Macbeth

Macbeth

1. Hero v Villain

   • Brave in battle
     • (1.2) 'For brave Macbeth-well he deserves that name-" --> Use of dashes emphasises that Macbeth deserves to be called brave and that his bravery stands out.
   • Struggle
     • Doesn't want to go against his friends, king, or God.
     • (1.7)'We will proceed no more in this buisness."
   • Violent nature
     • (1.2) 'He unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps, and fix'd his head upon our battlements.' --> horrific action but viewed as heroic because it happens to the enemy.
   • Breaks loyalty to King Duncan
     • Betrays his friend and king --> breaks his trust.
     • In the 11th century, hospitality was very important. Duncan placed himself in the care of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, who should have treated him with kindness and loylaty.
   • Ruthlessly murders
     • Macbeth murders anyone who he thinks might get in the way of him keeping his powerful role as King of Scotland.
   • Trusts the supernatural
     • King James 1 hated anything supernatural.
     • Macbeth's trust in the witches means that the Jacobean audiences would distrust and dislike him intensely.

2. Ambition and Fate

   • Impulse reaction
     • (1.3) 'Two truths are told / as happy prologues to the swelling act / of the imperial theme.'
       • When told he is in fact Thane of Cawdor, his mind leaps to the possibility of becoming king.
     • But he is immediately not sure if what he has been told is for the best. It's good because he is now Thane of Cawdor, but if it was truly good, he would not feel so unsettled.
       • (1.3) 'If good, why do I yield to that suggestion / whose horrid image doth unfix my hair / and make my seated heart knock at my ribs / against the use of nature?'
   • The idea of killing Duncan
     • His mind jumps to the death of King Duncan. This is the only way that Macbeth can become king.
     • The imagery of terror that Shakespeare uses, like Macbeth's hair standing on end, suggests that Macbeth is already thinking about murder. This shows how quickly the possibility of power has moved him from a loyal subject to the worst kind of traitor.
     • This is also the start of Macbeth having torn thoughts.
   • Macbeth's views on fate
     • At the start of the play, Macbeth decides that if fate has said he will be King, then that will happen without him interfering.
       • (1.3) 'If chance will have me king, why then chance may crown me / without my stir.'
     • However, as the play progresses, we see Macbeth actively attempting to change the fates so he can keep his power. He kills Banquo in an attempt to stop his sons becoming kings, and kills Macduff's family to remove any competition.

3. Relationships

   • Significance of the Letter
     • Macbeth writes to his wife and tells her about what the witches have said. It is interesting that he seems to treat her more equally - this could suggest that he either cares about her, or he values her opinion; perhaps she has helped him with decisions in the past? It might give the audience a clue about why he lets her influence him in the way that she does at the start of the play. Many men would not talk such things with their wives.
   • Structure of Act 1, Scene 5
     • During Act 1, Scene 5, Lady Macbeth dominates the conversation, whilst Macbeth hardly speaks.
     • Macbeth uses loving language towards his wife, 'My dearest love.' Lady Macbeth greets him by flattering his status, 'Great Glamis, worthy Cawdor.' He seems the more caring of the two here.
     • Lady Macbeth decides the plan for them. Macbeth tells her they will speak later, but Lady Macbeth seems to interrupt him.
     • This makes us question things about his character - is he desperately in love with her and keep to please? Or is he really weak mentally?
   • Pleasing his Wife
     • In Macbeth's soliloquy, when he sees the vision of the dagger before him, he thinks of many reasons why he shouldn't act on his ambition but seems to deny all the fears because of his wife.
     • Throughout the first two Acts, Lady Macbeth has been criticising Macbeth for being worried about murdering King Duncan. She questions his masculinity, implies that he is a coward, and insists that he murders Duncan.
     • Does he go ahead with the plan to kill the king to please his wife?
   • Lady Macbeth's Treatment of Macbeth
     • Too nice
       • Lady Macbeth thinks that Macbeth is too nice to go for the things that he truly wants, such as the crown.
       • (1.5) 'I fear thy nature, / It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness / to catch the nearest way.'
       • Shakespeare uses this metaphor to suggest that Macbeth is a good man. But milk, a substance that mothers make to feed their young, might also suggest that Lady Macbeth sees his kindness as weakness.
       • In this way, as is the case with many Shakespearian plays, the male character seems to have more stereotypically feminine traits.
     • Pressuring
       • Macbeth is very torn about whether he should kill the king or not. He decides not to go on because he does not think ambition alone is a good enough reason to want the crown. However, his wife quickly persuades him to continue with the plan. This suggests that she has power over her husband.
       • It seems that one of the key things holding him back is fear of people retaliating. He addresses this at the beginning of his speech in Act 1, Scene 7. Later on in the scene, he asks Lady Macbeth what would happen if they fail. She says that if he is brave, they won't fail: (1.7) 'But screw your courage to the sticking-place, / and we'll not fail.'
     • Feminine
       • When Macbeth sees Banquo's ghost, Lady Macbeth asks him, 'Are you a man?' (3.4). This suggests that a lack of courage makes him less of a man. People often saw mental disturbances as a female problem.
   • Macbeth's Changing Relationship
     • Lady Macbeth was the key motivator behind the murder of King Duncan, but Macbeth doesn't even discuss his plan to kill Banquo - he tells her it is better that she doesn't know: (3.2) 'Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck.'
     • Perhaps he wants to save her the suffering that he feels: (3.2) 'O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!'
     • It seems he has taken control and there has been a power shift in their relationship.
     • Lady Macbeth almost bullies Macbeth throughout the first two acts of the play, insisting that if he does not murder King Duncan, then he is not a real man.
       • When he finally does murder the king and his personality changes, his relationship with his wife does change - he begins to take control, perhaps believing that the more power he gains, the more his wife will respect him.

