The play begins with equivocation, "Fair is foul and foul is fair...." In other words, the play is filled with the idea of contradiction. aka equivocation. Nothing is what it appears to be.For your essay, choose three examples of things that are not what they appear to be.For example, it would appear that Macbeth is a good and loyal subject of the king. Explain how this is not so.It would appear that Malcolm and Donalbain hired the guards to kill their father. Explain how this is not so.It would appear that Fleance, too, was responsible for Banquo's death. Explain how this is not so.It would appear that Macduff is a traitor. Explain how this is not so.It would appear from what the witches tell Macbeth, that he cannot be defeated. Explain how this is not so.In other words, there are many examples in the play. Choose three of them and then support what you say by using an example from the play.It is interesting to note that the Porter speaks of an equivocator who committed treason. This is a reference to Father Garnet who confessed several members of the Gunpowder Plot before the attempt but said nothing. This was treason according to the courts despite the fact that he was bound by the confessional. The only recognized church in England was The Church of England. It was illegal to be a Roman Catholic. As a result of his defense of the confessional, he was known as the Great Equivocator.Remember, "Nothing is but what is not."

Equivocation is language of confusion; ambiguity; double meanings; half-truths; paradoxes; riddlesThe editor above does an excellent job illustrating the most famous: "Foul is fair; fair is foil." These lines turn the world of Macbeth inside out: good is evil, and evil is good. The murderous become king, and the king gets murdered. The natural becomes unnatural. The witches have established a world with no moral center in which things fall apart.Equivocal Morality: How do you know what’s good, or who’s good, if there’s overlap between good and evil? The play does away with the old Medieval concept of morality in which there is clearly good and clearly evil with little in between. The play presages the modern concept of relative morality which says that good and evil are not fixed, but change over time and situation. This concept is revolutionary because it says a man like Macbeth can be both good and then evil, given the choice, almost overnight. It is the existential choice to change that empowers Macbeth.Other examples:“Lesser than Macbeth and greater.”“These solicitings cannot be evil, cannot be good…” I would add the fact that Malcolm says he is a lascivious, greedy, evil man (when he's talking with Macduff), but he is not. A wood (forest) cannot move, yet it does. Water washes away blood, but obviously it does not wash away the sin. An interesting area to study in Macbeth.

in Macbeth, Shakespeare adds a supernatural dimension that purposively conspires against Macbeth and his kingdom. In the tragedy ofLear, the distraught king summons the goddess of Chaos, Hecht; in Macbeth, Hecate appears as an actual character.

On the level of human evil, Shakespeare's Scottish tragedy is about Macbeth's bloody rise to power, including the murder of the Scottish king, Duncan, and the guilt-ridden pathology of evil deeds generating still more evil deeds. As an integral part of this thematic web is the play's most memorable character, Lady Macbeth. Like her husband, Lady Macbeth's ambition for power leads her into an unnatural, phantasmagoric realm of witchcraft, insomnia and madness. But while Macbeth responds to the prophecies of the play's famous trio of witches, Lady Macbeth goes even further by figuratively transforming herself into an unnatural, desexualized evil spirit. The current trend of critical opinion is toward an upward reevaluation of Lady Macbeth, who is said to be rehumanized by her insanity and her suicide. Much of this reappraisal of Lady Macbeth has taken place in discussions of her ironically strong marriage to Macbeth, a union that rests on loving bonds but undergoes disintegration as the tragedy unfolds.

One of the central questions of power in Macbeth deals with control over an individual’s fate. Throughout the play, Macbeth struggles to for control over himself, both in an emotional way and over his own destiny. The first report of Macbeth is of a captain speaking about him as a brave warrior in complete control of himself. “Brave Macbeth—well he deserves that name—/Disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel,/which smoked with bloody execution,/Like valor’s minion carved out his passage” (Act 1, Scene 2, Lines 16-19). He is depicted in a straightforward, unambiguous way as a great fighter who cuts through his enemies with strong ruthlessness. However, when Macbeth is introduced in person, he is depicted quite differently. He is unable to deal with the strangeness of the Weird Sisters, and reacts in an ambiguous, emotional way. “This supernatural soliciting/Cannot be ill, cannot be good. If ill,/Why hath it given me earnest of success” (Act 1, Scene 3, Lines131-3). He is unable to decide whether or not the witches’ prophecy is good or bad, and he reacts physically. “If good, why do I yield to that suggestion/Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair/And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,/Against the use of nature? Present fears/Are less than horrible imaginings” (Act 1, Scene 3, Lines 135-9). His whole mental and physical functioning is shut down because of an inner struggle. Interestingly, at the end, when Macbeth has committed so many cruel and bloody crimes that he has become numb to them, he loses this uncontrolled physical reaction. “I have almost forgot the taste of fear/The time has been my senses would have cooled/To hear a night-shriek, and my fell of hair/Would at a dismal treatise rouse and stir/As life were in’t. I have supped full with horrors;/Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts,/Cannot once start me” (Act 5, Scene 5, Lines 9-15). Furthermore, Macbeth struggles for and against his own fate throughout the play. Several times, he attempts to alter fate. “Come fate into the list,/And champion me to th’utterance!” (Act 3, Scene 1, Lines72-3). He literally wants to fight fate in physical combat. He does this by ordering the murders of Banquo and Fleance, and later, after visiting the Weird Sisters for answers, he also orders the deaths of Macduff’s family. The struggle for power, it seems, begins with an inner struggle.

In Macbeth, Shakespeare uses the theme of equivocation to effectively illustrate the evil nature of the witches. Equivocation is the use of ambiguous expressions in order to mislead. The prophecies of the witches play a mischief in this play, as they are a form of deception that at times use vague language to dodge an issue. The three influential prophecies, which the witches make in this play, are that the protagonist Macbeth will become the king of Scotland, Banquo will be the father of the king of Scotland, and Macbeth will not be killed

until the Birnam wood moves to Dunsinane hill. The sources of these prophecies are the witches who put together the devious words into Macbeth's mind, which demonstrates the evil nature of the witches. In Macbeth, one of the earliest prophecies that the witches make is that Macbeth will become the king of Scotland. "All hail, Macbeth! that shalt be king hereafter!"(I.iii.50) is the prophecy in which no indication of the doom of Macbeth is present. The literal meaning of this apocalypse is that Macbeth will become the king of Scotland. Thus, his ambition to take the pursuit of breaking the natural order to become the king becomes ungovernable. This is evident when Macbeth is shown hallucinating of a dagger before he kills Duncan, the real king of Scotland. Macbeth says, "Is this a dagger, which I see before me, / The handle toward my hand? Come let me clutch thee"(II.i.33-34), which shows that he is in a great doubt on whether to assassinate Duncan or not. The metaphorical meaning of the revelation disclosed by the witches is that Macbeth will ultimately be ruined in the future after he reaches his ambition of becoming the king, as he will have to face the resistance of the loyal nobles of king Duncan including Banquo, Macduff, Malcom, etc. Macbeth is greatly affected by this prophecy and becomes the target of the mendacious and perplexing words spoken by the witches and kills the king. Hence, the witches are of evil nature because they indirectly ruin Macbeth's life.

Another evil prophecy of the witches is that Banquo is to be the father of the king of Scotland. This lies in conflict with the prophecy described above, which states that Macbeth will be the king, because he is not the son of Banquo. The emblematic meaning of this prophecy is that Banquo will die, as he would create potential resistance for Macbeth, and Macbeth will not let his ambition let down, therefore, Banquo's life is at high risk. Later in the play, Macbeth conspires to kill his best friend, Banquo, and the latter tells his son, Fleance, that he would take revenge for father's death. Banquo says, "O, treachery! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly! / Thou mayst revenge. O slave!"(III.iv.18-19). The misleading and ambiguous nature of the witches is very well reflected in this prophecy.

