Macbeth themes

macbeth says that if killing duncan had no concequences, he would ”jump the life to come” this means he would accept damnation in the afterlife to become king. he is rejecting the fundamental aspects of christianity. this would make jackobeans feel as if his ambition is even more immoral

the hero usually is a noble person who has one charecter flaw which leads to their downfall. this is their fatal flaw in this context, macbeths fatal flaw is his ambition.

” not without the ambition, but without the illness should attend it”
”too full oth milk of human kindness”
”thy letters have not transported me beyond this ignorant present, i feel now the future in the instant”

i have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition”

macduff is loyal to scotland by asking malcom to help defent scotland
the thanes are loyal to duncan as he is a great king
banquo is loyal to his own sense of honour

“he was a gentleman on whom i built an absolute trust” duncan to the old thane of cawdor

duncans reign kept scotland in order and peaceful. however when macbeth was reigned king day turned to night and horses ate eachother. this shows how everything turns unnatural under macbeths reign

the king is supposed to be the highest in rank to be closes to god the divine right
however, unlike duncan (who was a religeous catholic and close to god man) macbeth telues on witches prophecies and the supernatural to lead his life. this ends in disaster

“no man born of woman shall harm macbeth” this makes macbeth believe he is an imortal king who cannot be defeated and this boosts his ego very much

macbeth is hesitant at first to kill duncan. this is proved in the quote.we shall speak of this no more in act 3 scene 2. however, lady macbeth uses her knowledge of macbeths weakness and his ambition aswell as her manipulation techniques to commit regicide. urther on in the play, he feels bad for murdering theese people.

lady macbeth links cruelty and violence to masc. therefore she asks the spirits to unsex me here and to full her from crown to toe with direst cruelty
lady m relies on manipulation to commit her evil deeds through her husband macbeth
the witches are ambiguous. this means they should be women, but are not because they have beards they also rely on manipulation and riddles to commit evil.

they use their ability to forecast the future as an advantage over humans. therefore they use manipulation and riddles to trick mortals into doing bad deeds. this does not benefit them iun any wayso they are doing it for their own enjoyment
they are also called the wierd sisters. the word wiers comes from old english for wyrd which means fate. this suggests that the witches can control macbeths fate.

witches are destructive. shakespeare says that they untie winds and make castles topple

the dagger this is a sign to macbeth that he sould not commit regicide and represents the bloody crime he is about to commit.
banquos ghost is a sign of macbeths quilty concience as only macbeth sees it.
the blood on lady m’s hands represent the crime she commited threough macbeth. and her being eternally damned as it cannot be washed off “out damned spot”

lady macbeth says “look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t” this suggests that she wants herself to be seen as something she completely isnt.
macbeth knows he needs a “false face” to hide all of the murders he commits. however, this is uncovered when he sees banquos ghost at the feast.
as the play goes on, lady macbeths guilt becomes too hard to hide.

fair is foul and foul is fair suggests that thgings that appear to be good are not.
the witches use language to trick macbeth and convince him he is immortal.

the witches use “ when the battles lostr and won” which suggests that after every battle won, there will allways be a downfall to the winner. for ijnstance, macbeth wins the battle at the start, but is then turned into a tyrant who loses his wife and cannot control himself.

duncan trusts macbeth way too much this leads to duncans murder and macbeth taking his place.