MACBETH

KEY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

a) Are the Witches in Macbeth  real?

Yes. Macbeth really does see the three Witches in the play. Banquo also sees them
and speaks with them. Initially, Banquo questions the Witches about whether they
are real or possibly a hallucination he and Macbeth both share, but throughout the
rest of the play both men seem to accept the Witches as physical beings. Later in
the play, the Witches appear with their Queen, Hecate, in a scene without any
human characters. If Macbeth had been hallucinating the Witches, he would need to
be onstage for them to be seen. He is not, which is more proof that in the world of
this play, they are real. We can also contrast the treatment of the Witches to
Banquo’s ghost. When Macbeth claims he sees the ghost, Lady Macbeth insists she
doesn’t see anything, telling Macbeth “When all’s done/ You look but on a stool.”
(3.4.) In the play, both Macbeth and his wife have hallucinations which they alone
see, but the Witches are clearly visible to more than just Macbeth.

b) Did Macbeth always want to be king?

The audience sees Macbeth for the first time just moments before he and Banquo
encounter the Witches. Thus, there’s not much time for the audience to learn
anything about Macbeth before the Witches’ prophesy. However, immediately upon
hearing that he will be king, Macbeth seems to have a strong reaction, causing
Banquo to say “Good sir, why do you start and seem to fear/ Things that do sound
so fair?” (1.3.) Macbeth’s reaction suggests he has powerful feelings about the
prospect of being king. Similarly, when Lady Macbeth reads a letter from Macbeth
telling of the prophecies for his future, she immediately begins to plot to kill Duncan
and take the throne, suggesting that Lady Macbeth has also always dreamed of
being queen.

c) Why does Macbeth think the Witches want to help him?

When Malcom reveals that he was taken from his mother’s womb – or, in other
words, delivered via Cesarean section – Macbeth finally understands that the
Witches’ prophecies meant his downfall, not his elevation. Up to the end of the
play, Macbeth has confused the fact that the Witches’ predictions always came true
with the idea that their predictions were helpful to him. Everything the Witches
predict does come true, but everything that happens ends up hurting Macbeth as
well. He does become Thane of Cawdor, but that feeds his ambition so he kills
Duncan. He becomes the king, but as a result kills many people, including his best
friend. When Macbeth hears the Witches’ final prediction, he is tormented by the
vision of Banquo’s children ruling instead of him, but he still doesn’t understand
that the Witches are not on his side. He sees their predictions that he can’t be

1
defeated until Birnam Wood moves and that he can’t be killed except by a man not
born of a woman as proof that he is protected. He is very wrong.

d) Does Lady Macbeth commit suicide?

Shakespeare leaves the exact nature of Lady Macbeth’s death ambiguous. When
Macbeth is told that his wife has died, no details are given and he does not ask for
them. Instead, he talks about how futile and pointless life is. At the end of the play,
Malcolm tells the noblemen that “’tis thought, by self and violent hands” the Queen
killed herself, but the inclusion of the word “thought” implies her suicide is a rumor.
Suicide is considered a mortal sin by the Roman Catholic Church, and thus frowned
upon throughout England. According to church law, if Lady Macbeth killed herself,
she would be eternally damned. Yet the question is never fully answered.

e) How did Birnam Wood move and why was Macduff able to kill Macbeth?

When Malcolm, Macduff, Siward and the other nobles are planning to attack
Macbeth’s castle and overthrow him, in Act V, scene 4, they are in Birnam Wood,
across the fields. Malcolm orders the soldiers to break off boughs from a tree in the
Wood and hold the boughs in front of them as they march toward Macbeth. He says
that doing so will conceal their true numbers from those watching for Macbeth, who
will not be able to report an accurate count to the king. From Macbeth’s
perspective, many yards away, it does look like the Wood itself is moving when the
men do this. Although the Witches tell Macbeth he cannot be killed by a man “of
woman born,” Macduff reveals to Macbeth that he was delivered by what we call a
Cesarean section, cut out of his mother’s body instead of being born in the more
usual manner. Thus, Macduff fulfills the Witches’ prediction that a man not born of
a woman is the only person who can kill Macbeth.

f) What convinces Macbeth that the Witches’ prophecy is true?

Macbeth becomes convinced that the Witches’ prophecy is true when Duncan
names him Thane of Cawdor, which the Witches prophesied would happen. When
the three Witches first approach Macbeth, they acknowledge Macbeth as Thane of
Glamis (his current title) as well as Thane of Cawdor. This puzzles Macbeth since he
can’t figure out how he is both. Shortly after, Ross delivers the news that the king
has given Macbeth the new title of Thane of Cawdor, since the previous Thane of
Cawdor has been executed for treason. This unexpected event causes Macbeth to
become convinced that the Witches were telling the truth.

2
g) Why does Banquo not trust the Witches?

Banquo is skeptical of the Witches’ intentions and remains unconvinced of the

Witches’ prophecy. Banquo warns Macbeth that “instruments of darkness” often tell
half-truths “to win us to our harm” (1.3.125–126). While the Witches have
prophesied great futures for both Macbeth and Banquo, Banquo is less inspired and
intrigued than Macbeth and would rather leave the matter safely alone.

h) Why does Macbeth believe he needs to kill King Duncan?

Macbeth believes he needs to kill King Duncan because he sees the king’s son,
Malcolm, as a threat to the throne. Macbeth has already felt confused about
whether he needs to leave the Witches’ prophecy in the hands of fate or do some
“dark” deeds to help their prophecies along. However, when Macbeth hears Duncan
declare his intention to make Malcolm his heir, Macbeth becomes convinced he
needs to take matters into his own hands and kill King Duncan himself.

i) How does Lady Macbeth persuade Macbeth to kill King Duncan?

Lady Macbeth persuades Macbeth to kill King Duncan by preying on his sense of
manhood and courage. When Macbeth reveals that he has had a change of heart
and is no longer willing to kill King Duncan, Lady Macbeth becomes enraged. She
openly questions whether he is a man who is willing to act on his desires, asking,
“Art thou afeard / To be in the same in thine own act and valor / As thou art in
desire?” (1.7.39–41), and further calls his manhood into question by stating, “When
you durst do it, then you were a man” (1.7.49). Lady Macbeth’s tactics work: Even
though Macbeth is disgusted by his wife’s ruthlessness, he resolves to kill Duncan.

j) Why does Macbeth kill King Duncan’s two chamberlains?

While Macbeth’s motive is unclear, it is suggested that Macbeth kills King Duncan’s
two chamberlains in an act of fear and horror. Lady Macbeth’s original plan is to get
King Duncan’s chamberlains so drunk that they pass out and then frame them for
King Duncan’s murder by having Macbeth leave two bloody daggers in their hands.
The plan goes well until Macbeth fails to leave the bloody daggers by the drunken
men. In a confused manner, Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth that he thought he heard
the chamberlains say, “God bless us!” in their drunken sleep as if they saw him, but
it’s not clear whether this is true. Macbeth is notably rattled and has ostensibly
murdered the chamberlains out of fear of being caught and in horror for what he
has chosen to be a part of.

3
k) Why do King Duncan’s sons, Malcolm and Donalbain, flee to England after their
father is murdered?

Malcolm and Donalbain flee from Scotland to England after their father’s murder
because they are afraid that whoever killed their father will kill them next. While
such a move would seem logical given the circumstances, some view it differently.
Some characters view their escape as a symptom of guilt and wonder if Malcolm
and Donalbain are actually the murderers.

l) Why does Macbeth kill Banquo?

Macbeth kills Banquo because he sees Banquo as another threat to the throne. In
the Witches’ original prophecy, they proclaim that Macbeth will be king but that
Banquo’s son and descendants will be the future kings, while Banquo will never be
king himself. Macbeth, never fully understanding how the prophecy would manifest,
once again takes matters into his own hands. Even though Banquo is his close
comrade, Macbeth is now on a single-minded mission to protect himself and his
position, and he kills Banquo to maintain the throne.

m) How does Lady Macbeth’s death affect Macbeth?

When Macbeth hears of Lady Macbeth’s death, he responds that she was eventually
going to die anyway—“She should have died hereafter” (5.5.17)—just like everyone
else. Macbeth then goes on to comment on the brevity of life: “Life’s but a walking
shadow, a poor player / That struts and frets his hour upon the stage” (5.5.24–25).
Macbeth might be emotionally numb at this point in the play, beyond the point of
sadness or even regret, especially for a wife who has helped bring him to ruin.

n) What convinces Macbeth that he is invincible over Macduff’s army?

