Macbeth ( Key Themes)
Madness and Blood
Armour, Kingship and The Natural Order
Power and Ambition
The Supernatural
Violence
Women, Children and Sleep
At the start of the play, Macbeth does not seem to be ambitious. He is already a thane, so he has some social status. He does not seem to want more. When he is given the title, ‘Thane of Cawdor’, he is surprised.
Shakespeare links having ambition with evil and committing evil deeds. Some people think that Lady Macbeth encourages Macbeth to murder King Duncan because of her own ambition.
Lady Macbeth is more ambitious for her husband. She believes he deserves more than he has, but that he is too nice for his own good. She thinks he won’t go after power: "Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be / What thou art promis’d; yet do I fear thy nature, / It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness / To catch the nearest way" (1,5). Lady Macbeth thinks Macbeth does have ambition, but he is too good, gentle and kind to go after what he wants: "Thou wouldst be great, / Art not without ambition, but without / The illness should attend it" (1,5).
At the time the play was set, people believed in heaven and hell. If someone went against God’s will, they would be damned in the afterlife and punished in hell for all eternity. This was often seen as more frightening than allowing harm to happen to you while you were alive. Once Macbeth has damned himself by killing King Duncan, nothing he can do will save his mortal soul. He might as well pursue all his ambitions and kill anyone who gets in his way because his punishment by God has already been decided!
After the death of King Duncan, Macbeth cannot cope with what he has done (perhaps his religious guilt comes into play here). He becomes more and more paranoid. The price of fulfilling his ambition was not worth it: "I have liv’d long enough. My way of life / Is fall’n into the sere, the yellow leaf, / And that which should accompany old age, / As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends, / I must not look to have" (5,3). Macbeth lists all of the things he should have had in later life, like an honourable reputation and many friends. He has lost everything by going after the crown.
You could argue that ambition causes Macbeth's downfall. Macbeth’s ambition changes his life from good to horrific and causes his death. It is caused by the outside force of the witches’ prophecies. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth make huge errors in judgement as they allow their greedy desire for power to overtake them. The audience can see their bad choices building up throughout the play, and they know that it cannot end well for either character. Therefore, the tragic mood of the play starts as soon as Macbeth meets the witches in Act 1 and gets worse until he eventually dies in Act 5.
The violent imagery describing Macbeth at the start of the play is honourable: his violence on the battlefield is for the king. He is praised and rewarded for killing a treacherous thane, Macdonald: "Till he unseam’d him from the nave to th’ chops / And fixed his head upon our battlements" (1,2). Macbeth shows his courage and strength by cutting his enemy open from his navel (belly button) to his face. The violent verb "unseam’d" emphasises how Macbeth opens him up. It all seems very fluid (free) in motion. This implies Macbeth is very strong and is unphased by horrifically killing another man.
Macbeth removes his enemy’s head and displays it from the battlements. This might seem grisly, but it has a clear purpose. When Shakespeare was writing, anyone sentenced to death for treason, such as Guy Fawkes after the failed Gunpowder Plot, would be hung, drawn and quartered (a horrible punishment of partial hanging, disembowelling and cutting of body into quarters) and their heads would be shown on pikes on Traitor’s Gate. This was the gateway prisoners would pass through as they entered the Tower of London. This was done to make sure people thought twice before acting against their king and country.
At the end of the play, Macduff removes Macbeth’s head. Macduff seems to be displaying it as he asks them to look at it: "Behold where stands / the usurper’s cursed head" (5,9). This moment makes Macbeth’s heroism at the start somewhat ironic – he was a hero for killing a man who seems to have been a traitor to the king. However, almost immediately after that, he himself becomes a traitor, soon murdering the king and taking over Scotland. This relates back to the witches’ statement: "Fair is foul, and foul is fair" (1,1) – things and people are not always what they seem.
The warriors fighting believed in the heroic code (defines how a noble person should act): it was honourable to die in battle. This is why Siward says that his son "parted well" (5,9). The battles were bloody and violent, but participating and fighting, even dying, bravely was very honourable. It deserved praise. This is why Macbeth’s murder of King Duncan seems particularly evil – he killed him while he slept, without warning. He did not give Duncan a chance to meet him equally in battle.
