KEY IDEA - AMBITION

“Vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself and falls on th’other” — MACBETH

Personification; gives Macbeth’s ambitious nature a life of its own that seemingly cannot be controlled as his desire for power takes precedence over his moral values.

“Is this a dagger which I see before me / The handle toward my hand?” — MACBETH

Visual imagery; his ambition is manifesting into hallucinations as Macbeth does not know if the weapon actually exists, effectively blurring the line between the imaginary and the real. The dagger symbolises the impending act of regicide and is tempting Macbeth to give into the overwhelming ambition he feels.

“Thou wouldst be great, art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it” — LADY MACBETH

Repetition; repetition of the word “without” puts emphasis on Macbeth’s lack of wickedness as Macbeth possesses the ambition required for greatness, but his lack of acting on this ambition is what Lady Macbeth believes he must change in order to get what he wants.

“To be thus is nothing / But to be safely thus,” — MACBETH

Repetition; repetition of the word “thus” shows us that what Macbeth once saw as his end goal of king is no longer enough for him now that he has achieved it, and his ambition continues to grow beyond its initial sphere as he wants even more out of what he already has.

KEY IDEA - GUILT

“Will all great Neptune’s oceans wash this blood clean from my hand?” — MACBETH

Hyperbole, rhetorical question; the hyperbole is reflective of the guilt Macbeth is experiencing as he comes to the realisation that no matter how much he tries to dismiss his violent actions, they can never be undone and he will continue to live with the consequences of them for the rest of his life. The rhetorical question adds a note of uncertainty to his words as he grapples with the mental anguish that has manifested as a result of the murders he has committed.

“All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand” — LADY MACBETH

Hyperbole; Lady Macbeth is experiencing similar conflicts within herself as she deals with the guilt she is feeling for having a hand in Macbeth’s immoral deeds, as no amount of hiding from what she has done will ever erase the truth from her mind.

“Out, damned spot!” — LADY MACBETH

Symbolism; the spot that Lady Macbeth is trying to rub off is symbolic of the stain on her moral conscience as a result of her actions. In her attempts to scrub off the spot of blood that won’t seem to come off of her hands she is effectively describing her attempts to rid herself of the unshakable guilt she feels as an instigator of Macbeth’s frenzied killings.

“These terrible dreams that shake us nightly” — MACBETH

Personification; draws on the unruly nature of Macbeth’s subconscious and how his emotional suffering as a result of his actions continues to torment him both while he is awake and while he is asleep, his guilt has left him with no way to escape his internal conflicts.

"Stars, hide your fires, let not light see my black and deep desires” — MACBETH

Metaphor; Use of metaphor effectively communicates the evilness of his ambitions, as he wishes to conceal them from the rest of the world and satiate his hunger for power discreetly. His desire to avoid bringing his motives to light shows that he does indeed feel guilty about having them in the first place, as they are highly immoral in nature.

KEY IDEA - FATE AND THE SUPERNATURAL

“Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow,” — MACBETH

Metaphor; a metaphor for life, the candle is utilised in Macbeth’s soliloquy as he laments on the helplessness he feels in relation to his fate. Life is short and inconsequential, and all his ambitions are actually insignificant and will eventually be lost to time, as is a candle’s light in context of the darkness that it had previously lit up after it has been blown out. Ultimately, his fate is death, as is everyone else’s, and this causes Macbeth to feel trapped as his eventual demise is inevitable.

“Fair is foul, and foul is fair” — THE WITCHES

Antithesis, foreshadowing; The two reversed statements put beside each other demonstrates that things may not always be as they seem. Because this is spoken in the opening scene of the play, this quote also effectively foreshadows Macbeth’s role of a tragic hero as he goes from a once greatly respected and revered war hero to a corrupted, tyrannical king as well as a heartless murderer.

“Come fate into the list / And champion me into th’utterance” — MACBETH

Personification; Macbeth gives fate a lifelike quality and hence implies that it is something that can be challenged and defeated, as he would like to do. His obsession with his fate and his desire to take it into his own hands is his hamartia, which is seen in this quote as he expresses his willingness to fight against it to the bitter end.

“[Thunder and lightning. Enter three Witches]”

Stage direction, pathetic fallacy; bad weather is always used to precede the witches’ appearances in Macbeth. The storms symbolise their tendency to stir up trouble, go against the natural order, and incite chaos through their supernatural prophecies.

“It will have blood, they say: blood will have blood.” — MACBETH

Repetition; repetition of the word “blood” is representative of the concept that bloodshed is bound to result in further bloodshed through revenge, and thus creates a cycle of violence. Macbeth is attempting to break this cycle by killing those he believes will take revenge on him, such as Banquo, who he suspected was aware that he is Duncan’s real killer. He is actively trying to escape his fate as a victim of revenge murder by getting rid of all possible perpetrators.