Macbeth believes that he is invincible over Macduff’s army because the Witches and
the apparitions prophesied “none of woman born / Shall harm Macbeth” (4.1.82–
83) and “Macbeth shall never vanquished be until / Great Birnam Wood to high
Dunsinane Hill / Shall come against him” (4.1.96–98). Macbeth interprets such
prophecies literally. He reasons that since all men are born from women and woods
can’t move, he is invincible.

o) How does the Witches’ prophecy about Banquo come true?

It can be assumed that Banquo’s son, Fleance, eventually becomes king. This
assumption is based partly on the Witches’ prophecy that while Banquo would never
be king, his son and descendants would be. When Macbeth sends a group of
murderers to kill Banquo and Fleance, Fleance escapes, and the murderers only
complete half their task, leaving an open path for Banquo’s line to inherit the

4
throne. The only king actually crowned after Macbeth in the play, however, is
Malcolm, Duncan’s son.

IMPORTANT QUOTES

Act 1, scenes 5-7

Summary Act 1, scenes 5-7

Summary: Act 1, scene 5

The raven himself is hoarse

That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements. Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood,
Stop up th’access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
Th’ effect and it. Come to my woman’s breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers,
Wherever in your sightless substances
You wait on nature’s mischief. Come, thick night,
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,
To cry ‘Hold, hold!’

Lady Macbeth speaks these words in Act 1, scene 5, lines 36–52, as she awaits the
arrival of King Duncan at her castle. We have previously seen Macbeth’s uncertainty
about whether he should take the crown by killing Duncan. In this speech, there is
no such confusion, as Lady Macbeth is clearly willing to do whatever is necessary to
seize the throne. Her strength of purpose is contrasted with her husband’s tendency
to waver. This speech shows the audience that Lady Macbeth is the real steel
behind Macbeth and that her ambition will be strong enough to drive her husband
forward. At the same time, the language of this speech touches on the theme of
masculinity— “unsex me here / . . . / . . . Come to my woman’s breasts, / And take
my milk for gall,” Lady Macbeth says as she prepares herself to commit murder.
The language suggests that her womanhood, represented by breasts and milk,
usually symbols of nurture, impedes her from performing acts of violence and
cruelty, which she associates with manliness. Later, this sense of the relationship
between masculinity and violence will be deepened when Macbeth is unwilling to go
through with the murders and his wife tells him, in effect, that he needs to “be a
man” and get on with it.

5
 If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well
It were done quickly. If th’assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch
With his surcease success: that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all, here,
But here upon this bank and shoal of time,
We’d jump the life to come. But in these cases
We still have judgement here, that we but teach
Bloody instructions which, being taught, return
To plague th’inventor. This even-handed justice
Commends th’ingredience of our poisoned chalice
To our own lips. He’s here in double trust:
First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,
Strong both against the deed; then, as his host,
Who should against his murderer shut the door,
Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan
Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been
So clear in his great office, that his virtues
Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued against
The deep damnation of his taking-off,
And pity, like a naked new-born babe,
Striding the blast, or heaven’s cherubin, horsed
Upon the sightless couriers of the air,
Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye
That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself
And falls on th’other.

In this soliloquy, which is found in Act 1, scene 7, lines 1–28, Macbeth debates
whether he should kill Duncan. When he lists Duncan’s noble qualities (he “[h]ath
borne his faculties so meek”) and the loyalty that he feels toward his king (“I am
his kinsman and his subject”), we are reminded of just how grave an outrage it is
for the couple to slaughter their ruler while he is a guest in their house. At the
same time, Macbeth’s fear that “[w]e still have judgement here, that we but teach /
Bloody instructions which, being taught, return / To plague th’inventor,”
foreshadows the way that his deeds will eventually come back to haunt him. The
imagery in this speech is dark—we hear of “bloody instructions,” “deep damnation,”
and a “poisoned chalice”—and suggests that Macbeth is aware of how the murder
would open the door to a dark and sinful world. At the same time, he admits that
his only reason for committing murder, “ambition,” suddenly seems an insufficient
justification for the act. The destruction that comes from unchecked ambition will

6
continue to be explored as one of the play’s themes. As the soliloquy ends, Macbeth
seems to resolve not to kill Duncan, but this resolve will only last until his wife
returns and once again convinces him, by the strength of her will, to go ahead with
their plot.

Whence is that knocking?—

How is’t with me, when every noise appals me?
What hands are here! Ha, they pluck out mine eyes.
Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.

Macbeth says this in Act 2, scene 2, lines 55–61. He has just murdered Duncan,
and the crime was accompanied by supernatural portents. Now he hears a
mysterious knocking on his gate, which seems to promise doom. (In fact, the
person knocking is Macduff, who will indeed eventually destroy Macbeth.) The
enormity of Macbeth’s crime has awakened in him a powerful sense of guilt that will
hound him throughout the play. Blood, specifically Duncan’s blood, serves as the
symbol of that guilt, and Macbeth’s sense that “all great Neptune’s ocean” cannot
cleanse him—that there is enough blood on his hands to turn the entire sea red—
will stay with him until his death. Lady Macbeth’s response to this speech will be
her prosaic remark, “A little water clears us of this deed” (2.2.65). By the end of
the play, however, she will share Macbeth’s sense that Duncan’s murder has
irreparably stained them with blood.

Out, damned spot; out, I say. One, two,—why, then ’tis time to do’t.
Hell is murky. Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier and afeard? What need we
fear who knows it when none can call our power to account? Yet who
would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?

These words are spoken by Lady Macbeth in Act 5, scene 1, lines 30–34, as she
sleepwalks through Macbeth’s castle on the eve of his battle against Macduff and
Malcolm. Earlier in the play, she possessed a stronger resolve and sense of purpose
than her husband and was the driving force behind their plot to kill Duncan. When
Macbeth believed his hand was irreversibly bloodstained earlier in the play, Lady
Macbeth had told him, “A little water clears us of this deed” (2.2.65). Now,
however, she too sees blood. She is completely undone by guilt and descends into
madness. It may be a reflection of her mental and emotional state that she is not
speaking in verse; this is one of the few moments in the play when a major

7
character—save for the witches, who speak in four-foot couplets—strays from
iambic pentameter. Her inability to sleep was foreshadowed in the voice that her
husband thought he heard while killing the king—a voice crying out that Macbeth
was murdering sleep. And her delusion that there is a bloodstain on her hand
furthers the play’s use of blood as a symbol of guilt. “What need we fear who knows
it when none can call our power to account?” she asks, asserting that as long as
she and her husband retain power, the murders they committed cannot harm them.
But her guilt-racked state and her mounting madness show how hollow her words
are. So, too, does the army outside her castle. “Hell is murky,” she says, implying
that she already knows that darkness intimately. The pair, in their destructive
power, have created their own hell, where they are tormented by guilt and insanity.

She should have died hereafter.

There would have been a time for such a word.
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time.
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle.
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

These words are uttered by Macbeth after he hears of Lady Macbeth’s death, in Act
5, scene 5, lines 16–27. Given the great love between them, his response is oddly
muted, but it segues quickly into a speech of such pessimism and despair—one of
the most famous speeches in all of Shakespeare—that the audience realizes how
completely his wife’s passing and the ruin of his power have undone Macbeth. His
speech insists that there is no meaning or purpose in life. Rather, life “is a tale /
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, / Signifying nothing.” One can easily
understand how, with his wife dead and armies marching against him, Macbeth
succumbs to such pessimism. Yet, there is also a defensive and self-justifying
quality to his words. If everything is meaningless, then Macbeth’s awful crimes are
somehow made less awful, because, like everything else, they too “signify nothing.”

Macbeth’s statement that “[l]ife’s but a poor player / That struts and frets his hour
upon the stage” can be read as Shakespeare’s somewhat deflating reminder of the
illusionary nature of the theater. After all, Macbeth is only a “player” himself,
strutting on an Elizabethan stage. In any play, there is a conspiracy of sorts
between the audience and the actors, as both pretend to accept the play’s reality.
Macbeth’s comment calls attention to this conspiracy and partially explodes it—his

8
negativism embraces not only his own life but the entire play. If we take his words
to heart, the play, too, can be seen as an event “full of sound and fury, / Signifying
nothing.”

