Macbeth: Themes (WJEC Eduqas GCSE English Literature)
Revision Note
Themes
Your exam question could be on any topic. However, having a really good grasp of the following themes, and crucially, why Shakespeare is exploring these themes, will enable you to produce a “conceptualised response” in your exam:
Ambition and Power
The Supernatural
Appearance versus Reality
Corruption of Nature
Producing a conceptualised essay answer will give you access to the very highest marks on the mark scheme.
Ambition and Power
Principally, Macbeth is a play about ambition and its consequences. It can also be seen as a warning against those who seek to undermine or overthrow the rule of a rightful king.
Macbeth as a tragedy
Knowledge and evidence:
The play is in the form of tragedy, which means it must have a tragic hero as its protagonist
This tragic hero must have a tragic flaw, or hamartia
The hamartia of tragic heroes of Ancient Greek tragedies was often hubris: having overconfidence in your own ambitions
The character of Macbeth is the play’s tragic hero, and his hamartia is also ambition
In Ancient Greek tragedies, the tragic hero will be punished by the gods for their actions resulting from their hamartia. This very often led to the protagonist’s death
Shakespeare also decides to punish Macbeth for his ambition, but in a Christian context
In the play, Macbeth ultimately abandons his morals - at first, he is presented as a noble and loyal general - in his pursuit of, and attempt to cling on to, power
The character of Macbeth is corrupted by his ambition, which leads him to commit regicide (the murder of a king), the murder of his best friend and the murder of women and children. For this, he is condemned both to death at the hands of Macduff, but also - for all eternity - to Hell
Shakespeare also presents Lady Macbeth as ambitious, and her punishment is equally severe but far less noble: she commits suicide
What is Shakespeare’s intention?
In essence, Shakespeare is presenting a morality play to his Jacobean audience: allow yourself to be morally corrupted and act against societal norms and you will suffer the consequences
Kingship and the Divine Right of Kings
Knowledge and evidence:
A Jacobean audience would have believed in the Divine Right of Kings: that kings derived their authority from God, and therefore could not be challenged
Macbeth committing the treasonous act of regicide was therefore an act against God
A Christian audience would have understood regicide as a mortal sin. This meant dying without the grace of God and being condemned to Hell, a terrifying prospect for a Jacobean
In the play, Duncan is always referred to as a “king”, but Macbeth once he ascends the throne is frequently called a tyrant
Kings were seen to bring harmony to their kingdom - in line with God’s plan - but tyrants bring only chaos and disorder
The play ends with a legitimate ruler - Duncan’s son and true heir, Malcolm - becoming king
What is Shakespeare’s intention?
Shakespeare can be seen to be upholding these contemporary views about kingship
Shakespeare may also be suggesting that those unaccustomed and undeserving of power will be destroyed by it
Shakespeare is suggesting that kings are legitimate rulers, but tyrants are not
For more on the key theme of Ambition in Macbeth, including an exemplar question paper and model paragraph, click here.
The Supernatural
The vast majority of people in Jacobean England were Christian and believed in the literal word of the Bible. Supernatural events or characters, therefore, would have been seen as the work of the devil, and evil.
Knowledge and evidence:
In Jacobean England, there was still a widespread belief in witches and witchcraft
They were seen as agents of Satan, and many women were executed on suspicion of being witches
Jacobean audiences – and King James I himself – were fascinated by the presentation of witches on stage, but would know to distrust them
The witches in Macbeth, therefore, should be seen as untrustworthy and malevolent
The first scene of the play involves an ominous setting and three witches, foreshadowing future evil acts
The witches are also shown to be capable of affecting the weather, creating spells and committing evil acts against ordinary people
Macbeth should know better, but his ambition means he trusts the witches
Banquo – who represents societal norms – rightly does not trust the witches
The witches are seen as disruptive characters throughout: they are a negative influence on Macbeth and mislead him with their prophecies
The supernatural also acts as an aid to characters wishing to gain, or retain, power:
Lady Macbeth calls on evil spirits to help her achieve her ambitions (Act I, Scene V)
In desperation, Macbeth returns to the witches a second time (Act IV, Scene I)
What is Shakespeare’s intention?
Shakespeare could be suggesting that the witches are just a symbol of the temptations all humans have to wrestle with
Alternatively, they can be seen as agents of fate: they just encourage Macbeth to act upon his true nature
Appearance versus Reality
Shakespeare plays with the concept of perception throughout Macbeth: are we seeing what’s really there? And are characters who they seem to be?
