Key themes

Power and corruption

• power makes people corrupt → do everything possible to keep status even at risk of immoral decisions

• paranoia → fear their power will be taken away

• causes suffering and downfall of one who is in power if it’s abused

Greed and ambition

• Excessive ambition can be extremely dangerous when not tempered by reason and good character

• • Ambition is hard to satisfy, always want more and hard to hold onto the power they crave

• • Ambitious people can be manipulated by those who promise them more power.

• • Ambition is arguably Macbeth’s tragic flaw; it is the problem in his character that leads to his downfall

Masculinity and femininity

• more than one way to be a man (brave, a warrior, ruthless and ambitious) or (honour, chivalry, nobility)

• easier to manipulate men as they take pride in their masculinity (not always the case - Macduff)

• For women to exert power over men in a patriarchal society, they need to be less feminine (not common though)

• Even masculine men can have a feminine side just as women can be ruthless and ambitious.

• The evil in the play is rooted in twisted womanhood; when women have turned away from femininity, they seem to be malign in nature.

• The power of women lies in their words more than it does in their deeds, and if she loses her words, she will lose her power and mind

Free will and control

• There is such a thing as fate no matter how hard people try to prevent them from happening.

• • People are controlled by their desire which sometimes leads them to act in ways they would not freely choose to act in an ideal world.

• • People can be manipulated by other people, leading them to do things that they would not freely have chosen to do themselves

• when we live with others, we are not entirely in control of our own lives

Duplicity and equivocation

• Duplicity is necessary for people to commit treason, murder and other evil deeds, and is often the starting point for these things.

• • Duplicity within a relationship (the keeping of secrets) can create problems in that relationship.

• • Duplicity is difficult to maintain for long periods, particularly when large numbers of people are being deceived

Loyalty and honour

• Loyalty is a noble quality for which people should be rewarded.

• • It is both dishonourable and immoral to show disloyalty to those who one has a duty to serve, especially when they are also honourable people themselves.

• • It is more important to be loyal to one’s country than it is to be loyal to any given individual.

• • It is honourable to be loyal to one’s family, even if this means getting revenge

Guilt and remorse

difficult to get over the guilt and remorse that comes from doing something terrible and even people who believe they won’t feel any guilt can still be tormented by it.

• Powerful feelings of guilt can invade every aspect of a person’s life (haunting their sleep, preventing them having peace of mind) and leading to psychological decline, despair and even madness.

• Unrecognised, or at least unacknowledged guilt, like that of Lady Macbeth, is more psychologically damaging than acknowledged guilt, like that of Macbeth

Good and evil

• Even good people can be corrupted by evil forces into doing evil deeds – must be at least a bit flawed

• Once people begin committing evil deeds they are tormented by guilt and paranoia, leading them to suffer and, ultimately, die.

• People who commit evil deeds have little choice but to continue to commit further evil deeds in order to combat the guilt and paranoia that their evil deeds have given rise to.

• The gendering of evil is complicated: it seems to originate with women;though these women are all masculine, and the most evil deeds are all committed by men.

• There are evil supernatural forces present in the world who can exert power over human beings.

The Supernatura

• Supernatural forces have a constant yet invisible impact on people’s lives.

• Supernatural forces seem to have the power of prophecy undermining the notion of free will and human agency (doesn’t seem to affect how we judge people’s actions).

• The actions of supernatural forces can dramatically impact the actions of people, even those who are generally good and well thought of.

• A supernatural experience can have extreme psychological effects on the people who experience it, though not everybody responds in the same way.

• Supernatural forces are allied with evil and influence people to do evil things, though only subtly – in the play nobody, including Macbeth, is ever explicitly told to anything evil by anybody supernatural.