Lady Macbeth uses very violent imagery to persuade her husband to murder King Duncan. She tells him she would have bashed in the brain of her own baby if she had promised to do it: "I would, while it was smiling in my face, / Have plucked the nipple from his boneless gums, / And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn / As you have done to this" (1,7). This would have been very shocking to a Jacobean (during the reign of James I of England) audience. Lady Macbeth is a woman whose main purpose, according to the values of the time, would be to give birth to and nurture children. The language she uses is very vivid and violent.
The verb "plucked" is simple, but devastating; it’s as if she casually removed the baby from the breast and broke the connection between them.
In this sense, Lady Macbeth goes against nature by refusing to nurture her own child and, instead, describes the violent image of her murdering it.
Finally, the verb "dashed" is a very aggressive one. It shows how she would have bashed in her baby’s head if she had promised to do it.
She uses violence to try and show Macbeth how strong her commitment is to anything she promises to do. She is trying to show him he is a coward for going back on the plan. She uses an image of violence against the thing she cares most about – her baby. She does this to show him that she’d do anything to keep her word to him and to make him change his mind. In Lady Macbeth’s mind, this violent description shows her husband the extent she’d go to for him and, therefore, how much she loves him.
The adjective "boneless" reflects how young the child is.
He doesn’t have teeth in his gums yet. This reminds the audience of how vulnerable the baby is and how Lady Macbeth does not seem to care – again, her careless attitude goes against nature, especially for women at the time the play was set.
The violence of killing King Duncan is clear from the blood on Macbeth’s hands. King Duncan was sleeping. Macbeth was especially cowardly in the murder and he prevented him from a warrior’s death. Macbeth refers to his hands as "a sorry sight" (2,2). This suggests that he has done something incredibly weak in murdering a sleeping man, and one who he was honour-bound (morally obliged) to serve and protect.
After King Duncan’s murder, Macbeth steps away from murdering others with his own hands. He prefers to send murderers to do this for him. This may suggest he is still ashamed of using violence against those who don’t deserve it. Alternatively, this could show that he cares so little about human life that he carelessly gives the job of murdering to other people – his victims do not deserve his attention.
Macbeth says after seeing Banquo’s ghost, "It will have blood they say: blood will have blood" (3,4). This is a metaphor saying that once a violent act is committed, more violence will follow. This usually happens when a family tries to avenge the first murder.
One violent act causes more and more violence. After murdering King Duncan, Macbeth continues to kill others in an attempt to stop anyone else from taking his throne. He hires men to murder Banquo and his son. The guilt of murdering Duncan drives Lady Macbeth to suicide. The murder of Duncan, Lady Macduff, and her son causes Macduff to kill Macbeth.
Macbeth will also stop at nothing to protect his crown. He punishes those disloyal to him, including women and children. He sends murderers to kill Banquo and his son, Fleance, who escapes. After Macduff leaves for England, Macbeth sends more murderers to kill his wife and children in their home.
The murder of Macduff’s son is seen on stage: "he has killed me, mother" (4,2). The murder of children is very violent and upsetting. Children are symbolic of innocence. They cannot protect themselves. Calling out to his "mother" is very emotive because it reminds those watching of how young he is. This violence reflects how evil Macbeth has become.
A key supernatural event is when Macbeth sees the ghost of Banquo. He is the only one who can see the ghost. We could argue that this hallucination is a symptom of Macbeth’s mind becoming more and more unbalanced because of the guilt he feels, as well as the overwhelming amount of power he suddenly has.
Appearances and Deception
Masculinity
Macbeth has visions throughout the play, such as the dagger before he kills King Duncan, "Is this a dagger which I see before me" (2,1). These could be psychological or they could be premonitions (feelings that something bad is going to happen) and Macbeth is experiencing the supernatural. Because he has interacted with the witches, the audience might think that he has made himself vulnerable to evil.
The witches are the first characters the audience see in the play. This shows that they are very significant for what is to come. They manipulate Macbeth to show the evil within himself.