Third Witch: Hail!

First Witch: Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.

Second Witch: Not so happy, yet much happier.

Third Witch: Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none:

So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo! (I.iii.64-68)

The words "Lesser" and "greater", and "Not so happy" and "happier" are total contrast to each other, and they imply cryptic meaning which has been explained above. The witches use supernatural powers to prophesize the hidden meaning that evinces their evil nature.

Another major prophecy that the witches make after Macbeth becomes the king of Scotland is that he cannot be killed until the great Birnam wood moves to Dunsinane hill. Again, Macbeth takes the literal meaning and believes that the Birnam wood has to move to Dunsinane hill supernaturally, which is not possible under normal circumstances; hence, he

becomes carefree and jovial. The irony is that the trees of Birnam wood could be cut and held onto hands to help hide the enemies of Macbeth, which would assist them to kill him, and simultaneously, cause the Birnam wood to move to the Dunsinane hill as prophesized by the witches. The prophecy, "Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until / Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill / Shall come against him." (IV.1.92-94), is not very much explicit. Macbeth fell into his tragic flaw of ambition and ignored the metaphorical meaning of the prophecy. He says, "That will never be: / Who can impress the forest, bid the tree" (IV.i.94-95). Macbeth is finally killed at the end of the play, and Malcom becomes the king of Scotland, which signifies the return of order. In this tragic play, the witches ruin brave Macbeth's life by setting a trap that exploits his tragic flaw of ambition through the use of equivocal language. The indulgence of the witches in his life by making prophecies remarks for their supernatural evilness.

Equivocation is found in the prophecies of the witches. Macbeth revolves around these prophecies; hence, equivocation plays an important role in this play. It is due to equivocation in these prophecies that Macbeth becomes disoriented and looses his balance, which makes this play a successful tragedy. Hence, the theme of equivocation extensively demonstrates the evil nature of the witches.

Fortune's FoolWhen Macbeth hears the witches' prophesy, he's super interested in what they have to say—obviously, since they're saying that he's about to become king. But he's also terrified by his "horrible imaginings" —his hair stands on end and his heart races, "knock[ing] at [his] ribs." "My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical," says Macbeth, "Shakes so my single state" (1.3.152-153).This doesn't sound like a man who's excited to start busting out with the treachery. In fact, he sound like he's horrified by his own thoughts—and haven't we all had some horrifying thoughts now and then? (Okay, maybe not as horrifying as regicide.) The difference is that most of us don't act on those horrifying thoughts. So why does Macbeth?Maybe he's simply controlled by outside forces. After all, the three witches prophesize that Macbeth will become king, and they also know the exact circumstances of Macbeth's downfall, which suggests that Macbeth has no control over his own fate. What's more, the weird sisters' words clearly prompt Macbeth into action and we often get a sense that Macbeth is acting against his own will, as though he's in a trance. Think about the first time Macbeth encounters the witches —he's twice described as being "rapt" (1.3.56,60).Even after this encounter Macbeth, at times, seems to move through the play in a dreamlike state, as when he follows a "dagger of the mind" toward the sleeping king's room just before he commits his first murder (2.1.50). So, maybe Macbeth is nothing more than a victim of fate: his fate made him a murderer. It's similar to saying that your brain tumor made you do it, or the evidence that some criminal behavior has genetic roots.Free to Be You and MeOn the other hand, maybe not. In the play, we clearly see Macbeth deliberate about murder, and the witches, we should point out, never say anything to Macbeth about murdering Duncan. When Macbeth first hears the sisters' prophesy, his thoughts turn to "murder" all on their own. So, perhaps Macbeth has had inside him a murderous ambition all along and the three witches merely a dormant desire.

More proof? Take the moment when he thinks about whether to kill Banquo: "To be thus [king] is nothing;/ But to be safely thus.—Our fears in Banquo/ Stick deep" (3.1.52-54). Here, we see him having already accomplished his goal but still deciding to kill more. Again, is this fate? Or is this now his very own choice?The beauty of literature is that it doesn't have to be black or white. Maybe Macbeth is "fated" to become king, but how he comes to the crown is entirely up to him. Or, may Macbeth is simply a figure to dramatize the ambiguity of human will and action. Why do people do the things they do, even when they know their actions are wrong?She'll Make a Man Out of YouOn the other hand —maybe Macbeth is propelled by fate, maybe by his own dark desires, or maybe … just by his nagging wife.At the beginning of the play, Macbeth treats Lady Macbeth as an equal, if not more dominant partner. In fact, when Macbeth waffles and has second thoughts about killing Duncan, his ambitious wife urges him on by attacking his masculinity. (Apparently, that's a strategy that never gets old.) When Macbeth says "we will proceed no further in this business" (1.7.34), Lady Macbeth responds by asking, "Art thou afeard / To be the same in thine own act of valour / As thou art in desire?" (1.7.43-45).In other words, Lady Macbeth asks if Macbeth is worried that his performance of the act of murder will be as weak as his "desire" to kill the king. There's also a dig at Macbeth's sexual performance at work here because Lady Macbeth implies that Macbeth is afraid his performance of killing the king will be just as weak as his performance in the bedroom (his sexual "desire").Either way, Lady Macbeth insists her husband is acting like an impotent "coward" (1.7.47). Killing the king, like satisfying one's wife, says Lady Macbeth, will confirm Macbeth's masculinity: "When you durst do it, then you were a man" (1.7.56).Macbeth, as we see, buys into this notion that "valour," however cruel, is synonymous with masculinity. "Prithee peace," he says, "I dare do all that may become a man" (1.7.50-51). Macbeth clearly associates manhood with the capacity for murder (and the ability to satisfy his wife). Perhaps this is why Macbeth assumes the dominant role in his marriage only after he kills Duncan. (It's also interesting that, when Macbeth plans the murder of Banquo —rejecting his wife's input in the matter altogether —he taunts his henchmen about proving their manhood (3.1). We can't help but wonder if Macbeth's ideas about what it means to be a "man" ultimately contribute to his downfall.Ain't Interested in FameMacbeth may be satisfied to be a mighty warrior when the play starts, but, once he murders Duncan, he's willing to do anything necessary in order to secure his position of power. It gets easier and easier for Macbeth to commit heinous crimes. Killing a grown man (or two) is one thing, but then he orders the murders of Macduff's family, including his children. But he's just looking out for his own best interests, right? As he says:For mine own goodAll causes shall give way. I am in bloodStepp'd in so far that, should I wade no more,Returning were as tedious as go o'er. (3.4.167-170)Basically, Macbeth is doubling down: you can't be a half-way murderer. It's all or nothing. But this selfishness, Macbeth's acting for his own good, ultimately makes him a hated "tyrant." He's come a long way from being a beloved thane. As the play progresses,

Macbeth's justifications for his actions become increasingly thin. By the end, Macbeth is a hollow shell of the man he once was, and the whole kingdom celebrates his death.Fate? Or simply an ambitious man destroyed by own ego?Existential HeroOne last thing. Our character analysis wouldn't be complete without a look at Macbeth's super famous Act 5 speech, when he hears that his wife is dead. We're going to quote the whole thing, because it's so awesome:She should have died hereafter; There would have been a time for such a word. To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, 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. (5.5.20-31)Here, Macbeth is summing up his life's work and concluding that it's nothing. All this struggle—the murder, the plotting, the self-questioning, the eternal damnation—and the world ends up exactly where it began: Malcolm will be king, and no one will remember Macbeth except as an evil, blood-thirsty traitor. Does this make Macbeth into a tragic hero? At end, are we able to feel sympathy for Macbeth, led astray by his ambition and fate? Or is he callously dismissing his wife's death, and saying that we might as well be vicious, since it all doesn't matter in the end?Here's a final, mind-blowing moment: both Magneto and Professor X have delivered this speech in spectacular but very different ways. One of them seems to fit with the first interpretation, and one with the other. Which do you agree with?