IMPORTANT QUOTES

a) Ambition

Two truths are told

As happy prologues to the swelling act
Of th’imperial theme (1.3)

Macbeth speaks these lines as he realizes that the witches’ prophecy (that he will
be Thane of Cawdor) has come true. He immediately 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.

Thou wouldst be great

Art not without ambition, but without
The illness should attend it (1.5)

Lady Macbeth speaks these lines as she reflects on her husband’s character. She
knows that Macbeth is capable of ambitious dreams, but she thinks that he is
unwilling to display the ruthless behavior necessary to achieve those dreams. These
lines reflect Lady Macbeth’s own philosophy of power, in which only individuals who
are willing to set their morality aside will rise to greatness. They also show that she
is a sound judge of character, and understands her husband very well.

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

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

9
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.

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

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.

b) Guilt

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)

Macbeth speaks this line when he encounters his wife right after murdering Duncan.
He refers to both the literal blood on his hand but also to his sense of guilt. He uses
grand and dramatic language to imply that the blood could stain all the world’s
oceans red. His language implies that the consequences of his action will not be
easily hidden, even though his wife implies that blood can be simply washed away.
He will forever be a changed man as a result of what he has done. Interestingly,
later in the play, Lady Macbeth will also hallucinate that she has blood on her hands
and is unable to get them clean, symbolizing her sense of guilt.

Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold

Thou hast no speculation in those eyes (3.4)

Macbeth speaks this line when Banquo’s ghost appears to him at the banquet.
Macbeth’s vision of the ghost reveals his guilt over ordering the murder of Banquo
and his young son. His sense of guilt is so powerful that he loses his sense of reality
and cannot be sure whether he is having a vision or not. He speaks these lines in
order to try and reassure himself that Banquo is truly dead. In doing so, Macbeth
reveals that his tormented consciousness is leading him to start losing his grip on
sanity.

10
 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)

Lady Macbeth speaks these lines after she has gone mad. They are the final words
she utters in the play, and they reveal how guilt has crushed her strong and
assertive personality. She now has to be cared for like a child, and has no plans for
the future. No matter how much she repents, the violence and death cannot be
undone.

c) Children

I have given suck, and know

How tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks me
I would, while it was smiling in my face
Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums
And dashed the brains out (1.7)

Lady Macbeth speaks these lines when she is trying to shame Macbeth for
questioning their plan. She uses the image of a child to make a graphic statement
about her own ambition and capacity for violence. By describing herself as a tender
and loving mother who nonetheless would have killed her own child before she
would abort a plan to seize power, Lady Macbeth disrupts the typical idea of what
women and mothers are like. She uses this image to make her husband that he is
being unmanly by doubting their scheme.

For Banquo’s issue have I filed my mind

For them the gracious Duncan have I murdered (3.1)

Macbeth speaks these lines when he is brooding about his worries that, as the
witches have prophesied, Banquo’s heirs will someday gain control of the Scottish
crown. Macbeth reveals that he feels guilty about the terrible things he has done,
and that he is wondering if these acts were worthwhile. Even though he currently
holds power, Macbeth lacks children who will hold power after him and this makes
him fear that he has committed terrible deeds for no reason. These lines speak to a
strong interest in stable succession, which was a key political issue in
Shakespeare’s time.

What, all my pretty chickens and their dam

At one fell swoop (4.3)

Macduff speaks these tragic lines upon learning that his wife and children have
been murdered. The affectionate imagery he uses to describe them shows how
even though he is a strong and powerful warrior, he is also a loving husband and

11
father. The line conveys the sense of overwhelming loss he feels when he hears
that he has lost his entire family at the same time. The sense of immense grief sets
the stage for his desire to avenge them by eventually killing Macbeth.

Had I as many sons as I have hairs

I would not wish them a fairer death (5.11)

Siward, a minor character, speaks these lines at the end of the play when he learns
that his son has been killed in battle. Even though he is grief-stricken, he is proud
that his son died a brave and honorable death. The line shows how important honor
and valor are to characters in the play, and also how important it was for Macbeth
to be defeated. A father can consider it worthwhile to have lost his child if it means
knowing that Macbeth no longer occupies the throne.

d) Patriotism

Every one did bear

Thy praises in his kingdom’s great defense (1.3)

This line is spoken by Ross to Macbeth, explaining how pleased Duncan was with
the bravery Macbeth showed during the rebellion. Ross highlights that Macbeth
showed solidarity and patriotism for defending Scotland against a usurper, and
indicates that these qualities make Macbeth worthy of praise and honor. The line,
however, will later turn out to be ironic in that Macbeth will be revealed to be
someone whom Scotland needs to be defended against.

Our duties are to your throne and state children and servants (1.5)

Macbeth speaks this line to Duncan, expressing the high level of loyalty and
devotion a good subject should feel toward his king. The line reveals how a king
and the nation that king rules are intertwined, and how someone who is loyal to
one should be loyal to the other. However, this line also reveals that patriotism and
loyalty can be feigned, since Macbeth is planning to kill Duncan and usurp the
throne even as he is seemingly showing how obedient he is.

Bleed, bleed, poor country! (4.3)

Macduff speaks this line when he thinks he will not be able to persuade Malcolm to
fight against Macbeth and take back the throne. He is in despair, and his main
concern is the suffering that Scotland and his people will experience while Macbeth
remains on the throne. Macduff shows his patriotism and devotion to his country by
lamenting the fate he is afraid it will be left to suffer.

12
 O nation miserable
With an untitled tyrant, bloody-sceptered (4.3)

Macduff speaks this line in his conversation with Malcolm when he becomes very
distressed. Because of the lies Malcolm has just told him about his character,
Macduff believes that no one is suitable to rule Scotland. At the same time, he still
maintains the belief that Macbeth is a terrible ruler, since he obtained power
through violent and illegitimate means. Macduff reveals his sincere love for his
country through his desire to see a good and honorable man as its king.

THEMES

Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.

a) The Corrupting Power Of Unchecked Ambition

The main theme of Macbeth—the destruction wrought when ambition goes

unchecked by moral constraints—finds its most powerful expression in the play’s
two main characters. Macbeth is a courageous Scottish general who is not naturally
inclined to commit evil deeds, yet he deeply desires power and advancement. He
kills Duncan against his better judgment and afterward stews in guilt and paranoia.
Toward the end of the play, he descends into a kind of frantic, boastful madness.
Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, pursues her goals with greater determination, yet
she is less capable of withstanding the repercussions of her immoral acts. One of
Shakespeare’s most forcefully drawn female characters, she spurs her husband
mercilessly to kill Duncan and urges him to be strong in the murder’s aftermath,
but she is eventually driven to distraction by the effect of Macbeth’s repeated
bloodshed on her conscience. In each case, ambition—helped, of course, by the
malign prophecies of the witches—is what drives the couple to ever more terrible
atrocities. The problem, the play suggests, is that once one decides to use violence
to further one’s quest for power, it is difficult to stop. There are always potential
threats to the throne—Banquo, Fleance, Macduff—and it is always tempting to use
violent means to dispose of them.

b) The Relationship Between Cruelty And Masculinity

Characters in Macbeth frequently dwell on issues of gender. Lady Macbeth

manipulates her husband by questioning his manhood, wishes that she herself
could be “unsexed,” and does not contradict Macbeth when he says that a woman
like her should give birth only to boys. In the same manner that Lady Macbeth
goads her husband on to murder, Macbeth provokes the murderers he hires to kill
Banquo by questioning their manhood. Such acts show that both Macbeth and Lady
Macbeth equate masculinity with naked aggression, and whenever they converse
about manhood, violence soon follows. Their understanding of manhood allows the
political order depicted in the play to descend into chaos. At the same time,

13
however, the audience cannot help noticing that women are also sources of
violence and evil. The witches’ prophecies spark Macbeth’s ambitions and then
encourage his violent behavior; Lady Macbeth provides the brains and the will
behind her husband’s plotting; and the only divine being to appear is Hecate,
the goddess of witchcraft. Arguably, Macbeth traces the root of chaos and evil to
women, which has led some critics to argue that this is Shakespeare’s most
misogynistic play.