Lady Macbeth calls on spirits too. She does this like the witches themselves: "Come, you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here" (1,5). She uses imperative language ("come" and "unsex") which suggests that she thinks she has control over them. This labels her as an evil character who wants supernatural beings to help her. We don’t know whether this is something she has done before or whether the opportunity to take the crown has made her want to try to contact them. But it could just be words. Perhaps she is simply showing how far she is prepared to go.
Contact with the supernatural seems to cause the events of the play. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth only hatch the plan to kill King Duncan because the witches tell Macbeth that he will be the king one day – we could argue that, without the witches, none of the events of the play would have happened.
Macbeth behaves like a fearless warrior at the start of the play. The Captain tells King Duncan about his bravery in battle. Macbeth acts on how people expected men to act at the time. They expected men to behave with honour, which meant fighting for their king. It was their duty. Men were also supposed to be fearless.
However, Macbeth starts to be viewed as an evil character when he goes against this idea of the honourable man. He lies to Banquo (his best friend), which is dishonourable.
He brings his friend and leader (King Duncan) into his home and then kills him. He also goes against fighting rules when he kills Duncan. He waits for the king to fall asleep and kills him whilst he is defenceless. This also goes against honour because Duncan trusted Macbeth to keep him safe whilst he was a guest in his home, but Macbeth goes against this.
Macbeth also shows his lack of traditional masculinity when he allows women to control and manipulate him. The witches tell him he will be king, so he starts to plot against King Duncan. Lady Macbeth tells him he will be a coward and a weak man if he does not kill the king, and so he kills King Duncan.
Throughout the play, Macbeth’s masculinity is threatened when events get worse. The witches control and manipulate him – helps to cause his downfall. Lady Macbeth controls and manipulates him – encourages him to murder King Duncan, which helps to cause his downfall. He has visions of ghosts (Banquo) – shows his people that he is mentally unstable. His increasing mental instability (apparently feminine trait) causes him to murder more and more people – helps to cause his downfall.
Lady Macbeth wishes that she could be more masculine. She wants to be masculine to have the qualities that people thought belonged to men. These included strength, courage and ruthlessness: "Come you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here / And fill me from the crown to the toe topfull / Of direst cruelty" (1,5). She uses many imperative verbs here to show she is in command. She orders the spirits to ‘unsex’ her because she wants to be less feminine. She wants to be cruel and feels no remorse.
Lady Macbeth attacks Macbeth’s masculinity when he shows doubts about going through with the murder in Act 1, Scene 7. She calls him a coward, saying he is "pale and green". She asks him if he would rather live in fear than take action for the things he wants: "Art thou afeared / To be the same in thine own act and valour, / As thou art in desire?" By questioning his bravery, she suggests that he is weak. Men were supposed to be strong. She shames him by seeming stronger than he is. When Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost, Lady Macbeth says: "Are you a man?" (3,4). Madness was seen as a disorder that only affected women.
Lady Macbeth persuades Macbeth to go ahead with the plan. When she does, he tells her: "Bring forth men-children only, / For thy undaunted mettle should compose / Nothing but males" (1,7). This reflects the value of bravery at the time. He is saying that her bravery – "undaunted mettle" – is so praiseworthy and masculine that the only children she will give birth to will be males. Again, this suggests that Lady Macbeth has some masculine traits in the play.
At the end of the play, when Macbeth learns that Macduff can kill him, he refuses to fight at first. But when Macduff tells him about his fate ("We’ll have thee, as our rarer monsters are, / Painted upon a pole and underwrit, / ’Here may you see the tyrant") he decides that he will fight. This gives the audience a hint of his old bravery in battle: "Before my body, / I throw my warlike shield. Lay on, Macduff, / And damn’d be him that first cries, ‘Hold, enough!’'(5,8). He calls for his shield, possibly hoping that his old bravery and honour can reappear and save him from death.
