AQA English Literature Paper 1 - Macbeth (Guilt & The Supernatural)

Thesis Statement:

• Cautionary tale: Shakespeare uses M’s guilt to show that regicide = mental destruction (reflects King James)

• Cautionary tale: M’s guilt = women need to learn their place & serve men or sympathise with LM who is driven to evil as a result of patriarchal society?

• Witches: symbolises the experience of a lack of guilt & how no guilt = wholly evil (Macbeth’s lack of guilt = destruction)

• Supernatural victory: succeeds toying with M/LM & proving that conscience should be listened to to prevent committing horrible acts

"Why do I yield to that suggestion / Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair"

• Macbeth feels guilt before committing any crime, showing guilt as an early warning system.

• "Horrid image" refers to his imagination, emphasizing the psychological torment guilt brings.

• "Unfix my hair" shows physical effects of guilt—his hair stands on end in horror.

• Shakespeare warns the audience that ignoring guilt leads to disaster.

• Supernatural: vehicle to give M agency to guilt which M ignores

"Is this a dagger which I see before me? … Come, let me clutch thee”

• Macbeth hallucinates a dagger before killing Duncan, symbolizing the maddening effects of guilt.

• The dagger represents both ambition and guilt—he "embraces" his madness and rejects guilt.

• Shakespeare suggests guilt leads to self-destruction and mental torment.

• The supernatural element here foreshadows Macbeth’s future hallucinations.

• Supernatural entity: aids M to destruction

“Methought I heard a voice cry, 'Macbeth shall sleep no more'

• Guilt immediately torments Macbeth, leading to his insomnia.

• Sleep represents innocence and peace, both of which Macbeth loses.

• Shakespeare warns that guilt will haunt those who commit immoral acts.

• Kingship (if defies Divine Right of Kings) = worthless & destroys joy (“to be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus”) = Shakespeare’s message not to kill KJ

• Foreshadows Lady Macbeth’s later sleepwalking scene, linking both characters to guilt.

• Supernatural toying with M

"Will all great Neptune’s oceans wash this blood clean from my hand?"

• Macbeth realizes he can never remove the guilt of Duncan’s murder.

• Neptune, a pagan/primitive god, contrasts with Christianity, showing Macbeth turning away from God (which guilt is an antagonist to).

• Shakespeare suggests guilt is permanent—Macbeth cannot cleanse himself.

• Ironically, Lady Macbeth later obsessively washes her hands, showing her descent into guilt (& M’s guilt dissipates completely).

"I shame to wear a heart so white."

• Lady Macbeth mocks Macbeth for feeling guilt, urging him to suppress it.

• "White" symbolizes innocence/purity, yet she twists it to mean cowardice.

• LM rejects femininity (“unsex me here”) in addition to morality = God/society punishes her

• Shakespeare foreshadows her own guilt, which later drives her to madness.

• Highlights gender roles—she believes rejecting femininity makes her strong.

"Thou canst not say I did it; never shake thy gory locks at me!"

• Macbeth hallucinates Banquo’s ghost (rather than Duncan, which M has less guilt towards), proving guilt haunts him.

• "Gory locks" represent Banquo's blood—Macbeth cannot escape responsibility.

• Shakespeare warns that guilt manifests in paranoia and delusions & regicide forces assassination upon friends.

• Killing friends for power leads to psychological breakdown.

• Supernatural figure: vehicle to destroy M’s mind

"It will have blood; they say blood will have blood."

• Macbeth realizes violence leads to more violence—he is trapped.

• "Blood will have blood" means that guilt demands consequences.

• Shakespeare reinforces the idea of divine justice (& how if M had listened to guilt, he would have prevented suffering).

• Macbeth rationalizes further murders to maintain control.

"You lack the season of all natures, sleep."

• Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth he needs sleep, unaware that guilt prevents it (false judgement like “too full of the milk of human kindness”.

• Shakespeare contrasts/foreshadows her earlier dismissal of guilt with her later breakdown.

• Sleep symbolizes peace—Macbeth has lost his ability to rest.

• M literally murders LM’s sleep

"Out, damned spot! Out, I say!"

• Lady Macbeth imagines blood on her hands, symbolizing inescapable guilt.

• "Damned" suggests she knows she is condemned to hell.

• Shakespeare shows guilt as an uncontrollable force that haunts the guilty.

• Contrasts with her earlier dismissal of guilt—now it destroys her.

"Hell is murky."

• Lady Macbeth realizes she is doomed, linking guilt to eternal punishment (on Earth and in Hell).

• The darkness of hell mirrors her mental state.

• Shakespeare reinforces Christian ideas of divine justice.

• Shows her complete psychological collapse due to guilt.

“What’s done cannot be undone."

• Lady Macbeth accepts that guilt is irreversible (when actions are that bad).

• Directly contrasts her earlier statement: "A little water clears us of this deed."

• Shakespeare’s message: rejecting femininity have permanent consequences (a parable that women must respect their role in society).

• Guilt leads to inescapable psychological torment.

"She should have died hereafter."

• Macbeth’s reaction to Lady Macbeth’s death is cold and detached.

• Stopped loving her or resignation (through getting doctor to cure her during battle)?

• Shakespeare shows that guilt has numbed his emotions.

• Suggests he sees life as meaningless now.

"Life’s but a walking shadow... a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

• Macbeth believes life is meaningless—guilt has led him to nihilism.

• Christian views of meaning of life: worshipping God

• "Walking shadow" suggests life lacks substance.

• Shakespeare contrasts fate with free will—Macbeth feels powerless.

• Reflects his final rejection of morality and hope & welcoming of death.

• Blames God as the “idiot” = Christian rejection (& his callous nature)

“Traitor” "Sinful Macduff, they were all struck for thee!"

• Macduff feels guilty for leaving his family unprotected.

• Unlike Macbeth, he seeks to atone rather than ignore guilt (keeps his sword “unsheathed until meeting M”).

• Shakespeare presents guilt as something that can motivate justice.

• Highlights the contrast between Macbeth’s denial and Macduff’s acceptance.

"My soul is too much charged with blood of thine already."

• Macbeth hesitates to fight Macduff, showing he still feels guilt & sensitivity (“forgot the taste of fears”: M is elated when afraid of Macduff).

• First sign of his remaining humanity—he regrets past actions.

• Shakespeare suggests guilt can never be fully suppressed.

• Shows Macbeth's awareness of his own downfall.

“Teach bloody instructions” “fiend” “butcher”

• Piric victory: victory of regicide = death of succumbing to regicide & mind/happiness/marriage destroyed by guilt/denial of guilt

• Descent of Great Chain of Being: King = butcher & Queen = fiend

• Parable: guilt should be listened to rather than rejecting it (i.e. finding the root cause of it & facing it head-on)