Macbeth

Refreshing your memory

The Theme of Power

Macbeth is interested in exploring the qualities that distinguish a good ruler from a tyrant

It also dramatizes the unnaturalness of regicide to gain power

It is the thirst for power that is responsible for both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth's downfall. Lady Macbeth is so frustrated by her lack of power that she manipulates her husband so that she may gain more. It's this thirst and greed for power that is ultimately the cause of Macbeth's actions An issue that the play raises is that once one decides to use violence to further one's quest for power, it is difficult to stop.

The Theme of Ambition

Destruction that follows when ambition goes beyond moral constraints. Macbeth is a brave general who is not naturally inclined to commit evil, yet he is deeply ambitious and desires power. He murders King Duncan against his better judgement and then wallows in guilt and paranoia. Lady Macbeth pursues her goals with greater determination, yet is less capable of dealing with the guilt from her immorality. Ambition, spurred by the prophecies of the witches, is what drives the couple to commit their atrocities.

The Theme of Gender

Macbeth is notorious for its inversion of traditional gender roles Lady Macbeth is the dominant partner in her marriage and she frequently bullies her husband for failing to act like a "man. Macbeth provokes the assassins he hires to murder Banquo by questioning their manhood. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth equate masculinity with aggression. Aggression of the female characters is striking because it contradicts expectations of how women ought to behave. Lady Macbeths behavior certainly shows that women can be just as ambitious and ruthless as men

The Theme of Good vs. Evil

Macbeth has to choose between the two. He and Edward of England come to be the embodiment of the two extremes. The witches are the incarnation of evil, and may be seen as representing the evil in human nature. The witches set the tone at the very beginning: fair is foul and foul is fair. Good and evil exist side by side, and it can be difficult to tell which is which. Linked with evil is disorder: the natural world shudders and quakes, and the order of things seem to be turned upside down