Woman UpIn fact, Lady Macbeth's whole "unsex me" speech aligns her with witchcraft and the supernatural (calling on spirits and talking about "smoke of hell" and "murdering ministers" [1.5.58;55] sure sounds witchy to us). She also intends to "pour [her own] spirits in [Macbeth's] ear" when he returns home from battle (1.5.29). Literally, she means she's going to fill her husband's "ear" with harsh words that will help convince him to take action against Duncan, but there's also a sense that Lady Macbeth will "fill" her husband's body in the same way that women's bodies are "filled" or, impregnated by men.All of this is to say that Lady Macbeth is portrayed as masculine and unnatural. It's pretty explicit: she asks the spirits to "unsex" her (1.5.48), stripping her of everything that makes her a reproductive woman. She wants her "passage to remorse" to be stopped up—i.e., her vagina. (What? Well, being a woman and a mother makes her compassionate, so she wants the "passage" [1.5.51] of childbirth to be blocked.) She wants her blood to be make thick, meaning both the blood in her veins but also her menstrual blood, the "visitings of nature" (1.5.52). Finally? She asks that her breast milk be exchanged for "gall," or poison.In Lady Macbeth's mind, being a woman —especially a woman with the capacity to give birth and nurture children —interferes with her evil plans. Femininity means compassion

and kindness, while masculinity is synonymous with "direst cruelty" (1.5.50). When Lady Macbeth says that her husband is "too full o' the milk of human kindness," she's implying that Macbeth is too much like a woman in order to wield a monarch's power (1.5.17). And she uses this notion of Macbeth's "kindness" against her waffling husband when she pushes him to murder the king: "When you durst do it, then you were a man" (1.7.56).It sounds to us like Lady Macbeth is man enough for both of them.Lady Who?Okay, sounds like Lady Macbeth is a powerful figure and may evoke some fears about dominant women. You know, just maybe. But what happens to her?Soon after Macbeth proves his "manhood" by killing Duncan and becoming king, Lady Macbeth disappears into the margins of the story and becomes the kind of weak, enfeebled figure she herself would probably despise.When she learns that the king's dead body has been discovered, she grows faint and must be carried from the room. (Hmm. It's almost as though Lady Macbeth has literally been drained of that "spirit" she said she was going to pour into her husband's "ear.")Later, when Macbeth decides to murder Banquo in order to secure his position of power, he excludes his wife from the decision making altogether (3.2).And by Act V, Lady Macbeth has been reduced to a figure who sleepwalks, continuously tries to wash the imaginary blood from her hands, and talks in her sleep of murder (5.1). She's grown so ill that the doctor says there's nothing he can do to help her. "The disease," he says, "is beyond" his "practice," and what Lady Macbeth needs is "the divine" (a priest or, God), not a "physician" (5.1.62,78).Would could easily read this as a kind of psychological breakdown. Lady Macbeth is so consumed by guilt for her evil acts that she eventually loses her mind. But we could also say that her transformation from a powerful and "unnaturally" masculine figure into an enfeebled woman reestablishes a sense of "natural" gender order in the play. In other words, Lady Macbeth is put in her place, sleepwalking through the palace while her man makes all the decisions.However we read Lady Macbeth's transformation, one thing's certain. In the end, Lady Macbeth is all but forgotten. When Macbeth learns of her death, he says he has no "time" to think about her —"She should have died hereafter; / There would have been a time for such a word" (5.5.20-21).Star PerformanceDepending on the production, Lady Macbeth is portrayed as a virago (a brazen, war-like woman) and a manipulator, as the seed of Macbeth's evil thoughts, or as his devoted queen. In some productions she weeps incessantly, in some she sneers, and in some no one's really sure what she's doing. In some interpretations, she uses sexuality to convince Macbeth to do the murder the King.We're partial to Judy Dench's powerful and nuanced performance in Trevor Nunn's

CAPTAIN And Fortune, on his damnèd quarrel smiling, Show'd like a rebel's whore. But all's too weak; For brave Macbeth (well he deserves that name) Disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel, Which smoked with bloody execution, (1.2.16-20)

Basically, the captain says here that Macbeth should have died in battle—but he was stronger than his fate. If this is true, then Macbeth has no one to blame but himself. But notice that the captain calls Macbeth "damned quarry": Macbeth may escape fortune this time, but that "rebel's whore" will get him in the end. (Hey, Shakespeare's words, not ours.)FIRST WITCHAll hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!SECOND WITCHAll hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!THIRD WITCHAll hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter! (1.3.51-53)Million-dollar question: are the witches (1) playing on Macbeth's ambition and planting the idea of murder in his head; (2) really privy to some secret info about the way things are going to go down; or (3) actually controlling fate in some way?BANQUO Look, how our partner's rapt. (1.3.156)"Rapt" comes from the Latin word "raptus," which means to be "seized" or "kidnapped." (Brain snack: It's the same word that gives us "rape," which clues you into the way that women were viewed as property—rape was a crime against a man's property rather than a crime against a woman.) But back to the play: if Macbeth is "rapt," then he's been "seized" by something outside of his control. Does that mean we let him off the hook?MACBETH [Aside] If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, Without my stir. (1.3.157-159)Here, Macbeth briefly decides to let "chance" take its course rather than fighting things, or, you know, murdering his noble king. Piece of advice, Macbeth: go with this line of thought. But if "chance" is the same as "fate," then it seems to amount to the same thing—and it's not good for Macbeth. Or Duncan. (Decent for Malcolm, however.)MACBETH [Aside] The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires: The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be,Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see. (1.4.55-60)Uh-oh. Once he learns that King Duncan has named Malcolm the Prince of Cumberland and heir to the crown of Scotland, Macbeth isn't content to wait around for "chance" to intervene. He decides that he must take action, or "o'erleap" the obstacles in his path to the throne. By murder. Well, this seems pretty willful to us.MACBETH Prithee, peace: I dare do all that may become a man; Who dares do more is none. (1.7.50-52)When Macbeth tries to insist that the murder plot is off, Lady Macbeth needles him (and makes a few impotence jokes) until he finally gives in. That's right—gives in. Saying "I dare do all that may become a man" sounds a lot like he's made a decision.

MACBETH Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible To feeling as to sight? or art thou butA dagger of the mind, a false creation, Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain? I see thee yet, in form as palpable As this which now I draw. Thou marshall'st me the way that I was going; And such an instrument I was to use. (2.1.44-55)"The dagger made me do it" isn't a defense we've heard before, but it seems to work for Macbeth. Look at that "Come, let me clutch thee": it sounds a lot like he doesn't have a choice.MACBETH If't be so, For Banquo's issue have I filed my mind, For them the gracious Duncan have I murdered, Put rancors in the vessel of my peace Only for them, and mine eternal jewel Given to the common enemy of man, To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings.Rather than so, come fate into the list, And champion me to th' utterance! (3.1.69-77)Well, this is interesting. Here, Macbeth is calling fate to his aid, asking it to "champion" him, or fight for him, in the "lists," or the tournament grounds. This doesn't sound like a fate-or-free-will situation; it sounds like a fate-and-free-will deal.THIRD APPARITION Be lion-mettled, proud, and take no care Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are. Macbeth shall never vanquished be until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill Shall come against him. [Descends]MACBETH That will never be.Who can impress the forest, bid the tree Unfix his earthbound root? Sweet bodements, good! Rebellious head, rise never till the Wood Of Birnam rise, and our high-placed Macbeth Shall live the lease of nature, pay his breath To time and mortal custom. (4.1.103-114)When Macbeth comes knocking on the three witches' doors again, he wants another glimpse into his future. They give him riddles. (Thanks, gals.) But look at those riddles: they're designed so Macbeth interprets them to mean that he's safe, which obviously affects his decision-making. Is his death fate? Or is just savvy manipulation?

