Macbeth

Macbeth

1. Themes

   • reversal of values
     • Things are not what they seem: fair is foul, and foul is fair
   • blind ambition
   • power corrupts
   • superstition affects human behaviour
   • regicide
     • act against nature
       • chaos
   • Fate & Free Will
     • is future pre-ordained or the result of human activities?

2. Main Characters

   • Macbeth
     • Scottish general ambitious enough to commit regicide to become king
   • Lady Macbeth
     • Macbeth's wife, ambitious, later remorseful
   • Banquo
     • General, murdered by hired killers
   • Duncan
     • King of Scotland
   • Macduff
     • General, dedicated to the good of Scotland
   • The three witches
     • Predict Macbeth's ambitions will soon come true; later predict his downfall

3. Setting

   • 11th century Scotland

4. Language

   • Literary Devices
     • dramatic irony
     • personification
     • similes and metaphors
     • symbols
     • allitteration
     • assonance and consonance
     • imagery
       • clothing
         • false appearances
       • growth: babies, seeds, plants
         • time
       • terrible weather conditions
         • chaos
   • Blank Verse
     • natural flow of spoken English
   • WS varies the verse to express meaning
   • rhymed couplet
     • used to indicate the end of a scene to an audience in a theater without curtains