While the male characters are just as violent and prone to evil as the women, the
aggression of the female characters is more striking because it goes against
prevailing expectations of how women ought to behave. Lady Macbeth’s behavior
certainly shows that women can be as ambitious and cruel as men. Whether
because of the constraints of her society or because she is not fearless enough to
kill, Lady Macbeth relies on deception and manipulation rather than violence to
achieve her ends.

Ultimately, the play does put forth a revised and less destructive definition of
manhood. In the scene where Macduff learns of the murders of his wife and child,
Malcolm consoles him by encouraging him to take the news in “manly” fashion, by
seeking revenge upon Macbeth. Macduff shows the young heir apparent that he has
a mistaken understanding of masculinity. To Malcolm’s suggestion, “Dispute it like a
man,” Macduff replies, “I shall do so. But I must also feel it as a man” (4.3.221–
223). At the end of the play, Siward receives news of his son’s death rather
complacently. Malcolm responds: “He’s worth more sorrow [than you have
expressed] / And that I’ll spend for him” (5.11.16–17). Malcolm’s comment shows
that he has learned the lesson Macduff gave him on the sentient nature of true
masculinity. It also suggests that, with Malcolm’s coronation, order will be restored
to the Kingdom of Scotland.

c) The Difference Between Kingship And Tyranny

In the play, Duncan is always referred to as a “king,” while Macbeth soon becomes
known as the “tyrant.” The difference between the two types of rulers seems to be
expressed in a conversation that occurs in Act 4, scene 3, when Macduff meets
Malcolm in England. In order to test Macduff’s loyalty to Scotland, Malcolm pretends
that he would make an even worse king than Macbeth. He tells Macduff of his
reproachable qualities—among them a thirst for personal power and a violent
temperament, both of which seem to characterize Macbeth perfectly. On the other
hand, Malcolm says, “The king-becoming graces / [are] justice, verity, temp’rance,
stableness, / Bounty, perseverance, mercy, [and] lowliness” (4.3.92–93).

The model king, then, offers the kingdom an embodiment of order and justice, but
also comfort and affection. Under him, subjects are rewarded according to their
merits, as when Duncan makes Macbeth thane of Cawdor after Macbeth’s victory
over the invaders. Most important, the king must be loyal to Scotland above his
own interests. Macbeth, by contrast, brings only chaos to Scotland—symbolized in
the bad weather and bizarre supernatural events—and offers no real justice, only a

14
habit of capriciously murdering those he sees as a threat. As the embodiment of
tyranny, he must be overcome by Malcolm so that Scotland can have a true king
once more.

d) Ambition

Although he is encouraged by the Witches, 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. Both Macbeths fail to see how their ambition
makes them cross moral lines and will lead to their downfall. 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. Macbeth’s blind pursuit of power
can be contrasted with other ambitious characters in the play like Banquo. Banquo
also hears the Witches’ prophecies, and similarly has ambition for his sons. But
unlike Macbeth, Banquo’s morality prevents him from pursuing his goal at any cost.
At the end of the play, Macbeth has achieved all he wanted but has nothing. With
his wife gone and no hope of producing a prince, Macbeth sees what his unchecked
ambition has cost him: the loss of all he holds dear.

e) Guilt

Macbeth’s guilt about murdering his king, Duncan, and ordering the murder of his
friend, Banquo, causes him to have guilty hallucinations. Lady Macbeth also
hallucinates and eventually goes insane from guilt over her role in Duncan’s death.
The fact that both characters suffer torment as a result of their actions suggests
neither Macbeth nor his wife is entirely cold-blooded. Although they commit terrible
crimes, they know, on some level, that what they’ve done is wrong. Their guilt
prevents them from fully enjoying the power they craved. Lady Macbeth says
“What’s done/ cannot be undone” in Act Five scene one, but her guilt continues to
torment her. While Macbeth’s guilt causes him to commit further murders in an
attempt to cover up his initial crimes, Lady Macbeth’s guilt drives her to insanity,
and, finally, suicide.

f) Children

The loss of children is a complex and intriguing theme in the play. For both Macbeth
and Banquo, children represent the idea of the continuation of a family line.
Macbeth has Banquo murdered in hopes of thwarting the Witches’ prophecy that
Banquo will sire a long line of kings. However, Fleance is able to escape being
killed, leaving open the possibility he will one day take over the throne. Macbeth
and his wife have no heirs, although Lady Macbeth references having been a
mother once, saying, “I have given suck, and know / How tender ‘tis to love the
babe that milks me. “ This line suggests the Macbeths may have lost a child.
Similarly, Macduff mourns the children Macbeth ordered killed and uses their
memory to spur him on to victory against their killer; and Siward laments the loss

15
of his son in the play’s closing battle, but is proud to have fathered such a brave
soldier who fought in a noble cause.

MOTIFS

Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help to
develop and inform the text’s major themes.

a) Hallucinations

Visions and hallucinations recur throughout the play and serve as reminders of
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s joint culpability for the growing body count. When he
is about to kill Duncan, Macbeth sees a dagger floating in the air. Covered with
blood and pointed toward the king’s chamber, the dagger represents the bloody
course on which Macbeth is about to embark. Later, he sees Banquo’s ghost sitting
in a chair at a feast, pricking his conscience by mutely reminding him that he
murdered his former friend. The seemingly hardheaded Lady Macbeth also
eventually gives way to visions, as she sleepwalks and believes that her hands are
stained with blood that cannot be washed away by any amount of water. In each
case, it is ambiguous whether the vision is real or purely hallucinatory; but, in both
cases, the Macbeths read them uniformly as supernatural signs of their guilt.

b) Violence

Macbeth  is a famously violent play. Interestingly, most of the killings take place
offstage, but throughout the play, the characters provide the audience with gory
descriptions of the carnage, from the opening scene where the captain describes
Macbeth and Banquo wading in blood on the battlefield, to the endless references to
the bloodstained hands of Macbeth and his wife. The action is bookended by a pair
of bloody battles: in the first, Macbeth defeats the invaders; in the second, he is
slain and beheaded by Macduff. In between is a series of murders: Duncan,
Duncan’s chamberlains, Banquo, Lady Macduff, and Macduff’s son all come to
bloody ends. By the end of the action, blood seems to be everywhere.

c) Prophecy

Prophecy sets Macbeth’s plot in motion—namely, the witches’ prophecy that

Macbeth will first become thane of Cawdor and then king. The weird sisters make a
number of other prophecies: they tell us that Banquo’s heirs will be kings, that
Macbeth should beware Macduff, that Macbeth is safe till Birnam Wood comes to
Dunsinane, and that no man born of woman can harm Macbeth. Save for the
prophecy about Banquo’s heirs, all of these predictions are fulfilled within the
course of the play. Still, it is left deliberately ambiguous whether some of them are
self-fulfilling—for example, whether Macbeth wills himself to be king or is fated to
be king. Additionally, as the Birnam Wood and “born of woman” prophecies make
clear, the prophecies must be interpreted as riddles, since they do not always mean
what they seem to mean.

16
SYMBOLS

Symbols are objects, characters, figures, and colors used to represent abstract
ideas or concepts.

In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, symbolism is abundantly used in exemplifying

the overall theme of murder. There are several prominent forms of this throughout
the play.

a) Blood

Blood symbolizes murder and guilt. The archetypal pattern of purification by water
is used several times in the play, particularly in the murder scenes. Symbolism is
widely displayed in order to achieve the general topic of evil.

Blood is everywhere in Macbeth, beginning with the opening battle between the

Scots and the Norwegian invaders, which is described in harrowing terms by the
wounded captain in Act 1, scene 2. Once Macbeth and Lady Macbeth embark upon
their murderous journey, blood comes to symbolize their guilt, and they begin to
feel that their crimes have stained them in a way that cannot be washed clean.
“Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand?” Macbeth
cries after he has killed Duncan, even as his wife scolds him and says that a little
water will do the job (2.2.58–59). Later, though, she comes to share his horrified
sense of being stained: “Out, damned spot; out, I say . . . who would have thought
the old man to have had so much blood in him?” she asks as she wanders through
the halls of their castle near the close of the play (5.1.30–34). Blood symbolizes the
guilt that sits like a permanent stain on the consciences of both Macbeth and Lady
Macbeth, one that hounds them to their graves.