Are things as they seem?

All things have an appearance, usually a good or a bad one. Depending on the appearance something has we form an opinion about it. Sometimes the appearance something has can mislead one in forming an accurate opinion about it. In Macbeth, Shakespeare shows us that things are not always as they appear to be. This is shown through the duplicity of Macbeth and his wife, the kings sons and the servants being blamed for Duncan's death and King Duncan's inaccurate opinions.

In the beginning of the play Macbeth is a well respected hero who appears to be a great guy. However, by the end of the play it is clear that Macbeth is a selfish, troubled man with a conscience that seems to serve no purpose. In lines 81-82 on page 240, Macbeth tells how he must mislead the world and hide his dark side from it. "Away, and mock the time with fairest show: False face must hide what the false heart doth know." On page 249 Macbeth does a good job of hiding his dark side before finding the dead king with Macduff. "Is the king stirring, worthy Thane?" asks Macduff.

"Not yet," replies Macbeth. "Goes the king hence today?" asks Macduff.

"He does: he did appoint so," answers Macbeth. Although Macbeth has full knowledge of the king's death, he plays it off well and appears to know nothing. Lady Macbeth appears to be a nice hospitable woman. However, her heart is dark and full of evil. On page 236, the king talks to Lady Macbeth, telling her of the honor and love that he has for her. "See, see, our honored hostess! The love that follows us sometime is our trouble, which still we thank as love. Herein I teach you How you shall bid God 'ield us for your pains And thank us for your trouble." His opinion of Lady Macbeth highly exceeds that of which it should. He has such a high opinion of Lady Macbeth because he is mislead by her good appearance.

It is ironic that Duncan thinks so highly of Macbeth and his wife, as on page 232 when he says "There's no art To find the mind's construction in the face:" This is ironic because it directly applies to the king and Macbeth. (The king does not know Macbeth's true mind construction. If he did, Macbeth would most likely get his head chopped off.) It is also ironic that he gets a good feeling about being at Macbeth's castle and that Banquo sees a temple-haunting martlet outside of the castle, the martlet suggesting heaven's invitation to the castle. This is ironic because Macbeth and his wife are inside planning Duncan's murder as he sits outside with Banquo talking about his good feelings regarding the castle. Macbeth's castle appears to be a good, safe place to Duncan, when in reality it is the place where he will be slain.

There are some characters in Macbeth who appear to be guilty of something although they

are not. The two servants are found disoriented and covered with the king's blood in the morning which makes them appear to be the murderers. (Courtesy of Macbeth and his nutty wife.) Malcom and Donalbain are next in line to the throne, so they appear to be the ones who had the servants kill the king. Although the king's sons and the servants appear to be the murderers, they are not. They are completely innocent because Macbeth and his wife are the murderers.

Macbeth and his wife appeared to be honorable people. Even so, they had wicked hearts. The castle appeared to be a safe place, but it actually turned out to be the king's meeting place with death. The king's sons appeared to be the murderers though they had done nothing wrong. From the evidence gathered it is clear that things aren't always as they appear to be. Because of this, it is important that we take care in forming opinions which are based on appearance alone. More importantly, we should not weigh appearances too heavily because of the inaccuracy that our opinions may have.

Lady Macbeth is one of William Shakespeare’s most famous and frightening female characters. As she is Macbeth’s wife, her role is significant in his rise and fall from royalty. She is Macbeth’s other half. During Shakespearean times, women were regarded as weak insignificant beings that were there to give birth and look beautiful. They were not thought to be as intelligent or equal to men. Though in Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is the highest influence in Macbeth’s life. Her role was so large; in fact, that she uses her position to gain power, stay strong enough to support her unstable Lord, and fails miserably while their relationship falls apart. Everything about Lady Macbeth is enough to create the perfect villain because of her ability to manipulate everyone around her. It appears that even she can’t resist the perfect crime. Lady Macbeth is a dominant character as soon as she is introduced into the play. A.C. Bradley wrote about her as “…the most commanding and perhaps the most awe-inspiring figure that Shakespeare drew” from his article titled Lecture X. She became a image known for her ambitious nature. Her thirst for power and disregard for life was shocking to the audience, as to her own husband. The moment she learns of the prophecies, she decides to stand behind Macbeth and see him to the throne. She is immediately set on her quest for more power. As it reads “Glamis thou art, and Cowador, and shalt be/ What thou art promised (1.5.13-14) This moment is crucial because it is the turning point where Lady Macbeth decides that she might have to kill to fulfill her quest for royalty. Macbeth is doubtful about their plan to kill King Duncan; however, she bombards him with comments that question his courage. She goes as far as telling him his love his worth nothing if he refuses, which proves her to be dominant and controlling using his own weakness against him. His love for her. The fact that she belittles his confidence, insults his abilities, and questions his manhood is so manipulative, but also wise because it worked in her favor. She said to him “Screw your courage to the sticking place” (1.7.60). She was confident that her ridicule could gain her control over her husband. There is no doubt that she manipulates her close relationship to Macbeth to get them both the power they covet. She uses mockery and persuasion to pressure him into murder. He is left feeling as if he must commit the murder with the intention of proving himself to her. Lady Macbeth appears evil, but this is proof of her devotion and drive to assist Macbeth rise to the throne. She is strong woman and acts as a powerhouse towards her pursuit for power.

Macbeth becomes paranoid and nervous after he murders Duncan. Lady Macbeth proved to support her husband by using her strengths to make up for his weakness by consoling him during the decline of his insanity. Lady Macbeth becomes fearful that could perhaps expose their devilish doings through his acts and facial expressions. She tells him, “Look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under’t. (1.5.65). It is clear that Macbeth needs support, and without insurance and control from his wife, Macbeth would have fallen apart sooner than later. Although Macbeth committed the murder, it is actually Lady Macbeth who is in control of the assassination. She assures him, “Infirm of purpose! / Give me the daggers The sleeping and the dead/ are but as pictures (2.2.50-51). Macbeth’s guilt develops further and his sense of judgment becomes an issue for him. At a banquet, Macbeth is certain he sees the ghost of his murdered former companion, Banquo. Macbeth’s mental state is declining and Lady Macbeth takes strength where her husband lacks. Lady Macbeth says to their guests, “my lord is often thus/ And hath been from his youth/ pray you, keep seat/ The fit is momentary (3.4.52-54). If Macbeth spoke any further, he could be exposed of his secrets of murder, but Lady Macbeth conceals for his burst of indecorous behavior. A.C. Bradley wrote about this moment as, “In presence of overwhelming horror and dagger, in the murder scene and the banquet scene, her self control is perfect. She leans on nothing but herself. However appalling she may be, she is sublime.” Lady Macbeth is then proven to be the strong and supportive wife. Thus, without her constant support, they could have been uncovered in their wrongdoings. Lady Macbeth’s skill throughout the play was to compensate for her husband’s shortcomings as well. While being questioned for the killing of the servants for the brutal murder of Duncan, Lady Macbeth pretends to faint as an attempt to draw attention away from her husband. Shakespeare’s day was one of continued chivalry, and men felt obliged to help women in distress. Lady Macbeth’s calculating trick succeeded by drawing chaos towards herself, ironically it was Macbeth who was actually in distress. As they rise to royalty, they face a downfall in their relationship. Macbeth gains knowledge of the witches’ prophecies and writes to Lady Macbeth to tell her of what he has learned. This is an important scene that proves his dedication and love for her. This scene can prove that they were at once happy, trusting, and devoted to one another. She tries her best to persuade Macbeth to change his mind when he experiences fear. This becomes a pivotal point in their relationship. They are still close, but it is the conspiracy that holds them together now. They are kept close because of their secret. Their relationship is then focused on their obsession for power, and less for their love for one another. The imaginary blood in Act 2 Scene 2 held them together. A.C. Bradley records her transformation as, “When we first see her, Queen of Scotland, the glory of her dream has faded. She enters, disillusioned, and weary with want of sleep: she has thrown away everything and gained nothing”. Lady Macbeth goes on to say:

The relationship declines further in Act 3 Scenes 1-3. As time prevailed, she has lost much of the power she once had over Macbeth. He fails to inform her of other murders, simply because she is no longer needed and he has become stronger than she. The murder of Duncan has had everlasting effects on Lady Macbeth, which destroyed her relationship with her husband. Her toughness had since faded as the guilt eats away at her conscience. She sleep-walks and attempts to remove imaginary blood stains off her hands.

