Macbeth: Themes
Macbeth: Themes
Understanding themes is essential for the AQA Literature exam because the extract question will always link to a theme. You must discuss the theme in the extract AND across the whole play.
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Ambition
Ambition is the play's central theme and Macbeth's fatal flaw (hamartia). Shakespeare presents ambition as a force that, when unchecked by morality, leads to destruction.
How Ambition Is Presented
| Character | How ambition is shown |
|---|---|
| Macbeth | Initially loyal, but the prophecy awakens a "vaulting ambition" that overrides his conscience |
| Lady Macbeth | Her ambition is arguably stronger than Macbeth's — she plans the murder while he hesitates |
| The Witches | They ignite ambition but do not create it — Macbeth's reaction ("why do I yield to that suggestion?") shows the desire already existed |
Key Quotations
- "I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition" — Macbeth acknowledges he has no justification except ambition itself
- "Stars, hide your fires; let not light see my black and deep desires" — Macbeth's ambition is associated with darkness and secrecy
- "unsex me here" — Lady Macbeth's ambition drives her to reject her own nature
Shakespeare's Message
Ambition without moral restraint leads to tyranny, isolation, and self-destruction. Macbeth gains the crown but loses everything meaningful — his wife, his honour, his sanity, and ultimately his life.
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Guilt and Conscience
Shakespeare presents guilt as an inescapable consequence of immoral actions. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are destroyed by their guilt, suggesting that the conscience cannot be silenced.
Macbeth's Guilt
| Moment | Evidence |
|---|---|
| Before the murder | Hallucinates a dagger — "Is this a dagger which I see before me?" |
| After Duncan's murder | Cannot say "Amen" — feels cut off from God; hears a voice cry "Macbeth does murder sleep" |
| The banquet | Sees Banquo's ghost — "Thou canst not say I did it. Never shake thy gory locks at me" |
| Act 5 | Nihilistic despair — "Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage" |
Lady Macbeth's Guilt
- Initially dismisses guilt: "A little water clears us of this deed"
- In Act 5, she sleepwalks and obsessively washes her hands: "Out, damned spot! Out, I say!"
- The blood imagery that she initially dismissed now consumes her
- Her death (implied suicide) shows guilt's ultimate power
Shakespeare's Message
Guilt is the natural human response to wrongdoing. Those who try to suppress it (Lady Macbeth's "a little water") are eventually overwhelmed. The supernatural manifestations of guilt (the dagger, the ghost) suggest a moral universe where evil cannot go unpunished.
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The Supernatural
The supernatural pervades the play through the witches, prophecies, hallucinations, and unnatural events. Shakespeare uses the supernatural to create atmosphere, drive the plot, and explore the boundary between human agency and fate.
Supernatural Elements
| Element | Significance |
|---|---|
| The Witches | Represent temptation and the disruption of natural order; their paradoxes ("fair is foul") suggest moral confusion |
| The dagger vision | Macbeth's hallucination — guilt or supernatural omen? The ambiguity is deliberate |
| Banquo's ghost | Visible only to Macbeth — represents his guilty conscience |
| The apparitions (Act 4) | Deliberately equivocal prophecies that give Macbeth false confidence |
| Unnatural events | Duncan's horses eating each other, darkness at noon — nature reflects the moral disorder |
Jacobean Context
- Jacobean audiences genuinely believed in witchcraft and the supernatural
- The play validates these beliefs by showing supernatural forces influencing events
- James I believed he had been targeted by witches — Shakespeare wrote the play partly to please his patron
Shakespeare's Message
The supernatural is both real and symbolic in the play. Whether the witches cause Macbeth's downfall or merely reveal his existing desires remains deliberately ambiguous. Shakespeare suggests that engaging with dark forces — even passively — leads to destruction.
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Kingship and Power
Shakespeare contrasts good kingship (Duncan, Edward, Malcolm) with tyranny (Macbeth) to explore what makes a legitimate ruler.
Good vs Bad Kingship
| Quality | Good King (Duncan/Malcolm) | Tyrant (Macbeth) |
|---|---|---|
| How they gain power | Through birthright and God's will | Through murder and treachery |
| How they rule | With generosity, trust, and justice | With fear, violence, and paranoia |
| Effect on the nation | Prosperity and order | Chaos, suffering, and "bleeding" Scotland |
| Relationship with subjects | Loved and mourned | Feared and hated |
The Divine Right of Kings
- Jacobean audiences believed that kings were appointed by God
- Killing a king (regicide) was therefore a sin against God and nature
- This is why Duncan's murder causes unnatural disturbances — the moral order of the universe is disrupted
- Order is only restored when the rightful king (Malcolm) takes the throne
Key Quotations
- "He was a gentleman on whom I built an absolute trust" — Duncan about the original Thane of Cawdor (ironic, as he repeats this trust with Macbeth)
- "I think our country sinks beneath the yoke; it weeps, it bleeds" — Macduff describes Scotland under Macbeth's tyranny
- "the king-becoming graces" — Malcolm lists the qualities of a good king: justice, verity, temperance, mercy
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Masculinity and Gender
Shakespeare repeatedly explores what it means to be a man in the world of the play. Masculinity is equated with violence and ambition, and characters who challenge this are punished.
How Masculinity Is Used
| Moment | Who challenges masculinity? | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| "When you durst do it, then you were a man" | Lady Macbeth challenges Macbeth | He commits murder to prove his manhood |
| "unsex me here" | Lady Macbeth rejects femininity | She associates compassion with weakness |
| "Are you a man?" | Lady Macbeth, after Banquo's ghost | She uses masculinity to control him |
| "I dare do all that may become a man" | Macbeth's initial resistance | He defines manhood as having limits |
| "He has no children" | Macduff's grief | Real masculinity includes emotional vulnerability |
Shakespeare's Message
The play challenges the idea that masculinity = violence. Lady Macbeth's rejection of femininity leads to her destruction. Macduff's willingness to grieve openly — "I must also feel it as a man" — presents an alternative, healthier model of masculinity. Shakespeare suggests that true courage includes compassion and moral integrity, not just the capacity for violence.
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Exam Tips
- The exam gives you an extract and asks about a theme — discuss the extract AND the rest of the play
- Always link themes to Shakespeare's intentions — what message is he conveying to his audience?
- Use Jacobean context to deepen your analysis (Divine Right, witchcraft, gender roles)
- Ambition, guilt, and the supernatural are the most commonly examined themes — know them thoroughly
- Show how themes develop across the play — themes are not static
- Use the term hamartia (fatal flaw) when discussing Macbeth's ambition — it demonstrates critical vocabulary