Macbeth calls for his armour repeatedly in Act 5, Scene 3: "Give me my armour". This could symbolise his attempts to take back control. The armour represents his masculine power. When he was a fighter, he had control. He was honoured and people looked up to him. Since the murder of Duncan, he has hidden away from violence. He has sent other men to do his killing for him. But he is also not afraid at this point because he believes nobody can harm him.
From the very start of the play, the natural world seems to be in chaos. The first direction is "The battlefield: thunder and lightning". This is pathetic fallacy: the environment starts to predict the unnatural changes that are about to happen as the witches enter the stage. Storms have connotations of (are associated with) chaos.
The witches chant: "Fair is foul, and foul is fair" (1,1). Perhaps they are casting a spell that will begin the chaos in nature by reversing everything. Good things will seem bad and bad good. This also acts as a warning that people are often not what they appear. In the play, Lady Macbeth plays the role of the supportive wife, but is actually manipulative and controlling. Macbeth plays the role of loyal subject and friend of the king, but actually plots to murder him. This could also be a warning to the audience that supernatural beings are not to be trusted – perhaps Shakespeare was warning people that witches could be hiding anywhere.
Macbeth’s first words in the play echo those of the witches in the first scene. He says, "So foul and fair a day I have not seen" (1,3). This oxymoron shows the confusion in nature. Things are both good and bad all at once. He has never seen anything like it before. This shows how unusual it all is. This sets the scene for discord (disagreement) – immediately after this statement, Macbeth meets the witches.
Lady Macbeth seems to go against the natural order as she doesn’t behave as a wife should. She dominates (has power over) her husband when he first returns home in Act 1, Scene 5. He hardly speaks, and she seems to lead the plan to murder King Duncan. When he does speak, "We will speak further –", he is interrupted (shown by the dash).
In Jacobean times, a wife was expected to serve her husband. It was very unusual for a man to share his business with his wife the way that Macbeth does. It was also very unusual for a husband to let his wife talk to him the way Lady Macbeth does. Their marriage seems to go against the usual order of things.
In Act 2, Scene 4, an old man and Ross talk about the strange happenings in nature on the night that Macbeth murdered King Duncan. They talk about how Duncan’s horses, which were usually "beauteous and swift", also went wild, as though they would "make war with mankind".
The unnatural changes also happen in the world of men when someone murders the king. James I believed in the Divine Right of Kings. This says that God decides who the king is, and that only God has the power to end a King’s rule through natural death. If someone murders a king, they challenge the natural order. This has bad repercussions (effects), like the strange weather.
In Act 2, Scene 3, Lennox tells Macbeth that the previous night – the night of King Duncan’s murder – was "unruly". People are predicting that bad things will happen. "Some say, the earth / Was feverous and did shake". This personification shows that Earth itself is sick with the events happening in the world of men. The murder hasn’t even been talked about at this point. This could be a message to the audience that people who take part in supernatural events cause huge problems for everyone in the world. The witches in Macbeth have caused nature itself to turn on its head.
In Act 1, Scene 5, Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth that he must "Bear welcome in your eye, / Your hand, your tongue; look like th’ innocent flower, / But be the serpent under’ t". This simile tells Macbeth that he must put on a welcoming face for King Duncan. She's worried that he can't trick people. She tells him, "Your face, my thane, is as a book where men / May read strange matters". This suggests that it is easy to read his emotions by looking at him. She says he needs to control his emotions if they're to gain Duncan's trust.
Macbeth seems to be much better at tricking people by the time Macduff finds King Duncan’s body. He says: "Had I but died an hour before this chance, / I had liv’d a blessed time, for from this instant, / There’s nothing serious in mortality" (2,3). This suggests that life has nothing left to offer now the king is dead. Macbeth seems like a loyal subject (someone under the King’s rule) who is very upset by King Duncan’s death, rather than a murderer who is responsible for it.
Macbeth continues to trick people. He misleads the men he employs to murder Banquo. He makes them think that Banquo was responsible for their misfortune, not him, "Know, that it was he in the times past which held you so under fortune, which you thought was our innocent self" (3,1).