The insanity shows evidence of her feminine weakness. Although, she requested for the spirits to unsex her in the beginning, she cannot escape the guilt from these horrendous acts. She comes to realize that the crown has not brought her happiness. Lady Macbeth becomes weak and looses control over Macbeth. She is no longer able to tell him what to do. They no longer bond or confide in one another; she becomes shut out on the man she molded. She was strong-willed and confident when she said, “What’s done is done” (3.2.12). Which will only bring significance to her last words spoken, “What’s don’t cannot be undone” (5.1.46-47). Lady Macbeth was a chief character who played a strategic role. Her character plays a major role in operating Macbeth for his own downfall. Her passion for position and power led Macbeth to push forward when he was hesitant. Although she wished to be unwomanly - she actually used her femininity to her advantage to manipulate everyone around her. Lady Macbeth was a strong supportive partner and was able to stay loyal to her lord, until she becomes unstable. Their on going quest for power within the kingdom caused them to eventually loose power within their own lives and relationship. They become victims from their crimes visibly suffering from the damage it has left on their heart. Nonetheless, Lady Macbeth’s role in Macbeth was crucial to the development of the plot, and is proved to be one of the most important characters in the play. and She finally realizes that the crown has not brought her happiness.

The Triumph of the Witches in MacBeth by William Shakespeare

There are many different characters in MacBeth trying to accomplish different things for themselves. However, in my opinion, the only characters who really profited from and got what they wanted out of the whole situation were the witches. They are the ones who basically caused the majority of the problems in MacBeth and I think that they knew what was going to happen the entire time. Even though it may look as though they gained nothing from everyone else's misfortune they actually succeeded in making MacBeth do evil deeds and winning him over to their side. MacBeth may have gotten what he was after in the beginning when he was crowned king, but afterwards of course he lost everything he had. First, he lost his wife, then he lost his friends, and finally he lost his life. The witches are the ones who put the idea into his head about being king, and actually caused him and his wife to kill the king. This is what started everything bad that he did. Even having his best friend, Banquo, killed. MacBeth's wife had a similar situation. Things went well for her in the beginning but soon changed. After MacBeth told her the prophecies and she convinced him to kill the king she became queen, and MacBeth became king just as she wanted. But soon things changed and she slowly went insane trying to protect MacBeth and herself at the same time, until she finally died. The king, obviously, did not prophet too entirely much from dying. However, his sons too, really didn't gain anything out of the whole ordeal. Foremost, they lost their father, but also they had to leave their kingdom because they were afraid that they might be next in line to be slain. Furthermore, by fleeing they made themselves look guilty of killing their father to get to the throne quicker. Overall, this is why I think that the witches were the only ones who profited from the whole ordeal, and that it had the exact outcome that they had either hoped for, or knew was going to happen. By telling MacBeth the prophecies they caused him to become a very wicked

person and do things that he would not have normally done. Therefore, they were successful in bringing MacBeth to the other side which I think was their intent in the first place.

In the play Macbeth, many different major choices are brought forth to a certain character and the decision that is chosen affects the entire play. The results of these actions or decisions can be a positive or negative outcome towards the character. Does justice always prevail in the play Macbeth? If a character decides to commit a crime, will he/she be punished? If a character does a noble deed, will he/she be rewarded? As is represented in the play Macbeth, justice always prevails due to the guilty character's developing sense of remorse and/or the character receiving fair punishment. For every action there is a reaction and whatever the result is, it is meant to happen and it is just.

The first malevolent decision chosen by Lady Macbeth and her husband Macbeth was to kill King Duncan. The death of Duncan would mean the birth of a new Macbeth, King Macbeth. Lady Macbeth decided to have her husband kill Duncan and said in Act I scene 5, "He croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan." (p.33) This quote says how the presence of Duncan would turn fatal once Macbeth kills him. Once Duncan is killed, Macbeth has second thoughts about the murder of Duncan and his conscience starts to kick in. His wife then puts his conscience at ease. The wife was being immoral by persuading Macbeth to kill Duncan and trying to soften the blow of Duncan's death by reassuring her husband that everything was going to be all right. Macbeth was being immoral by actually killing King Duncan. Macbeth is already starting to feel guilty, but Lady Macbeth seems not to be affected, as of now.

The second malicious decision chosen by Macbeth and Lady Macbeth was to have Banquo and his sons killed. This would cancel out the possibility of Banquo's sons becoming kings. In Act III scene 1, Macbeth states that Banquo and his sons would be murdered by saying, "Banquo, thy soul's flight, if it find heaven, must find it out tonight." (p.91) The consequence of the decision to kill Banquo and his sons started when Macbeth felt more guilt and developed a worried conscience in the form of a vision of Banquo's ghost. This vision terrifies Macbeth and he starts to break down emotionally.

Throughout most of the play, Lady Macbeth has been that little devil sitting on her husband Macbeth's shoulder. Lady Macbeth was the one who persuaded Macbeth to kill Duncan, and then to have Banquo and his sons killed, and then have Macduff's wife and children killed. Lady Macbeth didn't actually kill any of these people, but had them killed by convincing her husband to kill them. Lady Macbeth seems not to be affected by any of her actions. When you hold something in for so long, it will increase until it finally bursts and explodes. This is exactly what happened to Lady Macbeth in Act V scene 1 when she says that famous line, "Out, damned spot, out I say!" (p.163) Let's just say that Lady Macbeth is a few fries short of a Happy Meal. Lady Macbeth let the guilt of the murders she has caused

overpower her and she killed herself. Justice has been prevailed and she got what she deserved.

If Lady Macbeth went crazy and killed herself for having Macbeth kill Duncan, Banquo, and Macduff's wife and children, imagine how Macbeth must feel. Of course Macbeth is filled with guilt, but that is not what kills him. Macduff slays Macbeth by cutting off his head in Act V scene 8. Macduff declares that he has killed Macbeth by saying, "Th' usurper's curséd head. The time is free."(p.189) Now Macbeth is dead, Macduff cut off his head, Malcolm is king, fairness is everything, now you know, not to overthrow, because you reap what you sew.

The Personality of Macbeth

Macbeth is first presented as a mature man of definitely established character, successful in certain fields of activity, and enjoying an enviable reputation. One must not conclude that all Macbeth's actions are predictable. Macbeth's character is made out of potentialities and the environment, and no one, not even Macbeth, can know all of his inordinate self-love. Macbeth is determined by a desire for temporal and mutable good.

