Key Macbeth Info

Main Themes

• ambition and power

• the supernatural

• appearances and reality

These themes are explored throughout the play as characters navigate their desires, confront their fates, and grapple with the discrepancies between how they are perceived and their true intentions.

Context

• James I

• Witchcraft

• Gender Roles

• God and the Great Chain of Being

Key words (Grade 9 vocab)

Nihilism - belief that life is meaningless

Regicide - killing of a king

Hamartia - fatal flaw

Hubris - excessive pride or self - confidence

Motif - recurring theme

Soliloquy - a speech given by a single character, expressing their thoughts

Dramatic irony - when the audience knows something that the character does not (e.g. when Duncan praises Macbeth's castle the audience knows that Macbeth is planning to murder him there)

Symbolism – The use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities. In Macbeth, blood represents guilt, and the weather symbolizes turmoil and unrest

Foreshadowing – Hinting at events that will occur later in the story.

Imagery – Descriptive language that appeals to the senses and creates vivid pictures in the reader's mind

Verisimilitude – The appearance of being true or real. In Macbeth, the witches' prophecies create an illusion of fate and destiny

Catharsis – The emotional release or purging that the audience experiences after the downfall of the tragic hero. Macbeth's death leads to catharsis for the audience

Acquiesce – To accept something reluctantly but without protest. Macbeth often acquiesces to the witches' prophecies and to his wife’s ambitions

Tragic Flaw – A characteristic or trait that leads to the downfall of the protagonist. Macbeth's ambition and desire for power ultimately result in his demise

Belligerent – Hostile and aggressive.

Exacerbate – To make a situation worse.

Inexorable – Impossible to stop or prevent

Malfeasance – Wrongdoing, especially by a public official

Nefarious – Wicked or criminal

Pernicious – Having a harmful effect, especially in a gradual or subtle way. (e.g the pernicious influence of ambition corrupts both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth throughout the play)

Proclivity – A tendency to choose or do something regularly
(e.g Macbeth’s proclivity for violence grows stronger as he seeks to secure his power)

Reprehensible – Deserving condemnation or criticism

Sycophantic – Behaving in an obsequious way to gain advantage; flattering others excessively (e.g Lady Macbeth’s sycophantic nature towards her husband demonstrates her manipulation to push him towards regicide)

Ubiquitous – Present, appearing, or found everywhere. ( e.g The theme of blood is ubiquitous in Macbeth, symbolizing guilt and violence that follows Macbeth throughout the play)

Main characters

• Macbeth

Macbeth is a tragic hero whose unchecked ambition leads to his moral downfall and eventual demise. Initially a noble and valiant soldier, he is influenced by the witches' prophecy and his wife’s manipulation, which drive him to murder King Duncan and seize the throne. As he becomes consumed by power, his guilt and paranoia intensify, leading to further violence and tyranny. Macbeth's reliance on the witches' prophecies and his increasing isolation reveal his psychological disintegration. Ultimately, his fatal flaw, his ambition, results in his tragic death, illustrating the destructive consequences of unchecked desire for power.

Key Adjectives = Ambitious, Tragic, Morally conflicted, Paranoid, Tyrannical Manipulative, Guilt-ridden, Ambivalent, Isolated, Ruthless, Corrupted, Hubristic, Superstitious, Delusional

Macbeth Key quotes by theme:

Ambition + Power

Macbeth speaks these lines as he realizes that the witches’ prophecy (that he will be Thane of Cawdor) has come true. He starts to wonder whether this means that their third prophecy (that he will become king) will also be true. The eagerness with which he turns to this idea suggests that he finds the possibility appealing, even though he also realizes he would have to commit a terrible and violent act in order to achieve the position. These lines hint at Macbeth’s ambition and foreshadow his later actions even though, at this point in the play, he seems to refuse to consider acting upon it.

Macbeth speaks these lines as he starts to doubt his plan to murder Duncan. He uses a complicated metaphor that compares his experience to horse-riding. He describes being unable to motivate himself to take action by likening himself to a rider who cannot use his spurs to motivate his horse to go faster. The one thing he does have is ambition, which he compares to a horse and rider who overestimate their ability to leap over an obstacle, and end up falling down. The passage describes the tension between Macbeth’s unwillingness to move ahead with his plan, and his acknowledgement that his ambition is leading him down a dangerous path.

Macbeth speaks this line after he has become king, but continues to feel restless and insecure. He is afraid that he might lose his position and is also frustrated by the fact that he has no heir. Without the knowledge that his lineage will continue after him, Macbeth finds it meaningless to be king. This quote reveals how him giving in to his ambition and murdering Duncan has not brought him peace, but rather has just left him more paranoid and anxious. The line also reveals how Macbeth’s first violent action sets off a chain reaction of him continuing to commit violent actions in order to maintain his hold on the power he has gained.

Macbeth is contemplating the murder of King Duncan. This line shows his awareness that his ambition is leading him to consider a terrible act, and he wishes to quickly resolve it, revealing his internal conflict about the pursuit of power.

The Supernatural

Macbeth’s soliloquy in Act I, Scene 3 shows him trying to puzzle out the implications of the Witches’ prophecy. He reasons that since what the Witches predicted turned out to be correct, it cannot be evil (he’s wrong). But Macbeth also admits that because of their prediction, he’s already begun to fantasize about killing King Duncan and taking the throne.

Macbeth’s soliloquy in Act 2, Scene 1 is important as it marks the first time he hallucinates. We can assume the Witches he saw earlier were real, because Banquo saw them too. In these lines, however, Macbeth is aware that the floating knife he sees is not really there. The fact that he is troubled enough to hallucinate, yet still sane enough to understand that he is hallucinating, can be contrasted with his later mental state, when he fully believes he sees Banquo’s ghost, even though Lady Macbeth tells him no one is there.

Macbeth's first lines of the play
echoes the witches lines which is the start of the prophecy aspect, however the witches who symbolize evil and supernatural only occur when evil is about to begin which means from the beginning of the play Macbeth is destined for evil

Shows decay of Macbeths mind, act of the supernatural or mind playing tricks?
the three witches (who symbolize the supernatural) are trying to lure and control Macbeth for evil. Whenever there are signs of the supernatural, evil is there
unsure of the prophecy so unsure of the reality of the dagger

When Macbeth realizes that one of the witches’ prophesies has come true (he has become ‘Thane of Cawdor’, a title of Scottish nobility) he immediately begins to wonder whether it could be true that he will become king.  The eagerness with which he speaks these words suggest his ambition is front of mind, even though he understands he will need to commit a heinous, violent act in order to become king – thoughts which at this point he seems to refuse to consider acting upon:

• Lady Macbeth

Secondary characters

• Banquo

• Macduff

• The Witches

Minor characters

• Duncan

• Malcolm

• Donalbain

• Fleance

• Seyton

• Lady Macduff

• The porter

• Hecate

Appearences + reality