Macbeth Themes

Macbeth Themes

1. Power and violence

   • Power
     • "All hail Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter" - Third Witch(Act 1, Scene 3 Line 70)
     • "[Malcom is ]like stars, [as it] shall shine on all deservers"- Duncan (Act 1 Scene 4 Line 39)
     • "This tyrant's sole name blisters our tongue"
       • Macbeth is referred to as tyrant partly shows the power his name holds as well as people's hatred towards him as he continues to control Scotland
     • "Each day a new gash is added to her wounds"
       • Malcolm describes the worsening conditions of Scotland under Macbeth's control
   • Violence
     • ‘Till he unseam’d him from the nave to th’ chops, And fix’d his head upon our battlements’ (1.2)
     • ‘It will have blood, they say: blood will have blood’ (3.4)
       • Violence will lead to more violence
     • ‘I would... dash’d the [baby's] brains out’ -Lady Macbeth (1.7)
       • Lady Macbeth's unusual view to motherhood is violent, symbolising the 'direst cruelty' in her.
     • "Killing swine" - Witches (1.3)
       • The Witches are shown as violent from the start - this witch is even killing for fun, which shows how warped they are.
     • 'That I did kill them' 'Help me hence' - Macbeth, Act 3
       • Macbeth admits to murdering the guards and passes it off as violent, revenge for Duncan's murder.
   • Evil
     • "It is concluded. Banquo, thy soul's flight, if it find heaven, must find it out tonight."
       • Macbeth has successfully arranged Banquo's death.
     • Things bad begun make themselves strong by ill.
       • Evil actions breed further evil actions.
     • You lack the season of all natures, sleep.
       • Because of your use of violence you are not able to sleep.
     • We are but young indeed.
       • Young in crime
     • Is this a dagger I see before me, the handle toward my hand?
     • "No real rules, anything goes"

2. Trust and Betrayal

   • Trust
     • "He was a gentleman on whom I built absolute trust" - Duncan (1.4)
     • "The service and the loyalty I owe, in doing it pay itself" - Macbeth (1.4)
   • Betrayal and Revenge
     • "Look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under't" - Lady Macbeth (1.5)
     • "That is a step on which I must fall down or else o'er leap, for in my way it lies" - Macbeth (1.4)
     • 'That most disloyal traitor"
       • The title of Thane of Cawdor is always described as the most disloyal traitor, whether be Macbeth or the previous dude
     • "Turn hellhound turn"
       • As Macduff confronts Macbeth he says to him, 'Turn hell hound, turn. ' The term 'hell hound' refers to Cerberus, the Greek guard of the underworld. Macduff is saying that Macbeth has taken the crown, has guarded it with evil, but it will now be taken back from him. This is also an allusion
     • "To be thus is nothing but to be safely thus"
     • 'No man of woman born shall betray him"
     • "I have no spurs to prick the sides of my intent but only vaulting ambition"

3. Gender Norms

   • "You should be women yet your beards forbid me to interpret" - Banquo (Act 1 Scene 3 Line 47-49
   • "Come you spirits... unsex me here" -Lady Macbeth (1.5)
   • "I dare do all that may become a man" (1.7.46)
   • "Are you a man?" - Lady Macbeth (3.4.60)
   • "... Thy undaunted mettle should compose nothing but males" - Macbeth (1.7.73)
   • ‘I would... dash’d the [baby's] brains out’ -Lady Macbeth (1.7)
     • Lady Macbeth's unusual view to motherhood is violent, symbolising the 'direst cruelty' in her.

4. Fate and Determination

   • "Teach bloody instructions... being taught, return" - Macbeth (Act 1, Scene 7, Line 9ish)
   • "I dare do all that may become a man" - Macbeth (Act 1 Scene 7 Line 46)
   • "If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me" - Macbeth (Act 1 Scene 3 Line 146)
   • "Stars hide your fires; let not light see my black and deep desires" (1.4)
   • "Come you spirits... unsex me here" (1.5)
   • "Come fate into the list" (3.1)
   • I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself And falls on th’other
   • "Fair is foul and foul is fair"

5. Supernatural Elements

   • "So fair and foul a day I have not seen" - Macbeth (1.3)
   • "Come you spirits that tend to mortal thoughts" - Lady Macbeth (1.5)
   • Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle towards my hand?" - Macbeth (2.1)
   • "His design moves like a ghost" (2.1)
   • "O full of scorpions is my mind" - Macbeth (3.2)

6. Ambition

   • If chance will have me king, why chance may crown me without my stir”
   • “Art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend”
   • “I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent”
   • “Why do I yield to that suggestion… against the use of nature”
   • “Let not light see my black and deep desires”

7. Guilt and Regret

   • "O full of scorpions is my mind"
     • "Scorpions represent Macbeth's uneasiness and his dark desire to murder Banquo and Fleance"
   • "And with blood and invisible... [will] keep me pale"
     • Invisible hand = represents the feeling of guilt Macbeth is trying to avoid and hide
   • "Here's the smell of blood. "All perfumes... will not sweeten this [hand]"
   • "I am in blood... stepped in so far... returning would were as tedious as go o'er"
   • "Out damned spot! Out I say" - Lady Macbeth
     • Lady Macbeth's guilt is seen as she sleepwalks through the castle, hallucinating and rubbing her hands together as if she is washing them. Lady Macbeth's subconscious feelings are revealed. The 'spot' she is refferoing to the imaginary blood she sees on her hands from the murder of King Duncan. This scene displays the attitude change in Lady Macbeth from a killer mind to s state of despair and guilt.
   • "I'll go no more" - Macbeth
   • "I am afraid to think about what I have done" (Act 2 Scene 2 Line 50)
     • Macbeth cannot cope with violence of murder at this point in the play.
   • "What’s done is done. " - Lady Macbeth (Act 5 Scene 1)
   • "Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold Thou hast no speculation in those eyes" - Macbeth (Act 3 Scene 4 Line 93)
   • "Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand? No." - Macbeth (Act 2 Scene 2 Line 59)