Macbeth

Macbeth

1. Themes

   • Supernatural
   • Guilt
     • Across the play, the theme of guilt is present. Macbeth suffers guilt through Duncan's and Banquo's muder. He couldn't say amen after Duncan's murder. Adding to that, he hallucinated Banquo's ghost after he indirectly killed him. Lady Macbeth suffers guilt through sleepwalking and hallucinating blood. Eventually, this leads to her suicide.
   • Masculinity
     • The theme of masculinity is present across the play. Lady Macbeth turns to the supernatural to get rid off her feminine qualities. She also questions Macbeth's manhood as she thinks he is weak. Macbeth uses this tactic on the murderers by questioning their manhood.
   • Fate
   • Ambition
     • Ambition is Macbeth's major flaw as this was the key reason which lead to his tragic fall.
   • Bravery
   • Power
   • Deception
     • The theme of deception is mainly linked with the 'weird sisters'. This is because they decieve Macbeth by leading him to his tragic fall.
   • Regecide
     • Killing the king comes with consequences.

2. Characters

   • Lady Macbeth
   • Macbeth
   • Banquo
   • Duncan

3. Context

   • Witchcraft
     • King James published a book called Demonolgy
     • The public believed in Witches which influenced the play
     • They were considered to be the source of all evil
   • Divine Rights of Kings
     • The belief of being chosen by God to be King
     • King James believed this
     • This links with the play because Macbeth became king and went against God so he had to face the consequences
   • Great Chain of Beings
     • A chain of beings with the most important at the top and the least at the bottom
     • In the play, Macbeth went against the natural order and had to face the consequences
     • He included this because he wanted to impress King James and to make sure the public followed the rules
   • Women
     • Women were always inferior to men
     • They were considered weak
     • The only responsibilities they had was to take care of the household and raise their children
     • Their lives were always under the control of their husbands or fathers
     • Shakespeare contradicted this due to Lady Macbeth's character
   • Gunpowder Plot
     • The Catholics decided to kill the King
     • They were caught and was killed. One of them was Guy Fawkes.
     • This links with the play to show how regicide comes with consequences