Macbeth is driven in his conduct by an inordinate desire for worldly honors; his self emulation lies in buying golden opinions from all sorts of people. One must not deny Macbeth a human complexity of motives. For example, his fighting in Duncan's service is magnificent and courageous. Macbeth also rejoices in the success that crown his efforts in battle. Macbeth's services are also for his own glory. Macbeth says, "The service and the loyalty I owe, In doing it, pays itself." While Macbeth destroys Duncan's enemies, such motive work but are obscured in his consciousness by more vigorous urges. Macbeth by nature violently demands rewards. Macbeth fights courageously so he may be reported as a "valor's minion" and "Bellona's bridegroom." Macbeth values success because it brings fame, new titles, and royal favor. As long as these mutable goods fulfill his desires, which is the case until he covets the kingship, Macbeth is an honorable gentleman. Once Macbeth's self-love demands a satisfaction that cannot be honorably obtained, he employs dishonorable tactics to gain his selfish desires.

As Macbeth returns victoriously from battle, his self-love demands recognition of his greatness. The demonic forces of evil that drive Macbeth, symbolized by the witches, suggest to him to obtain the greatest mutable good he has ever desired, the kingdom. The witches observe Macbeth's expressions to understand the passions that are driving his dark desires he is so valiantly attempting to suppress. The witches predict Macbeth will be king. The witches can not compel Macbeth to do evil deeds, but they can use Macbeth's desire to become king to pervert his judgment of reason to corral him to choose temporal good. Macbeth's imagination and passions are so vivid under these evil impulses that "nothing is but what is not." Macbeth's reason becomes so impede that he judges, "These soliciting cannot be evil, cannot be good." Still Macbeth is provided with so much natural good that he is able to control his imagination and decide not to attempt any act that involves criminal

actions. His decision not to commit murder is not based upon moral grounds. As a friend and as a subject, Macbeth has feelings of loyalty towards the king. The consequences Macbeth fears are not completely inward and spiritual. It is to be doubted whether Macbeth ever considers the effects of his crime and the evil upon the human soul, that he later discovers. Macbeth's main concern is the consequences of losing the mutable goods he already possesses and values.

After murdering Duncan, Macbeth, in committing an unnatural act, has to relinquish his soul to the possession of the demonic forces who are the enemy of mankind. Macbeth recognizes the acts of conscience that torture him are expressions of an outraged natural law. Macbeth is then reduced to the ranks of a human. Knowing he is human again, Macbeth becomes pale and works to impede the penalties of natural law and seeks release from this torture, "Come, sealing night... And with thy bloody and invisible hand, Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond, Which keeps me pale." Macbeth then conceives that a quick escape from the accusations of conscience may be affected by the precepts of natural law. He imagines that the execution of bloodier deeds will serve his purpose. Macbeth instigates the murder of Banquo in the interest of personal safety and to destroy the final piece of humanity in himself. No peace is gained from the murder of Banquo. Macbeth's conscience obliges him to see the negative quality of evil and the barren results of wicked action. The individual who once prized mutable goods in the form of respect and admiration from those about him, now discovers that even such satisfactions are denied to him:

And that which should accompany old age, As honor, love, obedience, troops of friends, I must not look to have; but, in their stead, Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honour, breath, Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not.

Macbeth is conscious of a profound abstraction of something far more precious than temporal goods. Macbeth has shrunk to such a little measure that he has become numb to all sense of good and evil. The "peace" attained from this numbness is psychologically a callousness to pain and spiritually a partial insensibility to the evidences of diminished being. Macbeth's peace is the doubtful calm of utter negativity, where nothing matters.

After the external and internal forces of evil have done their worst, Macbeth remains human, and he continues to witness the diminution of his self being. Sin does not completely deprive Macbeth of his rational nature. Macbeth sins because whatever he does in pursuance of a temporal good, and nothing more than to escape a present evil.

Macbeth never completely loses his freedom of choice. Since a free act is in accordance with reason, as his reason becomes blinded, his actions become less and less free. This accounts for Macbeth's actions becoming more controlled as the play progresses, and the final feelings that Macbeth has lost all free will. Macbeth violates his natural law, and his acts establish habits of irrational doings, resulting in the loss of freedom of choice.

The substance of Macbeth's personality is that out of which tragic heroes are fashioned. Endowed with potential and under the impact of passions constantly shifting and mounting

in intensity, the dramatic individual grows, expands, and develops to a point that at the end of the play he is more understanding of the world and of his own spirituality than at the beginning of the play. Macbeth is bound to his humanity, that reason of order that determines his relationship with natural law, and that compels him toward proper actions and his own end. This natural law provides him with a will capable of free choice, and obliges his discernment of good and evil.

MacbethBecause we first hear of Macbeth in the wounded captain’s account of his battlefield valor, our initial impression is of a brave and capable warrior. This perspective is complicated, however, once we see Macbeth interact with the three witches. We realize that his physical courage is joined by a consuming ambition and a tendency to self-doubt—the prediction that he will be king brings him joy, but it also creates inner turmoil. These three attributes—bravery, ambition, and self-doubt—struggle for mastery of Macbeth throughout the play. Shakespeare uses Macbeth to show the terrible effects that ambition and guilt can have on a man who lacks strength of character. We may classify Macbeth as irrevocably evil, but his weak character separates him from Shakespeare’s great villains—Iago in Othello,Richard III in Richard III, Edmund in King Lear—who are all strong enough to conquer guilt and self-doubt. Macbeth, great warrior though he is, is ill equipped for the psychic consequences of crime.Before he kills Duncan, Macbeth is plagued by worry and almost aborts the crime. It takes Lady Macbeth’s steely sense of purpose to push him into the deed. After the murder, however, her powerful personality begins to disintegrate, leaving Macbeth increasingly alone. He fluctuates between fits of fevered action, in which he plots a series of murders to secure his throne, and moments of terrible guilt (as when Banquo’s ghost appears) and absolute pessimism (after his wife’s death, when he seems to succumb to despair). These fluctuations reflect the tragic tension within Macbeth: he is at once too ambitious to allow his conscience to stop him from murdering his way to the top and too conscientious to be happy with himself as a murderer. As things fall apart for him at the end of the play, he seems almost relieved—with the English army at his gates, he can finally return to life as a warrior, and he displays a kind of reckless bravado as his enemies surround him and drag him down. In part, this stems from his fatal confidence in the witches’ prophecies, but it also seems to derive from the fact that he has returned to the arena where he has been most successful and where his internal turmoil need not affect him—namely, the battlefield. Unlike many of Shakespeare’s other tragic heroes, Macbeth never seems to contemplate suicide: “Why should I play the Roman fool,” he asks, “and die / On mine own sword?” (5.10.1–2). Instead, he goes down fighting, bringing the play full circle: it begins with Macbeth winning on the battlefield and ends with him dying in combat.Lady MacbethLady Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s most famous and frightening female characters. When we first see her, she is already plotting Duncan’s murder, and she is stronger, more ruthless, and more ambitious than her husband. She seems fully aware of this and knows that she will have to push Macbeth into committing murder. At one point, she wishes that she were not a woman so that she could do it herself. This theme of the relationship between gender and power is key to Lady Macbeth’s character: her husband implies that she is a masculine soul inhabiting a female body, which seems to link masculinity to ambition and violence. Shakespeare, however, seems to use her, and the witches, to