Macbeth still struggles to hide how torn he feels within. Lady Macbeth tells him to, "Sleek o’er your rugged looks, be bright and jovial / Among your guests tonight" (3,2). Macbeth agrees. He says they must, "make our faces vizards to our hearts, / Disguising what they are". A vizard is part of a helmet that covers the face. This metaphor means they must make their faces like masks to hide their true selves from everyone else.
In Act 3, Scene 5, Hecate chants about how she will mislead Macbeth with fake spirits. She wants to continue pushing him towards his downfall: "And that distill’d by magic sleights, / Shall raise such artificial sprites / As by the strength of their illusion / Shall draw him on to his confusion".
Before meeting with Macbeth in Act 1, Scene 4, King Duncan says "There’s no art / To find the mind’s construction in the face." This suggests that it is difficult to read true intentions by looking at someone. King Duncan regrets that he trusted those around him, like the Thane of Cawdor, who betrayed him. He does not learn from this though. He is murdered because he trusts the Macbeths just a few scenes later.
After the murder of their father, Donalbain tells Malcolm "There’s daggers in men’s smiles" (2,3). This suggests that they are surrounded by people who pretend to be friends by smiling, but in fact have murderous plans. He knows that appearances can trick people.
After the murder of King Duncan, Macbeth believes he has "fil’d" his mind (defiled it) (3,1). This means that he has harmed his sanity and can’t have peace in his life: "the gracious Duncan have I murder’d, / Put rancours in the vessel of my peace". Committing the murder has disturbed him.
Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth "O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!" (3,2). This metaphor suggests that he cannot control his thoughts and that he lives under a constant threat.
When Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost, Lady Macbeth is angry. She tells him it is his imagination, that he is seeing things that old women talk about in fairy tales: "This is the very painting of your fear; / This is the air-drawn dagger which you said / Led you to Duncan. O’ these flaws and starts, / Impostors to true fear, would well become / A woman’s story at a winter’s fire".
When Caithness is talking about Macbeth before the English army advances on Dunsinane, he says: "Some say he’s mad; others that lesser hate him / Do call it valiant fury" (5,2). Many people think Macbeth's mad. His rule has become tyrannical and his supporters are abandoning him. He seems to be losing control. Menteth thinks that this is because of Macbeth’s own inner turmoil (disorder). Killing King Duncan was so unnatural that he must feel torn inside: "Who then shall blame / His pester’d senses to recoil and start / When all that is within does condemn / Itself for being there" (5,2).
When she is sleepwalking, Lady Macbeth speaks in prose rather than the iambic pentameter, which is usually used for the speech of key characters. This change from poetry to prose shows the breakdown of her mind. She is no longer in control of the words that come from her mouth (5,1).
Lady Macbeth’s words when sleepwalking show all the emotions and thoughts that she keeps bottled up when she is awake: "Here’s the smell of the blood still; all the perfumes of / Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. O, O, O" (5,1). She is clearly distressed. This is shown by her cries of "O". The adjective "little" describing her hand makes her seem childlike and innocent.
She believes that she can’t get clean from her crimes. This is very different to what she tells Macbeth after they have committed murder: "My hands are of your colour, but I shame / To wear a heart so white" and "A little water clears us of this deed" (2,2). It’s clear that her subconscious thinks that she can never get rid of the guilt that she feels from the murder.
When she sleepwalks in Act 5, Scene 1, Lady Macbeth cannot get rid of the blood that she imagines is on her hands: "Out, damned spot! Out, I say!" Again, blood represents the crimes that she has committed.
In Act 1, Scene 2, blood symbolises Macbeth’s bravery. His sword "smok’d with bloody execution".
The dagger which Macbeth sees as a vision becomes covered in blood. He believes it is the consequence of this "bloody business" – the plot to commit a murder – that makes him see it (2,1).
Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth: "It will have blood they say: blood will have blood" (3,5). This suggests that murder will lead to other murders and consequences. There will be retribution (punishment) if you kill. He says: "I am in blood / Stepp’d in so far that I should wade no more". It is impossible for Macbeth to go back now.
After King Duncan’s body is discovered, Donalbain warns Malcolm: "the nea’er in blood, / The nearer bloody". Blood here represents lineage and that they have the blood of their father in their veins. They are at risk of whoever has killed him harming them.