Hallucinations
Knowledge and evidence:
Throughout the play, Macbeth sees visions or hears things. These include:
A bloody dagger
Knocking
A voice telling him he’s murdered sleep
Banquo’s ghost
Lady Macbeth also has visions of blood on her hands in Act V, Scene I
These hallucinations are all representations of guilt
Macbeth feels conflicted even before he murders Duncan, and so sees the bloody dagger floating in front of him just before he commits regicide by murdering King Duncan
The repeated knocking and voice telling Macbeth he’s murdered sleep represent the lack of peace the character will experience from now on
Even Lady Macbeth – who was so resolved to kill Duncan – eventually sees visions of blood on her hands: a metaphor for her responsibility for his murder, and her guilt
What is Shakespeare’s intention?
It is not clear if Shakespeare intended for these visions to be real or not, but they certainly represent psychological realities for Macbeth and Lady Macbeth
Shakespeare presents guilt as inescapable; there is no escape from the consequences of evil acts
Duplicitous characters
Knowledge and evidence:
Duplicitous means two-faced, or deceitful
Deception is a repeated motif throughout the play
The witches constantly mislead Macbeth: even though their prophecies all do come true, they are deliberately worded to deceive Macbeth
Traitors and treason are mentioned throughout the play:
Macbeth kills a traitor in battle
The former Thane of Cawdor was plotting against King Duncan
Macduff is wrongly accused of being a traitor
These are all ironic references from Shakespeare since the principal traitor is Macbeth, a character who:
Was loyal enough once to kill traitors
Will become another treasonous Thane of Cawdor
Will ultimately be killed by the loyal Macduff
Lady Macbeth encourages Macbeth to present himself as innocent to Duncan while plotting his murder
Macbeth lies to Banquo, his best friend:
that he hasn’t been thinking about the witches; and
to find out where to send the assassins to murder him
Eventually, Macbeth keeps truths from Lady Macbeth (Act III, Scene II), showing the breakdown of their once-close relationship
What is Shakespeare’s intention?
Shakespeare could be suggesting that those who deceive and lie do not – and should not – prosper
He could also be suggesting that once a character starts lying – or using violence – to protect themselves, it only ends up in a cycle of more deceit or violence.
Swapping gender roles
Knowledge and evidence:
In Act I, Scene V, Lady Macbeth calls on evil spirits to give her ‘masculine’ characteristics; she wants to be “cruel”
She also wants to remove those traits that are stereotypically feminine:
being motherly or nurturing
having remorse for evil acts
In the same scene, Shakespeare has Lady Macbeth describe Macbeth in feminine terms: “too full o’th’milk of human kindness”
Later, she questions Macbeth’s masculinity when he is having doubts about killing Duncan
What is Shakespeare’s intention?
Shakespeare is presenting an atypical relationship, where Lady Macbeth wields more power than Macbeth
Jacobean audiences would have found this power dynamic disturbing and unnatural
Shakespeare could be suggesting that this type of unnatural relationship is bound to end in tragedy
Corruption of Nature
Jacobean audiences believed in a set structure in the world: the world according to God’s plan. Any disruption to the world was, therefore, disruption to God’s ordained order.
Knowledge and evidence:
Jacobean audiences believed in the Great Chain of Being: a hierarchy of all things that asserted God’s authority at the top of the chain
It also served as a social hierarchy with, for example, kings above lords, and lords above peasants
Men were above women in this social order
The witches are a corrupting influence and seek to undermine the Great Chain of Being
It was believed that any disruption to this Great Chain of Being would cause chaos
In the play, the Great Chain of Being is disrupted by:
the regicide of King Duncan
Macbeth becoming king (when he was not chosen by God)
Lady Macbeth – a woman – dominating Macbeth
The consequences of this disruption are seen in many unnatural occurrences:
Storms the night of Duncan’s murder
An earthquake (described in Act II, Scene III)
An owl killing a falcon
Duncan’s horses eating each other
The day being as dark as night (all described in Act II, Scene IV)
More generally, this disruption is seen in the instability of the Kingdom of Scotland under Macbeth’s rule
Other examples of the effects of this disruption (all ‘unnatural’ acts):
Macbeth’s murder of innocent people
His and his wife’s descent into madness
The battle at Macbeth’s castle
What is Shakespeare’s intention?
Shakespeare is suggesting that the consequences of disrupting the Great Chain of Being are extremely serious, not just for those who disrupt it, but for the whole world
Shakespeare ends the play with the restoration of order: Malcolm – who is the rightful king – becomes monarch. The suggestion is that the chaos is now over
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