undercut Macbeth’s idea that “undaunted mettle should compose / Nothing but males” (1.7.73–74). These crafty women use female methods of achieving power—that is, manipulation—to further their supposedly male ambitions. Women, the play implies, can be as ambitious and cruel as men, yet social constraints deny them the means to pursue these ambitions on their own.Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband with remarkable effectiveness, overriding all his objections; when he hesitates to murder, she repeatedly questions his manhood until he feels that he must commit murder to prove himself. Lady Macbeth’s remarkable strength of will persists through the murder of the king—it is she who steadies her husband’s nerves immediately after the crime has been perpetrated. Afterward, however, she begins a slow slide into madness—just as ambition affects her more strongly than Macbeth before the crime, so does guilt plague her more strongly afterward. By the close of the play, she has been reduced to sleepwalking through the castle, desperately trying to wash away an invisible bloodstain. Once the sense of guilt comes home to roost, Lady Macbeth’s sensitivity becomes a weakness, and she is unable to cope. Significantly, she (apparently) kills herself, signaling her total inability to deal with the legacy of their crimes.The Three WitchesThroughout the play, the witches—referred to as the “weird sisters” by many of the characters—lurk like dark thoughts and unconscious temptations to evil. In part, the mischief they cause stems from their supernatural powers, but mainly it is the result of their understanding of the weaknesses of their specific interlocutors—they play upon Macbeth’s ambition like puppeteers.The witches’ beards, bizarre potions, and rhymed speech make them seem slightly ridiculous, like caricatures of the supernatural. Shakespeare has them speak in rhyming couplets throughout (their most famous line is probably “Double, double, toil and trouble, / Fire burn and cauldron bubble” in 4.1.10–11), which separates them from the other characters, who mostly speak in blank verse. The witches’ words seem almost comical, like malevolent nursery rhymes. Despite the absurdity of their “eye of newt and toe of frog” recipes, however, they are clearly the most dangerous characters in the play, being both tremendously powerful and utterly wicked (4.1.14).The audience is left to ask whether the witches are independent agents toying with human lives, or agents of fate, whose prophecies are only reports of the inevitable. The witches bear a striking and obviously intentional resemblance to the Fates, female characters in both Norse and Greek mythology who weave the fabric of human lives and then cut the threads to end them. Some of their prophecies seem self-fulfilling. For example, it is doubtful that Macbeth would have murdered his king without the push given by the witches’ predictions. In other cases, though, their prophecies are just remarkably accurate readings of the future—it is hard to see Birnam Wood coming to Dunsinane as being self-fulfilling in any way. The play offers no easy answers. Instead, Shakespeare keeps the witches well outside the limits of human comprehension. They embody an unreasoning, instinctive evil.

The Corrupting Power of Unchecked AmbitionThe 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.The Relationship Between Cruelty and MasculinityCharacters 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, 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.The Difference Between Kingship and TyrannyIn 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 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.MotifsMotifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.HallucinationsVisions 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.ViolenceMacbeth 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.ProphecyProphecy sets Macbeth’s plot in motion—namely, the witches’ prophecy that Macbeth will become first 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.

SymbolsSymbols are objects, characters, figures, and colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.BloodBlood 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 WeatherAs 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.

FULL TITLE · The Tragedy of MacbethAUTHOR · William ShakespeareTYPE OF WORK · PlayGENRE · TragedyLANGUAGE · EnglishTIME AND PLACE WRITTEN · 1606, EnglandDATE OF FIRST PUBLICATION · First Folio edition, 1623PUBLISHER · John Heminges and Henry Condell, two senior members of Shakespeare’s theatrical companyTONE · Dark and ominous, suggestive of a world turned topsy-turvy by foul and unnatural crimesTENSE · Not applicable (drama)SETTING (TIME) · The Middle Ages, specifically the eleventh centurySETTING (PLACE) · Various locations in Scotland; also England, brieflyPROTAGONIST · MacbethMAJOR CONFLICTS · The struggle within Macbeth between his ambition and his sense of right and wrong; the struggle between the murderous evil represented by Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and the best interests of the nation, represented by Malcolm and MacduffRISING ACTION · Macbeth and Banquo’s encounter with the witches initiates both conflicts; Lady Macbeth’s speeches goad Macbeth into murdering Duncan and seizing the crown.CLIMAX · Macbeth’s murder of Duncan in Act 2 represents the point of no return, after which Macbeth is forced to continue butchering his subjects to avoid the consequences of his crime.

FALLING ACTION · Macbeth’s increasingly brutal murders (of Duncan’s servants, Banquo, Lady Macduff and her son); Macbeth’s second meeting with the witches; Macbeth’s final confrontation with Macduff and the opposing armiesTHEMES · The corrupting nature of unchecked ambition; the relationship between cruelty and masculinity; the difference between kingship and tyrannyMOTIFS · The supernatural, hallucinations, violence, prophecySYMBOLS · Blood; the dagger that Macbeth sees just before he kills Duncan in Act 2; the weatherFORESHADOWING · The bloody battle in Act 1 foreshadows the bloody murders later on; when Macbeth thinks he hears a voice while killing Duncan, it foreshadows the insomnia that plagues Macbeth and his wife; Macduff’s suspicions of Macbeth after Duncan’s murder foreshadow his later opposition to Macbeth; all of the witches’ prophecies foreshadow later events.Study Questions1.Characterize the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. If the main theme of Macbeth is ambition, whose ambition is the driving force of the play—Macbeth’s, Lady Macbeth’s, or both?The Macbeths’ marriage, like the couple themselves, is atypical, particularly by the standards of its time. Yet despite their odd power dynamic, the two of them seem surprisingly attached to one another, particularly compared to other married couples in Shakespeare’s plays, in which romantic felicity appears primarily during courtship and marriages tend to be troubled. Macbeth offers an exception to this rule, as Macbeth and his wife are partners in the truest sense of the word. Of course, the irony of their “happy” marriage is clear—they are united by their crimes, their mutual madness, and their mounting alienation from the rest of humanity.Though Macbeth is a brave general and a powerful lord, his wife is far from subordinate to his will. Indeed, she often seems to control him, either by crafty manipulation or by direct order. And it is Lady Macbeth’s deep-seated ambition, rather than her husband’s, that ultimately propels the plot of the play by goading Macbeth to murder Duncan. Macbeth does not need any help coming up with the idea of murdering Duncan, but it seems unlikely that he would have committed the murder without his wife’s powerful taunts and persuasions.2.One of the important themes in Macbeth is the idea of political legitimacy, of the moral authority that some kings possess and others lack. With particular attention to Malcolm’s questioning of Macduff in Act 4, scene 3, try to define some of the characteristics that grant or invalidate the moral legitimacy of absolute power. What makes Duncan a good king? What makes Macbeth a tyrant?After Duncan’s death, the nobles of Scotland begin to grumble among themselves about what they perceive as Macbeth’s tyrannical behavior. When Macduff meets Malcolm in England, Malcolm pretends that he would make an even worse king than Macbeth in order to test Macduff’s loyalty to Scotland. The bad qualities he claims to possess include lust, greed, and a chaotic and violent temperament. These qualities all seem characteristic of Macbeth, whereas Duncan’s universally lauded reign was marked by the king’s kindness, generosity, and stabilizing presence. The king must be able to keep order and should reward his subjects according to their merits. For example, Duncan makes Macbeth thane of

Cawdor after Macbeth’s victory over the invaders. Perhaps the most important quality of a true king to emerge in Malcolm’s conversation with Macduff is loyalty to Scotland and its people above oneself. Macbeth wishes to be king to gratify his own desires, while Duncan and Malcolm wear the crown out of love for their nation.3.An important theme in Macbeth is the relationship between gender and power, particularly Shakespeare’s exploration of the values that make up the idea of masculinity. What are these values, and how do various characters embody them? How does Shakespeare subvert his characters’ perception of gender roles?Manhood, for most of the characters in Macbeth, is tied to ideals of strength, power, physical courage, and force of will; it is rarely tied to ideals of intelligence or moral fortitude. At several points in the play, the characters goad one another into action by questioning each other’s manhood. Most significantly, Lady Macbeth emasculates her husband repeatedly, knowing that in his desperation to prove his manhood he will perform the acts she wishes him to perform. Macbeth echoes Lady Macbeth’s words when he questions the manhood of the murderers he has hired to kill Banquo, and after Macduff’s wife and children are killed, Malcolm urges Macduff to take the news with manly reserve and to devote himself to the destruction of Macbeth, his family’s murderer. Ultimately, there is a strong suggestion that manhood is tied to cruelty and violence: note Lady Macbeth’s speech in Act 1, scene 5, when she asks to be “unsexed” so that she can help her husband commit murder. Yet, at the same time, the audience is clearly meant to realize that women provide the push that sets the bloody action of the play in motion. Macduff, too, suggests that the equation of masculinity with cruelty is not quite correct. His comments show that he believes emotion and reflection are also important attributes of the true man.Suggested Essay Topics1. The fantastical and grotesque witches are among the most memorable figures in the play. How does Shakespeare characterize the witches? What is their thematic significance?2. Compare and contrast Macbeth, Macduff, and Banquo. How are they alike? How are they different? Is it possible to argue that Macbeth is the play’s villain and Macduff or Banquo its hero, or is the matter more complicated than that?3. Discuss the role that blood plays in Macbeth, particularly immediately following Duncan’s murder and late in the play. What does it symbolize for Macbeth and his wife?4. Discuss Macbeth’s visions and hallucinations. What role do they play in the development of his character?5. Is Macbeth a moral play? Is justice served at the end of the play? Defend your answer.6 . Discuss Shakespeare’s use of the technique of elision, in which certain key events take place offstage. Why do you think he uses this technique?

