nightgown; look not so pale, I tell you yet again, Banquo's buried"
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Shakespeare is more interested in the human context of the ghost as it is only there as Shakespeare can imagine it. Therefore, it i a product of his own mind
Shakespeare is interested in how the mind gets damaged, and in this play, it is when you go against your own better nature
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"that we but teach / Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return / To plague the inventor" (Macbeth)
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In other words, when he starts killing the nobles , it shows the surviving nobles that this is acceptable and something they can actually get away with, therefore, they can get away with killing Macbeth
Link to the Gunpowder Plot, if it had succeeded in killing in King James, it would not have led to a better world it has just led to a world in which the next conspirators could come and think about getting rid of the next monarch
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Banquo
"royalty of nature"
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So, it was important to show Banqo as the origin of James I in a good life, hence, the royalty of nature
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Why?
Shakespeare has to make sure that Banquo appears quite noble despite, his ambition
"to the crack of doom"
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Shakespeare is suggesting that King James could become such a good king that his descendants will stay on the throne forever
This is obviously a blatant of flattery. If you look at the royal dynasty during Shakespeare's time, you can see that one royal dynasty destroys the other
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Shakespeare is offering a prize to King James, he is showing him through his play at the sort of King he should and portraying to King James that he could be different to the other dynasties
Consequences of Macbeth are highlighted - if he chooses to rebel like Macbeth or act as a tyrant, he will have a short, unfulfilling dynasty like Macbeth
FATE, PROPHECY AND FREE WILL
Shakespeare introduces the idea of whether are lives are controlled by fate or controlled by free will
In classic literature,fate was portrayed as three women a virgin, a mature women and an old crone and they are the three fates that control our lives
Macbeth (Aside) "If chance will have me king, chance may crown me, / Without stir"*
This is Macbeth believing that he does not have to exercise his free will in order to obtain the crown and he can allow fate to guide his path
This shows that Macbeth does not have to act in any violent way in order to show he is able to become king- this emphasises how disturbed Macbeth is as our main character
Foreshadows why he is killed, He is killed by his own free will. For instance, the prophecies are not supernatural and can be explained
Yes, Macbeth would have been killed anyway by fate (TRAGIC HERO) but is ultimately it is his free will that kills Macbeth. Ironically, Macbeth freely chooses to believe in his fate and so he lets Macduff defeat him
It is clear throughout the play that the evil that follows is a part of free will, not fate. Everything that happens to Macbeth and Lady Macbeth is a result of their free will. This could have been used by Shakespeare to show King James that it was not his "fate" to be a tyrant and be defeated or the "fate" of others to kill him
From the success of Shakespeare, and the development of his lifestyle from being a young boy from a small town to being a leading dramatist that it would be very likely that he wanted to portray that his own success was based on his cunning, his skill. He was not just fated to do well - he deserved the respect he got
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BANQUO "If you can look into the seeds of time, / And say which grain will grow and which will not, / Speak then to me"
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He doesn't just leave them to speak to Macbeth, he has to ask to
"but only / Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself / And falls on the other"
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"So clear in his great office, hath born his faculties so meek... his virtues will plead like angels"
Sitting in court, there was undoubtedly will be many nobles who do not want King James as their king, who do not think he has any entitlement to be there because Queen Elizabeth died without any heirs to the thone
Sitting in court, you will also have others that come from Catholic families who are now pretending to be Protestant because it is illegal to be a Catholic but actually, still practise Catholicism at home
SO they will be King James natural enemies, even though they are at court
So, Shakespeare wants to promote the idea of the Divine Right of Kings which meant that God chose Kings and whatever mortals thought about it was irrelevant there, you couldn't really go against the Word of God and once we look in that, he then creates this character Duncan to be completely virtuous
Again, a reminder to King James of the King he should be to make it easier for people to accept him as the divine choice
"And that which should accompany old age, / As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends."
Shakespeare's two main motives are to stop any rebellion against King James and to stop King James from becoming a viscous ruler, therefore, encouraging rebellion
This is why we have such great description of Macbeth's tyranny in Scotland, as it invites the audience to imagine what tyranny would look like in England
The message from Shakespeare about the Gunpowder Plot, shows that King James needs to think about his future, instead of acting rashly
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Shakespeare is showing King James what he could lose by being a harsh, unfair ruler
Did Shakespeare have different motive for trying to suppress King James from becoming a tyrannical ruler, was Shakespeare himself a Catholic? (debated by English scholars)
As a tyrant, following his Protestant upbringing and the Gunpowder Plot, his tyrannous ruler would certainly include the seek to torture and kill Catholics
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