Themes





__Themes in Macbeth__
This page is a space where you can analyze the major themes that emerge in the play. In your analysis, you can outline main parts of the play where the theme come up, with quotations to provide direct support. You can also analyze the messages that are expressed within the theme. What is Shakespeare trying to tell us? Your theme analysis may be connected to the historical context of the play, literal meanings, character development, and symbolic expression. As you and your peers continue to read the play, develop your statement about the major theme into a full explanation. This final statement could be in the format of a thesis statement.

__**Kingship**__


 * Soon after the witches hail him as "Thane of Glamis," "Thane of Cawdor," "and king hereafter!" (1.3.50), Macbeth receives the news that he has been named Thane of Cawdor. This news throws him into an abstraction, in which he says to himself, "Two truths are told.
 * Macbeth's metaphor is dramatic, or musical; he seems to be imagining himself as making a grand entrance as king, or maybe as an emperor, a king of kings.
 * Malcolm is afraid to become a king and he thinks that he will be a terrible king. (4.3)

Macduff: "Not in the legions of horrid hell can come a devil more damn'd in evils to top Macbeth" (4.3.63-65)
 * Macduff thinks that Malcolm will be a better king than Macbeth because he killed Duncan.

Malcolm: "I grant him bloody, Luxurious, avaricious, false, deceitful, Sudden, malicious, smacking, of every sin That has a name; but there's no bottom, none," (4.3.65-68)
 * Malcolm thinks that Macbeth was a bloody, rich, false, and all the bad things that has a name. He thinks that Macbeth was a very bad king.

Malcolm" "But I have none: the king-becoming graces, As justice, verity, temperance, stableness, Bounty, perseverance, mercy, lowliness, Devotion, patience, courage, fortitude, I have no relish o them, but abound In the division of each several crime, Acting it many ways."
 * He thinks that he doesn't have the qualities of a good king. Such as(Justice, being true, charity, mercy, courage,mental and emotional strength in facing difficult y and etc. He thinks he doesn't have any of those graces.

__**Power**__ Definitions of power


 * Ability to do or act; capability of doing or accomplishing something.
 * Political or national strength: the balance of power in Europe.
 * Great or marked ability to do or act; strength; might; force.
 * The possession of control or command over others; authority; ascendancy: power over men's minds.
 * Political ascendancy or control in the government of a country, state, etc.: They attained power by overthrowing the legal government.

Duncan has power over Scotland ( King ) Lady Macbeth has power over Macbeth because she can manipulate him Macbeth gains power over all when he becomes King after killing Duncan. He has power to order //whoever// to do //whatever//, (for example getting the murderers to kill Banquo and Fleance.) But with the power comes a guilty conscious.

Types of power in Macbeth are
 * Political Power (The king and the great chain of being)
 * Gender Power (Lady Macbeth ove Macbeth or men over women)
 * Phycological Power (Three witches predictions made Macbeth think he needed to do all these bad things)
 * Supernatural Power (Banquo's ghost, three witches etc.)
 * Theatrical Power (The way Shakespeare writes his play and how it can change when someone is acting or directing it)

__**Fate vs Free Will**__ __Fate__ : is the happening of events outside of a person's control. Fate comes into play many times because of the constant prophesies and supernatural Illusions. __Free Will__ : is the ability to act in one's own direction without constraint of fate. Free will is important because nobody knows how i affects the prophesy. (4.1.75-143)
 * an example of free will would be when Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth that they will not continue with the plan.
 * an example of fate that has appeared in the book is when the witches told Macbeth he would be king(1.3.53). He never chose to be king until the witches told him of his fate to become king.
 * Macbeth acted of his own freewill to kill Duncan to secure his fate but if Macbeth had not acted as he did would his fate still be the same? Do the choices of our free will alter our fate?
 * Macbeth goes to the witches again and is given another four prophecies about his fate and how he shall have to look out for Macduff and not have to worry about being killed.

__**Violence**__ __**Loyalty**__
 * “  Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him, Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chops, And fix'd his head upon our battlements.” (1.2.21-23). The lines show how Macbeth killed MacDonwald in description to create a violent thought in the audience mind or to show violence in the play.
 * “  No more that thane of Cawdor shall deceive, Our bosom interest: go pronounced his present death, And with his former title greet Macbeth.” (1.2.63-65). These lines say that the Thane of Cawdor won't deceive them anymore and that Macbeth will take his title as Thane of Cawdor, and that the Thane of Cawdor is going to be executed.
 * Macbeth and Banquo are both loyal to the king.
 * They __were__ also loyal to each other.
 * King Duncan is loyal to his country and people, by fighting side by side with them (1.2).
 * The thane of Cawdor shows a great amount of disloyalty towards the King and their country when he tells Norwegian people of the battle (1.2.55-60).
 * Macbeth shows some disloyalty by thinking treasonous thoughts, by getting ride of the King (1.4.55-60).
 * Macbeth lets his disloyal thoughts come to fruition by killing the king.

