Macbeth (1606)

Macbeth (1606)

1. characters

   • Macbeth
     • antagonist
       • consumed by power
         • tyrannical, violent and aggressive
           • destroys himself due to hamartia
             • conflict of morals
               • duty vs. betrayal
             • self absorbed, distant from LM
     • valiant, noble, brave
       • already thane of Glamis
         • reinforces his power and beliefs, once the witches speak
     • hesitant due to morals
       • brooding, thinking: should he kill the King
         • hallucinates about the dagger (soliloquy)
   • Lady Macbeth
     • cunning, manipulative, devious
       • convinces M to kill the King
       • plants the daggers on guards
     • doubts herself, becomes paranoid
   • Witches
     • fearful, dominant, powerful
     • eerie, strange, omnipresent

2. themes

   • ambition
     • prophecies encourage Macbeth to be ambitious
       • acts on desires, driven by Lady Macbeth
       • kills Duncan, and Banquo to maintain control
   • fate
   • violence
   • order vs. disorder
     • death of Duncan upsets social order
       • in Jacobean society, the monarch was second only to God
         • his sons flee
           • power is weakened
             • kingdom becomes corrupt with M as King
               • tyrant
                 • betrays friends, murders opponents
         • nature becomes chaotic
           • horses eat each other
           • owls and ravens screech
           • darkness during the day
   • evil

3. quotations

   • "out damned spot" (LM)
   • "Fair is foul, and foul is fair." (W)
     • "weird women" (B)
   • "Your children shall be kings." (M)
   • "supernatural soliciting" (M)
   • "direst cruelty" (LM)
     • "unsex me here" (LM)
   • "Not bear the knife myself." (M)
     • "vaulting ambition" (M)
       • "my genius" (M)
   • M is a "tyrant"