Macbeth doesn’t think he will be able to wash the blood from his hands after King Duncan’s murder: "Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand? No: this my hand will rather / The multitudinous seas incarnadine, / Making the green one red" (2,2). He thinks the blood is so great that it will stain the ocean red if he tries to clean his hands. Blood symbolises the size of his crime: he will never be able to clean away the evidence of what he has done because it is so horrible. The blood might wash away, but the memory of it, and the threat of consequences will always be there.
Scotland is like a mother to the thanes in the play, even though it now seems more like a grave to them (4,3).
Two of the spirits appear to Macbeth as children (4,1). One represents a baby not born of women and one represents Malcolm. He is holding the branch of Birnam Wood, even though he is an adult. At the scene's end, Macbeth says he will murder Macduff’s, "wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls / That trace him in his line" (4,2). By calling them "babes", he makes the children sound more vulnerable. He plans to end "his line", which is killing off anyone who would inherit from Macduff and continue his family name. This is done with the murder of Macduff’s son in the next scene.
Children are lineage: they continue the bloodline after death. They inherit and secure the family name. This is why Fleance becomes a threat to Macbeth. If he inherits the crown, as the witches predicted in Act 1, Scene 3, Macbeth’s family will lose it.
A woman’s role was to give birth to children and feed them. It is the first thing that Lady Macbeth rejects when she tries to get the power to control her husband. She orders the spirits: "Come to my woman’s breasts / And take my milk for gall". She will lose her femininity to become bitter and evil. Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth she would rather brutally murder her own baby than break a promise to him. She says this after he says he no longer wants to kill King Duncan: "I would, while it was smiling in my face, / Have pluck’d my nipple from his boneless gums / And dash’d the brains out, had I so sworn / As you have done to this" (1,7).
Macduff’s birth becomes the main anagnorisis (realisation) of the play: "Macduff was from his mother’s womb / Untimely ripp’d". The language and structure here really emphasise the revelation. The line breaks after "womb" to create a pause before "untimely ripp’d". This verb phrase is savage, just as the moment in the play is horrendous for Macbeth. It means he can be killed (5,8).
Banquo cannot sleep – he has nightmares after seeing the witches: "A heavy summons lies like lead upon me, / And yet I would not sleep; merciful powers, / Restrain in me the cursed thoughts that nature / Gives way to in repose" (2,1). Banquo suffers just because he listens to the witches and because he wants the prophecy about him to come true.
His lack of sleep could show that he is not innocent from supernatural influence anymore.
After King Duncan’s murder, Macbeth believes he has murdered sleep: "Methought I heard a voice cry, ‘Sleep no more: / Macbeth does murder sleep’, the innocent sleep, / Sleep that knits up the ravell’d sleeve of care, / The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath, / Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course, / Chief nourisher in life’s feast" (2,2). The list of sleep’s qualities shows how valuable sleep is in life – it heals, nourishes and allows us to get rid of the stresses of the day before. Macbeth killed King Duncan in his sleep. This becomes symbolic of Macbeth killing his own peace. He will never rest soundly again.
Macbeth seems to struggle to sleep after the murder of King Duncan: "Ere we will eat our meal in fear, and sleep / In the affliction of these terrible dreams / That shake us nightly" (3,2). After seeing Banquo’s ghost, Lady Macbeth tells him: "You lack the season of all natures, sleep" (3,5). This suggests that lack of sleep has made him see things and act in an irrational way.
Lady Macbeth sleepwalks. This is a sign that she is possessed by evil spirits. The audience might see it is a symptom of her disturbed mind. The doctor says: "Unnatural deeds / Do breed unnatural troubles; infected minds / To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets. / More needs she the divine than the physician" (5,1). Lady Macbeth is having disturbed sleep because of something that she has done. The doctor believes she needs God’s forgiveness – there is nothing that a doctor can do to cure her. Her sleepwalking is punishment. Again, her lack of sleep could suggest that she has lost her innocence and her goodness, and so is not rewarded with healing sleep.