4. Unstable

   • Supernatural visions
     • Throughout the play, Macbeth sees supernatural things, such as a floating dagger, Banquo's ghost and the spirits that are shown to him by the witches.
     • Its unclear whether these visions are real or his hallucinations (ghostly images) - (2.1) 'art thou but / a dagger of the mind, a false creation, / proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?'
   • Disturbed by murder
     • After Macbeth has killed Duncan, he believes he has 'murdered sleep' (2.2).
     • He seems ashamed of the blood on his hands, calling it a 'sorry sight'. This suggests that he already feels regret over the murder. It is the last time, until the final act, that we see Macbeth kill anyone with his own hands. Murder seems to have disturbed him.
   • Obsessed with murder
     • It does not stop him from giving the order for more innocent people to be killed. He orders the deaths of Banquo, Fleance (who escapes), and Macduff's family.
     • This could be because he has already paid the ultimate price. By murdering the king, he has damned his soul after death. Anything that Macbeth does now cannot reverse the punishment he thinks he will face in the afterlife.
   • Protecting the Crown
     • When he delivers his soliloquy in Act 3, Scene 1, he talks about why he must murder Banquo to keep his crown safe: 'To be thus is nothing, / but to be safely thus.'
       • This speech shows that Macbeth is struggling mentally after the murder and cannot find peace. Shakespeare hints at his lack of sleep may times throughout the play. THis might be to explain why he acts in violent ways. The metaphor. 'eternal jewel' refers to his immortal soul. He has given his soul to the 'common enemy of man'. This means that he believes Satan will now possess his soul after death and he is damned to being tortured in Hell.
     • He does not want Banquo's sons to inherit the crown because Macbeth has damned himself to get it from King Duncan and his heirs - he has worked hard to murder Duncan and gain the crown, and does not want to give it up..
   • Macbeth the Tyrant
     • 'Black' and 'Devilish' (4.3) are words used by the thanes to describe Macbeth. The audience learns that Macbeth is a tyrannical king and Scotland is suffering under his rule.
     • 'Something wicked' --> Contextually, Macbeth's allegiance with the witches and his desire to see their prophecies come true, suggest he is an evil character - he seems to accept supernatural forces, whereas a Jacobean audience would consider this incredibly evil.
       • He uses witchcraft to reinforce his tyrannical reign - Scotland suffers because he listened to the witches and became the ruler, killing anyone who disagreed with him or potentially threatened his claim to the throne.