The image of blood plays an important role in the event of Duncan’s murder. It
represents Macbeth’s guilt and shame about the horrific crime. After killing the
king, Macbeth comments on his blood-stained hands by saying, “As they had seen
me with these hangman’s hands.” (II. ii. 28)

Macbeth refuses to return to the crime scene to smear blood on the guards, fearing
the blood will somehow implicate him further. Macbeth feels uncomfortable with
blood on his hands. He immediately tries to remove it after killing the guards.

Blood symbolizes murder and guilt, and imagery of it pertains to both Macbeth and
Lady Macbeth. For example, before killing Duncan, Macbeth hallucinates a bloody
dagger pointing towards the king’s room. After committing the murder, he is
horrified, and says: “Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood Clean from my
hand? No."

Banquo’s ghost, who appears during a banquet, exhibits “gory locks.” Blood also
symbolizes Macbeth’s own acceptance of his guilt. He tells Lady Macbeth, “I am in
blood / Step't in so far that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as
go o'er”.

17
Blood eventually also affects Lady Macbeth, who, in her sleepwalking scene, wants
to clean blood from her hands. For Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, blood shows that
their guilt trajectory runs in opposite directions: Macbeth turns from being guilty
into a ruthless murderer, whereas Lady Macbeth, who starts off as more assertive
than her husband, becomes ridden with guilt and eventually kills herself.

b) The Weather

 As in other Shakespearean tragedies, Macbeth’s grotesque murder spree is

accompanied by a number of unnatural occurrences in the natural realm. From the
thunder and lightning that accompany the witches’ appearances to the terrible
storms that rage on the night of Duncan’s murder, these violations of the natural
order reflect corruption in the moral and political orders.

c) Ambition 

Macbeth’s ambition is his tragic flaw. Devoid of any morality, it ultimately causes
Macbeth’s downfall. Two factors stoke the flames of his ambition: the prophecy of
the Three Witches, who claim that not only will he be thane of Cawdor, but also
king, and even more so the attitude of his wife, who taunts his assertiveness and
manhood and actually stage-directs her husband’s actions.

Macbeth’s ambition, however, soon spirals out of control. He feels that his power is
threatened to a point where it can only be preserved through murdering his
suspected enemies. Eventually, ambition causes both Macbeth’s and Lady
Macbeth’s undoing. He is defeated in battle and decapitated by Macduff, while Lady
Macbeth succumbs to insanity and commits suicide.

d) Loyalty

Loyalty plays out in many ways in Macbeth. At the beginning of the play, King
Duncan rewards Macbeth with the title of thane of Cawdor, after the original thane
betrayed him and joined forces with Norway, while Macbeth was a valiant general.
However, when Duncan names Malcolm his heir, Macbeth comes to the conclusion
that he must kill King Duncan in order to become king himself.

In another example of Shakespeare's loyalty and betrayal dynamic, Macbeth

betrays Banquo out of paranoia. Although the pair were comrades in arms, after he
becomes king, Macbeth remembers that the witches predicted that Banquo’s
descendants would ultimately be crowned kings of Scotland. Macbeth then decides
to have him killed.

Macduff, who suspects Macbeth once he sees the king’s corpse, flees to England to
join Duncan’s son Malcolm, and together they plan Macbeth's downfall.

18
e) Appearance and Reality 

“False face must hide what the false heart doth know,” Macbeth tells Duncan, when
he already has intentions to murder him near the end of act I.

Similarly, the witches utterances, such as “fair is foul and foul is fair”, subtly play
with appearance and reality. Their prophecy, stating that Macbeth can’t be
vanquished by any child “of woman born” is rendered vain when Macduff reveals
that he was born via a caesarean section. In addition, the assurance that he would
not be vanquished until “Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill Shall come
against him” is at first deemed an unnatural phenomenon, as a forest would not
walk up a hill, but in reality meant that soldiers were cutting up trees in Birnam
Wood to get closer to Dunsinane Hill.

f) Fate and Free Will

Would Macbeth have become king had he not chosen his murderous path? This
question brings into play the matters of fate and free will. The witches predict that
he would become thane of Cawdor, and soon after he is anointed that title without
any action required of him. The witches show Macbeth his future and his fate, but
Duncan’s murder is a matter of Macbeth’s own free will, and, after Duncan's
assassination, the further assassinations are a matter of his own planning. This also
applies to the other visions the witches conjure for Macbeth: he sees them as a sign
of his invincibility and acts accordingly, but they actually anticipate his demise.

g) Symbolism of Light and Darkness

The contrast of light and dark representing good and evil plays a major role in the
advancement of events in the play. Light and darkness represent good and evil
respectively.

Light and starlight symbolize what is good and noble, and the moral order brought
by King Duncan announces that “signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine / On all
deservers" (I 4.41-42).”

By contrast, the three witches are known as “midnight hags,” and Lady Macbeth
asks the night to cloak her actions from the heaven. Similarly, once Macbeth
becomes king, day and night become indistinguishable from one another. When
Lady Macbeth displays her insanity, she wants to carry a candle with her, as a form
of protection.

Light and dark represent good and evil in the play. During the time in which
Macbeth was written, the king was associated with the sun. The sunset symbolized
his death or overthrow. The quotes “When shall we three meet again . . . ” and
“That will be ere the set of sun.” (I. i. 1,4) foreshadow the king’s death.

The imagery of light and dark continues throughout the play. “Stars, hide your
fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires.” (I. iv. 50-51)demonstrates
Macbeth’s step toward evil. Most of the corrupt or unusual events in Macbeth occur

19
under a cloak of darkness. The murders, Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking, and the
appearance of the witches all take place at night.

Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking scene is the epitome of the light/darkness symbol.

She once craved the darkness but now carries a candle to dispel it. The line, “She
has light by her continually; ’tis her command.” (V. i. 19), symbolizes Lady
Macbeth’s fear of darkness or evil.

h) Symbolism of Sleep

In Macbeth, sleep symbolizes innocence and purity. For instance, after murdering

King Duncan, Macbeth is in such distress that he believes he heard a voice saying
"Methought I heard a voice cry 'Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep,' the
innocent sleep, Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care." He goes on to
compare sleep to a soothing bath after a day of hard work, and to the main course
of a feast, feeling that when he murdered his king in his sleep, he murdered sleep
itself.

Similarly, after he sends killers to murder Banquo, Macbeth laments being

constantly shaken by nightmares and by "restless ecstasy," where the word
"ectsasy" loses any positive connotations.

When Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost at the banquet, Lady Macbeth remarks that he
lacks “the season of all natures, sleep.” Eventually, her sleep becomes disturbed as
well. She becomes prone to sleepwalking, reliving the horrors of Duncan’s murder.

i) Symbolism of Water

The archetypal pattern of purification by water is prominent in the play. It

symbolizes the removal of guilt. Following the murder of Duncan, Lady Macbeth
reassures her husband by telling him, “A little water clears us of the deed”; (I. ii.
67)

Later in the play, Lady Macbeth repeatedly rubs her hands together, representing
washing her hands. She hopes to clear her conscience by removing the “spot” from
her hand, as she says, “Out, damned spot! out, I say! . . . “(V. i. 31) Water
symbolizes the purification of a guilty conscience.

 Blood represents Macbeth’s and his wife’s guilt about Duncan’s

murder. Water symbolizes purification of the conscience. These
symbols effectively portray the ominous theme of murder in
Macbeth.

20
Example of a Question on Symbolism in Macbeth

Explore the different symbols within William Shakespeare's tragic

play, Macbeth. Symbols are central to understanding Macbeth as a play and
identifying Shakespeare's social and political commentary.

Nature

Throughout Shakespeare's Macbeth, the weather plays an important role.

The rebelling nature of wind and lightning indicates the disruption within
the natural order of society. It makes it seem as if the weather is upset
with Macbeth's actions. In many Shakespearean plays — including this one
— rebelling nature shows a departure from accepted political and moral
order.

Blood

Blood itself — the color, the smell, and importance — is vital to life and
shocking to see. The constant presence of blood in Macbeth repeatedly
reminds the audience about how serious the consequences of the
characters actions are. But almost surpassing the importance of physical
blood is the imagined blood found throughout the play. Imaginary blood
represents guilt for Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. It's not until after the
murder of Duncan that their guilt begins to manifest. As their guilt grows,
so does the importance of the blood.

