Macbeth: THEME

Two truths are told
As happy prologues to the swelling act
Of th'imperial theme (1.3)

Thou wouldst be great
Art not without ambition, but without
The illness should attend it (1.5)

I have no spur
To prick the sides of intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself
And falls on th'other (1.7)

To be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus (3.1)

For brave Macbeth, well he deserves that name
Disdaining fortune, with his brandish’d steel,
Which smoked with bloody execution
Like valour’s minion carved out his passage
Till he faced the slave. (Act 1, Scene 2)

My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,
Shakes so my single state of man that function
Is smother’d in surmise. (Act 1, Scene 3)

(1.3) After Macbeth becomes aware of his prophecy (he will become thane of Cawdor),from the witches, he assumes that his chances of becoming King is also true. This thought derived him to make choices and decisions for him to become King (his ambitious leads him to certain tragedies). By craving power, this corrupted Macbeth into thinking of ways to achieve the position of King. This line gives an indication (foreshadowing) the actions he will take later on in the play.

Macbeth’s true downfall is his own ambition.

Lady Macbeth is as ambitious as her husband, encouraging him to commit murder to achieve their goals.

Once Macbeth kills Duncan, his ambition to hold on to his title as king becomes intertwined with his paranoia.

Rather than being able to enjoy the fruits of his ambition, he becomes obsessed with maintaining the power he’s won.

(1.5) Lady Macbeth strikes the identity of Macbeth by calling out if he was manly enough to execute the plan. She knew he was ambitious but felt that he would not go through with the ruthless behaviour in order to obtain such dreams. Thus, these lines reflect Lady Macbeth's own philosophy of power (since she is setting her morals in order to achieve great power).

(1.7) These lines indicate the hesitation that Macbeth has to kill King Duncan. Metaphor is used to experience Macbeth's life with horse-riding; he describes that he is unable to motivate himself to take action like a rider who is unable to use his spurs to move the horse to go faster. The only thing that remains is his ambition, as he compares a horse who overestimates its ability to leap over an obstacle and end up falling. This passage strikes Macbeth acknowledging that his ambition will be a downfall.

(3.1) After Macbeth becomes King, he still feels restless and insecure. He fears that he will lose his position and is irritated that he has no heir (he has no lineage to continue after him). He begins to feel that being King was pointless. This seems to be the aftermath of his ambition and the death of Duncan; no peace but paranoia and anxiety. Furthermore, the line reveals how Macbeth's first violent action created a chain reaction of him committing violent actions in order to remain in his position and have that power.

"This supernatural soliciting cannot be ill, cannot be good;if ill, why hath it given me earnest of success, commencing in a truth? I am Than of Cawdor; If good, why do I yield to that suggestion whose horrid image doth unfix my hair against the use of nature? (Act 1 Scene III)

"If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, without my stir" (Act 1 Scene III)

Throughout the play, Macbeth becomes aware of his prophecy by the witches but through events, Macbeth changes the nature to suit his own interests. The main character, Macbeth, can be seen struggling between fate and free will through his actions. Finally, Taking control was difficult for him.

(Act 1 Scene III) After Macbeth is aware of his prophecy, a part of it becomes true when Duncan names him Thane of Cawdor. By hearing the news, Macbeth predicts that the rest is true as well, thus he becomes eager for his future.

(Act 1 Scene III)

Fair is foul and foul is fair (Act 1 Scene I)

Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent underneath (Act 1 Scene V)

Stars, hide your fires; let not light see my black and deep desires (Act 1 Scene IV)

False face must hide what false heart doth know (Act 1 Scene VII)

(Act 1 Scene I) In the beginning, prior to Macbeth receives his prophecy. This phrase evokes certain themes like evil doing and deception in the name of equivocation, ambition, and good. This means that through time an events, people who are seen as good or bad turn to be the opposite.

(Act 1 Scene V) Lady Macbeth advises her husband this line to show that Macbeth appears to be innocent to believe his devious and murderous plans. Although he remains in an innocent appearance, he must have that murderous or venomous factor, similarly to a serpent. By Lady Macbeth telling this to Macbeth, it goes to show that Macbeth is masking who he truly is.

(Act 1 Scene IV) My comparing his persona: which seems to be black (a colour seen as darkness and horror) being compare to light (known to represent the good and pure). Macbeth prays his identity not to be shown in this line.

(Act 1 Scene VII) This line goes on to talk about how Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have smile out of kindness but they are faking it with hurt inside.

Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold
Thou hast no speculation in those eyes (3.4)

Out, damned spot! out, I say (Act 5 Scene I)

I am in blood
Stepp'd in so far, that, should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o'er. (Act 3 Scene IV)

Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine (2.2)

To bed, to bed. There’s knocking at the gate. Come,
come, come, come, give me your hand. What’s done
cannot be undone. To bed, to bed, to bed. (5.1)

(2.2) After the death of King Duncan (who is killed in the hands of Lady Macbeth), Macbeth says these lines to refer both the literal blood on his hand but the guilt he felt through this event. Grand and dramatic lines are used to state the blood could stain all the world's oceans red. Consequences of his action can be seen even with his wife implying that "blood can be washed away". A known fact about committing a sin is that it changes someone's persona; in this case Macbeth. Further on in the play, Lady Macbeth begins to hallucinate that she still has blood on her hands, where she is unable to clean it off; symbolizing her guilt.

(3.4) This line is told by Macbeth as he sees Banquo's ghost at the banquet. The vision of Banquo's ghost depicts the guilt that Macbeth feels, to the point where he loses sight of reality. He says this to reassure that Banquo is truly dead; which shows the tormented consciousness that loses his grip on sanity.

(5.1) These were Lady Macbeth's final words in the play, indicating that she has gone mad with the amount of guilt she feels.