**"Macbeth: If you shall cleave to my consent, when 'tis It shall make honour for you.**

 * Banqou: So I lose none In seeking to augment it, but still keep My bosom franchised and allegiance clear, I shall be counsell'd"** 2.1. 30 – 35


 * ====== Macbeth asks Banquo to be on his side in case something happens======
 * ====== Banquo say no, because he wants to stay clear of allegiances and wants to stay loyal to the king======
 * ====== Banquo shows loyalty======
 * ====== Choices being loyal over his friend======

"Banquo: Let your highness Command upon me, to the which my duties Are with most indissoluble tie For ever knit." (3.1.17-20) __**Superstition and Prophecy**__
 * Banquo is speaking of his loyalty towards Macbeth, saying that now that you are King I am forever your servant
 * Banquo stays loyal to his friend and in the end his friend is disloyal to him.
 * The witches in the first act of the play are prophecies themselves, they quote many events in future tense implying they will happen, like foreshadowing

//"1st witch: All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Glamis!// //2nd witch:All hail, Macbeth! Hail to you, thane of Cawdor!// //3rd witch: All hail, Macbeth, the future king!" (1.3.50)//

//"1st witch:Lesser than Macbeth but also greater.// //2nd witch: You are not as happy as Macbeth, yet much happier.// //3rd witch: Your descendants will be kings, even though you will not be one. So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!"(1.3.70)//
 * The prophecy the witches are predicting is that Macbeth shall become the future king and over throw king Duncan, and Banquo will live to be happy but not as happy as Macbeth, but his sons shall become kings
 * Macbeth and Banquo are very superstitious(along with majority of people in Elizabethan time) so they do not know whether or not to believe what the witches have told them.
 * What the witches have told Macbeth was right when they said about the forest coming alive. 10 000 men are outside Macbeth's house and they all try to pretend they are a forest and it is moving towards the house like the witches said.

__**Relationships**__ __**Guilt**__
 * Macbeth doesn't feel guilty that even though he is loyal to King Duncan that he is thinking that he could be the next King, and in doing so, that would mean King Duncan would have to die. (Scene 3)
 * Macbeth is talking to himself about the dagger and whether his mind or eyes are playing tricks on him, he keeps second guessing himself and wonders if he should go on with killing King Duncan (Act 2, Scene 1)
 * Macbeth said after killing Duncan he heard Donalbain praying, and when Macbeth tried to say it, it had gotten stuck in his throat. He was to guilt ridden to pray.(Act 2, Scene 2 Line 37)
 * Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth to go wipe the blood on the guards, Macbeth says he can't do more for fear of thinking what he had just done. So Lady Macbeth says fine go wash your hands and i will do the deed. (Act 2, scene 2, line 65-69)
 * "Wake Duncan with thy knocking! I would thou couldst" Macbeth would wake Duncan if he could, but he has already killed him. (Act 2, scene 2, line 93)
 * Macbeth is feeling guilty, and thinks that Banquo or his wife may say something. He plans to kill Banquo to kill his guilty conscious (act 3, scene 1)
 * Macbeth is at his feast for being king, and he is the only one that can see the ghost of Banquo, this may be a sign of his guilty conscious, just like the dagger he saw before. (act3, scene 4)

__**Corruption**__
 * Corruption in Macbeth is the act of wrongdoing in the quest to advance power. This is one of the main themes of Shakespeare's play. Corruption is often the result of bribery and threats. When Lady Macbeth insists that Macbeth murders Duncan or she'll leave him, he results on acting against his better judgement. Her demanding requests forced him into doing something that he didn't want to do in the first place.

**Lady Macbeth** //**-** "Was the hope drunk// //Wherein you dressed yourself? Hath it slept since?// //And wakes it now, to look so green and pale// //At what it did so freely? From this time// //Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard// //To be the same in thine own act and valor// //As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that// //Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life,// //And live a coward in thine own esteem,// //Letting “I dare not” wait upon “I would, ”// //Like the poor cat i' th' adage?"// **Macbeth-**      //"Prithee, peace:// //I dare do all that may become a man;// //Who dares do more is none."// **Lady Macbeth-**  " //What beast was ’t, then,// //That made you break this enterprise to me?// //When you durst do it, then you were a man;// //And to be more than what you were, you would// //Be so much more the man. Nor time nor place// //Did then adhere, and yet you would make both.// //They have made themselves, and that their fitness now// //Does unmake you. I have given suck, and know// //How tender ’tis to love the babe that milks me.// //I would, while it was smiling in my face,// //Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums// //And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you// //Have done to this// ." //(1.7.36-59.)//


 *  In the conversation between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth, she tells him that not killing Duncan shows how much their love means to him (very little in her eyes). Lady Macbeth also says she would smash her own baby’s brains out against a wall if she had the opportunity Macbeth has to rule. She implies that she wants more power (as queen) and guilts him into thinking that this is the only way to become King. This example of corruption defines just how crucial and effective the technique really is, especially when Macbeth is being corrupted by his own wife who he trusts. Corruption is motivated by greed and deception and I feel that this is just the start of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's trend. Once they get the power, they will want more and more and continue to corrupt themselves into people nobody wants to associate with. There first mistake was killing Duncan.