What's more, the imaginary blood also shows how Macbeth and Lady
Macbeth both lose a grasp on reality. Often quoted is the fact that Lady
Macbeth cannot get the imagined blood off her hands nor can her husband.
Their guilt is all consuming and inescapable. The imagined blood haunts
both characters, following them until their death.

TONE

The tone of the play is fatalistic, creating the sense that the natural world has been
thrown out of order by Macbeth’s unnatural ascension to the throne. Violence or the
possibility of violence exists throughout, and there are very few light or playful
moments. The play opens in the aftermath of a bloody battle, and even though the
rebels have been defeated, this opening creates an unstable and threatening
atmosphere and a tone of justified fear. The appearance of the witches suggests
that the world of the play is one where supernatural element can torment humans
and unleash dark forces against them. The first time the witches appear, their
references to “fair is foul and foul is fair,” and “fog and filthy air” convey the sense
of an impending storm, and the elements in conflict with each other. The setting,
the references to battle, and the natural phenomena all serve to quickly create a
tone suggesting that the world is a hostile place.

21
After Macbeth murders Duncan, the tone becomes even more foreboding, as
Macbeth’s guilt causes him to become paranoid. Rather than appearing triumphant
when he returns to his wife in Act 2, Scene 2, Macbeth is horrified. He worries that
he was unable to say the word “Amen”, indicating that he has possibly damned his
soul, and he also reveals that “methought I heard a voice cry, “Sleep no more!”
(2.2.38). This moment could have been triumphant for Macbeth and his wife, but
instead is the turning point after which neither of them will ever be able to feel a
sense of peace again. Adding to Macbeth’s own paranoia and guilt, the world itself
seems to have come unhinged from reality. Immediately after Duncan’s death, an
Old Man reports that a falcon was killed by an owl, and Duncan’s horses ate each
other. At the banquet in Act 3, Scene 4, Macbeth is tormented by visions of
Banquo’s ghost, leaving him panicking that “the time has been/That, when the
brains were out, the man would die/And there an end. But now they rise again”
(3.4.78-80). The rules of nature no longer apply: sleep disappears; the dead re-
appear; animals become cannibals.

By the end of the play, the tone has devolved from fearful and foreboding to deeply
pessimistic. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth disintegrate from the charismatic and
keenly intelligent characters we see at the beginning of the play into shadows of
their former selves. Lady Macbeth kills herself, tormented by guilt. “What’s done
cannot be undone, she says,” (5.1.60-61) reflecting her despair. While Lady
Macbeth began the play as a woman who believed she could change the course of
her destiny, she ends it without any sense of agency, resigned to the consequences
of her tragic mistake. Macbeth persists in his arrogant belief that the witches’
prophecies mean he is indestructible until he is confronted by the actual truth of
their words. When a messenger reports that Birnam Wood is in fact approaching
Dunsinane, Macbeth realizes all is lost, and resolves to face his death, seeming to
even welcome it. “I ‘gin to be aweary of the sun/ And wish th’ estate o’ th’ world
were now undone,” he says. By the time he meets Macduff in battle, he seems
fatalistically curious about how a man “not of woman born” will kill him, no longer
convinced he is actually invulnerable. The final scene has a fatalistic tone as
Macbeth finally accepts his mortality and realizes he is not above the laws of
nature.

Another contrast between what Lady Macbeth says she would do and what she
actually does comes on the night of Duncan’s murder. While waiting for Macbeth to
kill Duncan, she admits “Had he not resembled/ my father as he slept, I had
done’t.” Again, she is portraying herself as ruthless and violent, but her action (or
lack of action) tells a different story. Maybe she would have killed Duncan if he
didn’t look like her father; maybe not – all we know is, given the opportunity to kill
the king, she couldn’t go through with it. Her previous wish that her blood would
“stop up th’ access and passage to remorse” has not come true. When Macbeth
announces Duncan’s death, she faints. One reading is that her faint is faked to
distract from Macbeth’s shaky story. But if the faint is real, it suggests she just now

22
realizes the truth of what they’ve done, and is overwhelmed by her husband’s
ability to kill not only Duncan but also the attendants, and lie so easily about it.

After Duncan’s murder, Lady Macbeth’s role is of comforter and protector of

Macbeth, rather than instigator of murder, and her character becomes more
sympathetic. Immediately after the murder, Macbeth says, “to know my deed,
‘twere best not know myself,” and the rest of the play sees him becoming further
estranged from himself and his essential humanity. Lady Macbeth, in contrast,
stops pretending to be someone she’s not, and begins admitting who she actually
is. She recognizes the error of their actions, saying, “’Tis safer to be that which we
destroy/Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy.” They’ve killed Duncan, but the
murder only made them miserable, and in some ways they’d be better off dead.
However, she continues to put on a brave face for her husband, encouraging him to
put the past behind him (“what’s done is done”) and stop worrying. When Macbeth
sees Banquo’s ghost at the banquet, Lady Macbeth again covers for him. But,
sensing her regret, he hides his plans to kill Lady Macduff and her children. Not only
has Macbeth become a stranger to himself, he is also a stranger to his wife, who
now has no ally and is isolated in her guilt.

The last time we see Lady Macbeth she is raving about blood on her hands,
signaling that she is a victim of her husband and her own overwrought emotional
state. Over the course of the play we’ve seen her evolve from a crafty manipulator
to a guilt-ridden casualty of her husband’s ambition who has lost all agency over
her own life. “The Thane of Fife had a wife. Where is she now?” she asks, in what
sounds like babble but is actually a poignant acknowledgment of her own
irrelevance. Her husband is off murdering more innocent people in his quest to hold
onto his ill-gotten crown, while Lady Macbeth, who hoped to share in his glory, has
been abandoned. Her obsession with cleaning the phantom blood off her hands
signals that she has been just as tainted as Macbeth by his murders, even though
she did not commit them herself, nor has she benefitted from them. While Lady
Macbeth is far from blameless for her role in inciting her husband to action, she
ends the play a far more sympathetic character than she began.

23
METAPHORS AND SIMILES

Doubtful it stood, 
As two spent swimmers that do cling together 
And choke their art. (1.2.7–9) 

Early in the play, the Captain uses this simile to compare the warring

armies to a pair of exhausted swimmers hanging onto each other to
try to stay above water, but instead threatening to pull each other
under.   

Your face, my thane, is as a book where men 

May read strange matters.
(1.5.53–54) 

Lady Macbeth uses this simile to tell her husband that his facial expressions betray
his inner thoughts, likening him to a book that others can easily read.  

Look like th' innocent flower, 

But be the serpent under ’t.
(1.5.56–57) 

In this simile, Lady Macbeth exhorts her husband to conceal his murderous
intentions with innocent behavior, similar to a snake lurking beneath a harmless
flower.  

The spring, the head, the fountain of your blood 

Is stopped; the very source of it is stopped.
(2.3.74–75) 

Macbeth uses this metaphor to inform Donalbain and Malcolm of Duncan’s murder,

characterizing their father as the fountain from which their lifeblood sprang and
perhaps darkly hinting that their own lives are soon to be “stopped” as well.  

There the grown serpent lies. The worm that’s fled 

Hath nature that in time will venom breed; 
No teeth for th’ present. 
(3.4.30–32) 

In this metaphor, Macbeth compares Banquo and his young son Fleance to two

snakes, one a full-grown threat and the other a toothless baby snake who will one
day become venomous like his father.  

24
 He hath not touched you yet. I am young, but something 
You may deserve of him through me, and wisdom 
To offer up a weak, poor, innocent lamb 
T' appease an angry god.
(4.3.14–17) 

In this metaphor, Malcolm compares himself to a sacrificial lamb and Macbeth to an

angry god who would be pleased with his slaughter.  

He has no children. All my pretty ones? 

Did you say all? O hell-kite! All? 
What, all my pretty chickens and their dam 
At one fell swoop? 
(4.3.222–225) 

After learning of his family’s massacre, Macduff uses this metaphor to

compare Macbeth to a cruel kite (a type of hawk) who has swooped down and
senselessly killed his entire brood of chicks and their mother all at once.  

Be this the whetstone of your sword. Let grief 

Convert to anger. Blunt not the heart, enrage it.
(4.3.235–236) 

In this metaphor, Malcolm compares Macduff’s grief to a stone used for sharpening

a sword, urging him to let grief sharpen, not dull, his desire for revenge. 

