MACBETH
KINGSHIP
“False face must hide what the false heart doth know.”” Act One S7
Also relates to the theme of Appearance vs reality. Macbeth is duplicitous with his intentions after Lady Macbeth’s manipulation. Macbeth appears valiant and noble, yet he is deceitful and malevolent.
Repetition on ‘false’ emphasises his false and unnatural usurpation of the crown. He is a false king, as he has not been divinely ordained, and doesn’t have nobility, morality and a pious nature.
“Why do you dress me / in borrowed robes?’ Act One S3
Clothing is something physical and temporary that can easily be removed, alike to his title as king, which is instable due to his sinful usurpation of it and ultimately stripped from him.
Lexis on “borrowed” emphasises the temporal nature of his power.
Relates to this quote:
“Does feel his title hang loose about him like a giant’s robe upon a dwarfish thief” Act Five
Motif of clothing again. Macbeth’s clothes are said to be too big for him as such the role of the king is too big for him, showing his overreaching ambition.
“Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown’ Act Three S1
Diction of “placed” shows his role as king is carefully crafted, not naturally given. He has meticulously manipulated his position as King through usurpation.
Adjective “fruitless”. Being a King is synonymous with being fruitful to their people in leadership and morality. Macbeth’s omission of fruit signifies his tainted kingship and how he violated natural order to quire it.
Macbeth’s conscience is riddled with the awareness of his violation of this foundational facts of life - he has gone against God. Divine Right of Kings.
AMBITION
Macbeth’s engagements with the supernatural serve as a catalyst for his ambitious aspirations, as he interprets the prophecies bestowed upon him as a mystic insight, further igniting his desire for power and fulfilment of destiny
“With Tarquin’s ravishing strides, towards his design.” Act Two S1
Contextual link: Macbeth ambitiously strives to emulate Tarquín, who was a Roman tyrant, so he can embody what it means to be a ruthless and barbaric leader.
Macbeth’s ambition is further fuelled by the lingering emasculation he experienced at the hands of LM in Act One.
For Macbeth, power becomes synonymous with brutality, and this perception is compounded by his insatiable ambition, which propels him towards a relentless pursuit of dominance through brute force.
The diction “design” connotes intentional creation, mirroring Macbeth’s intentional crafting of his desired position as king through ambition pursuits.
Despite his transgression of natural order in this pursuit, the seductive allure of these temptations of power and authority obstructs him from seeing the permanent and eternal consequences that he will face.
“To be thus is nothing; but to be safely thus. Our fears in Banquo stick deep.” Act Three, S1
“To be thus is nothing” reflects Macbeth’s realisation that holding the role of King is futile if he lacks stability in it. This underscores the relentless nature of unchecked ambition. Achieving power is not enough, and maintaining and securing it is an endless pursuit.
“Stars hide your fires, let not light see my dark and deep desires” Act One, S4
Light and dark imagery, representing the internal battle of moral corruption Macbeth experiences.
Also relates to the theme of Appearance vs reality. Diction “hide” connotes secrecy. A conscious concealment, highlighting how Macbeth is aware of his wrongdoings and how it is against God.
SUPERNATURAL
Macbeth as a puppet to the witches:
Macbeth emulates the witches; he mirrors them and is completely entranced by the enchanting spells.
“So foul and fair a day I have not seen.’ Act One S3
“Foul” weather is pathetic fallacy, setting the tone for a tumultuous narrative.
Macbeth’s words mirror the first paradoxical statement of the witches, “Fair is foul and foul is fair”.
“Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand?” Act Two S1
Macbeth sees this vision before killing Duncan, reflecting his internal conflict and revealing the detrimental influence of the witches’ prophecies upon his mind.
“Handle toward my hand” conveys a supernatural compulsion, demonstrating to the audience the dangers of association with the supernatural and therefore the devil, as Jacobean audiences believed that witches were synonymous with the devil.
Also relates to Ambition. The dagger is a physical manifestation of his ambitions, showing the dangers on mental health that are caused by contemplating/committing regicide.
“And be these juggling fiends no more believed that palter with us in double sense.” Act Five S8
Macbeth’s realisation that the witches’ duplicitous nature and deceiving prophecies had led him astray.
Lexis “fiends” is synonymous to demons and devils, further underscoring their equation with the devil. Contextual link.
GUILT
“Will all great Neptune’s oceans wash this blood clean from my hand? No.” Act Two S2
Blood symbolises his guilt for his crime. The hyperbolic lament suggests that not even the vastest ocean could rid him of his guilt. This imagery highlights the enormity of his crime and the detrimental psychological impact it has on him.
Neptune’s oceans alludes to the roman god of the sea, Neptune, suggesting Macbeth’s need for a divine/supernatural cause to cleanse him. Contextual link. Link this quote to:
“A little water clears us of this deed.” Act Two S2 Lady Macbeth
Stark contrast in volume of water needed to rid them of their guilt represents the extremity of his. Loosely relates to the theme of Gender as Lady Macbeth is the more stoic one, which is synonymous to masculinity, contrasting traditional Jacobean gender roles.
“Better be with the dead…than on the torture of the mind to lie in restless ecstasy.” Act Three S2
At the Banquet. Banquo’s ghost is a physical manifestation of Macbeth’s guilt, portraying the extent of his mental torture and how the supernatural manipulate him.
“Full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!” Act Three S2
Phrase “full of scorpions” creates a vivid image that conveys Macbeth’s troubled mind. Scorpions connote pain and danger, demonstrating how his thoughts, fears and anxieties after the regicide of Duncan are harming him and poisoning his thinking.
“Could not I pronounce “Amen”? I had most need of blessing, and “Amen” stuck in my throat.” Act Two Scene 2