LANGUAGE IN MACBETH

Language refers to the choices of style and vocabulary made by the author. When
analysing the language Shakespeare uses you should think about:

 What? - the playwright's choice of specific words and literary devices

 Where/how? - the way in which the writer uses them

 Why? – the effect on the reader

How is language used in Macbeth?

In Macbeth, William Shakespeare uses figurative language to appeal to the

audience's senses and convey meaning in an imaginative way.
Figurative language includes comparisons such as similes and metaphors, sound
devices such as alliteration and assonance, and personification.

25
Evidence and explanation of the language used

Here are some examples of language choices which Shakespeare makes: key words
and literary devices such as animal imagery.

1) Key words

There are a number of key words in Macbeth which are used over and over again.
This repetition reinforces their importance in the mind of the audience or reader
and adds strongly to the overall atmosphere of the play. Three of the most
important key words in the play are blood, night and time.

Blood

What relevance does the word 'blood' have in the play?

Blood appears as a real substance all through the play. In one of the first
scenes a blood-stained Captain reports on the battle to Duncan. Blood is evident
when Duncan, Banquo and Lady Macduff are murdered and the Witches use animal
blood as part of their potions. The play also finishes with real blood as Macbeth's
severed head is displayed for all to see.

The word 'blood' also appears a number of times as a symbol of the guilt
that runs through the play. For instance, Macbeth sees a vision of a bloodstained
dagger before he kills Duncan and Lady Macbeth tries to wash away imaginary
bloodstains during her guilt-ridden sleepwalking.

The table shows some examples of the use of the key word blood:

How? Who? Where?

After the first battle, the blood-stained Act 1

'What bloody man is that?'
Captain reports to King Duncan. Scene 2

Lady Macbeth calls on spirits to take

Act 1
'Make thick my blood' away any feelings of pity she may
Scene 5
have.

Macbeth sees a vision of a blood-

'And on thy blade and dudgeon Act 2
stained dagger before he murders
gouts of blood' Scene 1
Duncan.

'Will all great Neptune's ocean Macbeth feels great guilt about
Act 2
wash this blood / Clean from my murdering Duncan and realises he is
Scene 2
hand?' never going to get rid of these feelings.

26
How? Who? Where?

Macbeth alerts one of Banquo's

Act 3
'There's blood upon thy face.' murderers to the fact that he has his
Scene 4
victim's blood on his face.

Macbeth recalls an old saying that

blood shed through violence seeks
'It will have blood they Act 3
more blood in revenge, creating a
say: blood will have blood.' Scene 4
cycle of bloodshed; he feels trapped in
the inevitability of this violence.

Macbeth realises that he has been

'I am in blood / Stepp'd in so far
responsible for so many acts of
that, should I wade no more, / Act 3
violence already that it's impossible to
Returning were as tedious as go Scene 4
undo them and he may as well keep
o'er'
killing.

'Cool it with a baboon's blood, / The Witches use blood as part of one Act 4
Then the charm is firm and good.' of their spells. Scene 1

'Here's the smell of Lady Macbeth sleepwalks and imagines Act 5

the blood still' she has blood on her hands. Scene 1

Why does Shakespeare use the word 'blood' so often in the play?

The word 'blood' appears over 40 times in Macbeth – not to mention appearances
by related words such as 'bloody', 'bleeding' and so on. Shakespeare's constant
repetition of the word 'blood' stresses to his audience or readers the full horror of
what is happening. This was especially true for the play's original audiences. For
them the shedding of a king's blood would have been just about the worst crime
that could be committed. It was not only a crime but also a deadly sin. The
references to actual blood are a constant reminder of the direct
consequences of the Macbeth's actions. This is further reinforced by the
images of blood which are used throughout the character's speeches and makes
what they are saying all the more frightening or horrific.

Night

27
What relevance does the word 'night' have in the play?

Night time is traditionally associated with evil and so it is in Macbeth. Many of

the most horrifying scenes of the play take place at night and under the cover of
darkness. Even when it is daylight sometimes it seems more like night. The image
of night time is also used by the characters to show the darkness of their
feelings and the evil of what they are doing.

The table shows some examples of the use of the key word night:

How? Who? Where?

Lady Macbeth calls on spirits

'Come, thick night, / And pall thee in the to bring on night time in Act 1
dunnest smoke of hell' order to 'cover up' the Scene 5
murder she is planning.

Ross talks to an old man

'By th'clock 'tis day' / And yet
about unnatural events
dark night strangles the travelling lamp. /
following Duncan's murder.
Is't night's predominance, or the day's Act 2
Although it is daytime in this
shame, / That darkness does the face of Scene 4
scene there is a mysterious
earth entomb / When living light should kiss
darkness covering the land
it?'
as though it is night.

Banquo tells Macbeth that

he will return at night time
'I must become a borrower of the night / an hour or two after sunset. Act 3
For a dark hour, or twain.' This will give Macbeth the Scene 1
perfect cover to have
Banquo murdered.

Macbeth calls on night time

to come quickly in order to
'Come, seeling night, / Scarf up the tender Act 3
cover up Banquo's murder.
eye of pitiful day' Scene 2
It echoes Lady Macbeth's
earlier speech.

Why does Shakespeare use the word 'night' so often in the play?

The constant repetition of the word 'night' highlights the sense of darkness in the
play and at the heart of some of the characters. It had another particularly practical
use in Shakespeare's day. Plays were regularly performed out of doors and during
daylight. Therefore it was important to keep reminding the audience that some of
the play's most important scenes were actually meant to be taking place in the
dark.

28
Time

What relevance does the word 'time' have in the play?

References to time are an important aspect of Macbeth and as time passes in the

play, events become more intense and consequences more significant.
Being able to see into the future, as Macbeth believes the Witches are able to do,
gives a sense of power to his actions. Both he and his wife seem in a hurry to
realise their ambitions before time catches up with them.

The table shows some examples of the use of the key word time:

How? Who? Where?

'If you can look into the seeds

Banquo asks the Witches to look
of time / And say which grain will Act 1
into the future to see what
grow and which will not, / Speak Scene 3
predictions they can make for him.
then to me'

Lady Macbeth advises her husband

'To beguile the time, / Look like Act 1
how to behave when he greets King
the time' Scene 5
Duncan as a guest.

Macbeth has just been told that

Banquo has been murdered but that
'The worm that's fled / Hath nature
his son, Fleance, has escaped. Act 3
that in time will venom breed, / No
Macbeth realises that in the future Scene 4
teeth for th'present.'
Fleance will come to be as big a
threat as his dead father.

'There would have been a time for The news of his wife's death makes
such a word. / Tomorrow, and Macbeth think about the whole
Act 5
tomorrow, and tomorrow, / Creeps in concept of time and how it moves
Scene 5
this petty pace from day to day / To every person on earth towards the
the last syllable of recorded time' moment of their death.

Macduff presents Malcolm with

'Behold where stands / Th'usurper's Act 5
Macbeth's severed head and
cursèd head. The time is free.' Scene 9
declares that his tyranny is over.

Why does Shakespeare use the word 'time' so often in the play?

As with the other key words, the main effect of repetition is to make sure that
the audience or reader knows that this aspect is important. Time seems to

29
pass more quickly as the play progresses and this adds to the tension as the play
moves towards its final climax.

Some other key words which feature repeatedly in the play

are: sleep, fear and nature.

2) Literary devices – animal images

Imagery

Imagery is the general term covering the use of literary devices which encourage us
to form a mental picture in our mind about the way something or someone looks,
sounds, behaves, etc. The language used often relates to one or more of our five
senses.

The three most common literary devices which come under this heading
are simile, metaphor and personification.

Images of many different mammals, birds and insects appear throughout the play.
Two key groups are:

 birds

 wild animals

Birds

What is the significance of bird imagery in the play?

In Shakespeare's day there were many myths and folk tales surrounding
birdlife. Different species of bird were thought to have specific
characteristics - some, for instance, were specifically thought to bring bad
luck. Shakespeare uses this to link birds and their habits to the human
characters and how they behave.

The table shows some examples of the many references to birds in the play:

How? Who? Where?

At the moment of Duncan's death,

'It was the owl that shrieked, the Lady Macbeth hears an owl shrieking.
Act 2
fatal bellman / Which gives the Macbeth himself is most often
Scene 2
stern'st good-night. He is about it.' associated with an owl - a bird of
prey.

On Tuesday last, / An old man tells Ross that an owl Act 2

30
How? Who? Where?

(unusually) has flown upwards then

A falcon tow'ring in her pride of attacked and killed a falcon. This
place / Was by a exactly mirrors what has happened Scene 4
mousing owl hawked at and killed.' with Macbeth and Duncan. A falcon is
generally regarded as a royal bird.

Macbeth hints to his wife that

'Light thickens, / And
something evil is about to happen. Act 3
the crow makes wing to
He has, in fact, just ordered Banquo's Scene 2
th'rooky wood'
murder.

It was thought that magpies

'Augures, and understood relations, (maggot-pies), jackdaws (choughs)
have / By maggot-pies, and rooks could be taught to speak a Act 3
and choughs, and rooks brought few words. Macbeth is concerned that Scene 4
forth / The secret'st man of blood.' nature will turn against him and
reveal his secrets.

'He wants the natural touch, for the Lady Macduff complains that her
poor wren, / The most diminutive husband has left her defenceless. Act 4
of birds, will fight, / Her young ones Even a tiny wren will fight an owl if Scene 2
in her nest, against the owl.' its young are threatened.

Why does Shakespeare use bird imagery in the play?

Shakespeare would have known that his audience would make the necessary
connections between the birds he mentions and the actions and thoughts of his
characters. They are used to highlight things that have happened, that are
happening or that will happen and therefore create both expectation and
tension.

Wild animals

What is the significance of wild animal imagery in the play?

Nature has often been described as 'red in tooth and claw' and it is this idea that
Shakespeare uses in his references to wild animals. They are savage and
untameable and share certain characteristics with people in the play. The
table shows some examples of the many references to wild animals in the play:

How? Who? Where?

'O, full of scorpions is my mind, Macbeth uses a metaphor to explain Act 3

31
How? Who? Where?

that his guilty conscience is

dear wife!' Scene 2
attacking and stinging him.

'Approach thou like the rugged Macbeth uses a simile to say that he
Russian bear, / The would rather deal with wild animals Act 3
armed rhinoceros, or than Banquo's ghost which he has Scene 4
th'Hyrcan tiger' just seen.

One of the Witches' apparitions uses

'Be lion-mettled, proud, and take no Act 4
a simple metaphor to advise
care' Scene 1
Macbeth about being brave.

Why does Shakespeare use wild animal imagery in the play?

Most of Shakespeare's original audience would never actually have seen these
creatures (possibly not even pictures of them) but their characteristics would have
been understood. The references help to create mental pictures in the audience's
mind of the way the characters in the play are and how they behave.

In addition to the above, the famous scene (Act 4 Scene 1) where the Witches
create their magic potion features virtually a whole zoo of animals. The following
are listed: cat, hedge-pig (hedgehog), toad, snake, newt, frog, bat, dog, adder,
blind worm, lizard, howlet (young owl), dragon, wolf, shark, goat, baboon and sow.
All of these had associations with evil and/or witchcraft.

LADY MACBETH'S LANGUAGE IN MACBETH

Lady Macbeth. What language and dramatic techniques are used in ACT I
SCENE V ? 

Lady Macbeth uses the language of spells in her soliloquy, which associates her

with the supernatural and witchcraft. 'Come, you spirits/That tend on mortal
thoughts…' She invokes the 'spirits' three times with the repetition of the verb
'come' which gives the impression that she is summoning an unseen power.

hakespeare uses the dramatic technique of soliloquy in this scene when

Shakespeare allows the audience to overhear Lady Macbeth's innermost thoughts in
response to Macbeth's letter and the news that Duncan is coming to stay. In her
soliloquy, she uses heightened language to describe her intense to desire to be
pitiless in killing Duncan. She employs vivid imagery. For example, she asks that
her blood be made thicker to block any regrets over murder:

Make thick my blood.

Stop up the access and passage to remorse

32
She also wants her mother's breast milk turned to "gall." In requesting this, she is
using a metaphor or comparison that doesn't use the words like or as. She wants
her nurturing femininity to become bitter, like the taste of gall.

She also speaks using the literary technique of alliteration. Alliteration occurs

when two words in close proximity begin with the same consonant. For
example, Lady Macbeth says:

And take my milk for gall, you murd'ring ministers,

Wherever in your sightless substances

Here, milk, murd'ring and ministers all begin with "m," while sightless and
substance begin with "s."

This spooky soliloquy spoken alone in her chambers at a point in which Lady
Macbeth is full to the brim with ambition for the throne employs the heightened
language of imagery, metaphor, and alliteration to convey the intensity and passion
of her evil desire to use murder as a means of getting ahead.

How does Lady Macbeth's language in Act 1 Scene 5 and Act 5 Scene 1
reveal the change that has overcome her?

Introduction

How does Lady Macbeth's language in Act 1 Scene 5 and Act 5 Scene 1 reveal the
change that has overcome her? The lady Macbeth that we first meet in Act 1 Scene
5 is almost unrecognisable as the same person we meet in Act 5 Scene 1. The
language that she utilizes in Act 1 most indefinitely is the language of a great lady.
Her speeches are in blank verse; the strong rhythm of iambic pentameters
emphasises her 'Spirits in thine ear', as the proposal of confidence and sense of
purpose is declared (Act 1 Scene 5, line 25). However, in Act 5 her language is no
longer that of a woman of authority at the height of her powers but is the language
of a broken woman who seems a pathetic child-like figure much destroyed by the
events of the play. Lady Macbeth's soliloquy opens in Act 1 Scene 5 hypothesising
echoes of the witches' predictions but tell us of her strong conviction that it will
come true: 'Glamsis thou art an Cawdor; and shalt be; what thou art promis'd'
(lines 14-15). Her speech signifies her overpowering presence, thus leading to a
hero(ine), greater than Macbeth himself. She expresses what is on her mind
believing wherever there is a will there is a way.

Middle

Lady Macbeth's hypocrite side may be argued that Shakespeare wrote this
deliberately to show the audience proof of her madness, eligibly Lady Macbeth is
not calculatedly perpetrating the action. With the use of her coded language with

33
Macbeth a sight of her intellectuality is shown. But where was she taught to gain
perfect knowledge of such things? Her childhood may have been the place she
picked up tricks, perhaps from her father who may have been the teacher of her
true knowledge. Another assumption is that Lady Macbeth is naturally uneducated
but she is able to read, as proofs are shown in the play (Macbeth's letter). Or
perhaps Lady Macbeth has been zapped by the witches to have the right
requirements for being the true 'Lady' the witches may have wanted. Her 'unsex'
me speech shows her authority by hardly letting Macbeth speak and tells him that
she shall be in charge of the murder: 'And you shall put/This night's great business
into my dispatch'. We mainly assume she takes control of the murder to make the
so called warrior, Macbeth, pity himself. By Macbeth feeling this Lady Macbeth has
ripped out the 'warrior' out of him and has claimed it herself. For Macbeth to re-
claim his dearest property he must commit the regicide and then, he will be re-
titled 'Worthy Cawdor'

Conclusion

In this Act Lady Macbeth's language is set in prose, which discloses that she is no
longer the language of a great lady: 'Yet here's a spot' (Line 31). Later on, Lady
Macbeth talks in a child-like manner revealing how weak she has become. During
the beginning of the play Lady Macbeth her strongest point was her use of
language, and now it seems her lowest point is her language. This withers down the
image of the once 'great' Lady Macbeth and now helpless, ill-minded lady. 'Gone' is
the sophisticated vocabulary and grammar to be replaced by language of almost
child-like simplicity: 'One; two: why, then 'tis time to do't' (Line 34-5). This further
emphasised by the occasion she speaks in verse suggestive of a nursery rhyme:
'Thane of fife had a wife'. (Line 41) The language of Lady Macbeth changes
radically, and we see this change happening after the death of Duncan and the
subsequent murders. Macbeth in Act 5 takes the role of being the 'man' and taking
charge of the whole scenario. Lady Macbeth shows us that without the death of
Duncan there would be no change in her, but just her evil revolving around her.
She was greatly afflicted by the regicide which changed her radically. Her use of
language and power soon grows fainter, and soon after this scene Lady Macbeth
herself fades away.

34