The Fall of ManThe ancient Greek notion of tragedy concerned the fall of a great man, such as a king, from a position of superiority to a position of humility on account of his ambitious pride, or hubris. To the Greeks, such arrogance in human behavior was punishable by terrible vengeance. The tragic hero was to be pitied in his fallen plight but not necessarily forgiven: Greek tragedy frequently has a bleak outcome. Christian drama, on the other hand, always offers a ray of hope; hence, Macbeth ends with the coronation ofMalcolm, a new leader who exhibits all the correct virtues for a king.

Macbeth exhibits elements that reflect the greatest Christian tragedy of all: the Fall of Man. In the Genesis story, it is the weakness of Adam, persuaded by his wife (who has in turn been seduced by the devil) which leads him to the proud assumption that he can "play God." But both stories offer room for hope: Christ will come to save mankind precisely because mankind has made the wrong choice through his own free will. In Christian terms, although Macbeth has acted tyrannically, criminally, and sinfully, he is not entirely beyond redemption in heaven.Fortune, Fate, and Free WillFortune is another word for chance. The ancient view of human affairs frequently referred to the "Wheel of Fortune," according to which human life was something of a lottery. One could rise to the top of the wheel and enjoy the benefits of superiority, but only for a while. With an unpredictable swing up or down, one could equally easily crash to the base of the wheel.Fate, on the other hand, is fixed. In a fatalistic universe, the length and outcome of one's life (destiny) is predetermined by external forces. In Macbeth, the Witches represent this influence. The play makes an important distinction: Fate may dictate what will be, but how that destiny comes about is a matter of chance (and, in a Christian world such as Macbeth's) of man's own choice or free will.Although Macbeth is told he will become king, he is not told how to achieve the position of king: that much is up to him. We cannot blame him for becoming king (it is his Destiny), but we can blame him for the way in which he chooses to get there (by his own free will).Kingship and Natural OrderMacbeth is set in a society in which the notion of honor to one's word and loyalty to one's superiors is absolute. At the top of this hierarchy is the king, God's representative on Earth. Other relationships also depend on loyalty: comradeship in warfare, hospitality of host towards guest, and the loyalty between husband and wife. In this play, all these basic societal relationships are perverted or broken. Lady Macbeth's domination over her husband, Macbeth's treacherous act of regicide, and his destruction of comradely and family bonds, all go against the natural order of things.The medieval and renaissance view of the world saw a relationship between order on earth, the so-calledmicrocosm, and order on the larger scale of the universe, or macrocosm. Thus, when Lennox and the Old Man talk of the terrifying alteration in the natural order of the universe — tempests, earthquakes, darkness at noon, and so on — these are all reflections of the breakage of the natural order that Macbeth has brought about in his own microcosmic world.Disruption of NatureViolent disruptions in nature — tempests, earthquakes, darkness at noon, and so on — parallel the unnatural and disruptive death of the monarch Duncan.The medieval and renaissance view of the world saw a relationship between order on earth, the so-called microcosm, and order on the larger scale of the universe, or macrocosm. Thus, when Lennox and the Old Man talk of the terrifying alteration in the natural order of the universe (nature), these are all reflections of the breakage of the natural order that Macbeth has brought about in his own microcosmic world (society).Many critics see the parallel between Duncan's death and disorder in nature as an affirmation of the divine right theory of kingship. As we witness in the play, Macbeth's murder of Duncan and his continued tyranny extends the disorder of the entire country.Gender Roles

Lady Macbeth is the focus of much of the exploration of gender roles in the play. As Lady Macbeth propels her husband toward committing Duncan's murder, she indicates that she must take on masculine characteristics. Her most famous speech — located in Act I, Scene 5 — addresses this issue.Clearly, gender is out of its traditional order. This disruption of gender roles is also presented through Lady Macbeth's usurpation of the dominate role in the Macbeth's marriage; on many occasions, she rules her husband and dictates his actions.Reason Versus PassionDuring their debates over which course of action to take, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth use different persuasive strategies. Their differences can easily be seen as part of a thematic study of gender roles. However, in truth, the difference in ways Macbeth and Lady Macbeth rationalize their actions is essential to understanding the subtle nuances of the play as a whole.Macbeth is very rational, contemplating the consequences and implications of his actions. He recognizes the political, ethical, and religious reason why he should not commit regicide. In addition to jeopardizing his afterlife, Macbeth notes that regicide is a violation of Duncan's "double trust" that stems from Macbeth's bonds as a kinsman and as a subject.On the other hand, Lady Macbeth has a more passionate way of examining the pros and cons of killing Duncan. She is motivated by her feelings and uses emotional arguments to persuade her husband to commit the evil act.

Macbeth A captain in Duncan's army, later the Thane (Lord) of Glamis and Cawdor. When Three Witches predict that he will one day be king of Scotland, he takes his fate into his own hands, allowing his ambition and that of his wife to overcome his better judgement. His bloody reign culminates in a battle against Malcolm and the English forces.Lady Macbeth The devilish wife of Macbeth, whose ambition helps to drive her husband toward the desperate act of murder. Subsequently, her husband's cruelty and her own guilt recoil on her, sending her into a madness from which she never recovers.Banquo A fellow-captain and companion of Macbeth, who also receives a prophecy from the Witches: that his children will one day succeed to the throne of Scotland. This information is sufficient to spell his death at the hands of the resentful Macbeth, who is later haunted by Banquo's ghost.Duncan King of Scotland. His victories against rebellious kinsmen and the Norwegians have made him a popular and honored king. His decision to pass the kingdom to his son Malcolm provokes his untimely death at the hands of Macbeth.Fleance Banquo's son, who, by escaping Macbeth's plot on his life, will go on to be father to a line of kings.Donalbain and Malcolm Duncan's two sons. Fearful of implication in their father's murder, they flee Scotland, Donalbain to Ireland and Malcolm to England, where he raises a large army with the intention of toppling the tyrant Macbeth.Macduff A thane (nobleman) of Scotland who discovers the murdered King Duncan. Suspecting Macbeth and eventually turning against him, Macduff later flees to England to join Malcolm. When Macbeth arranges the murder of his wife and children, Macduff swears personal revenge.Lennox, Ross, Menteth, Angus, Caithness Thanes of Scotland, all of whom eventually turn against the tyrannical Macbeth.

The Porter, the Old Man, the Doctors Three commentators on events, all of whom have a certain degree of wisdom and foresight. The Porter hints at the Hell-like nature of Macbeth's castle; the Old Man associates the murder of King Duncan with the instability of the natural world; the Doctors recognize disease and disorder even though they cannot cure it.The Witches Three agents of Fate who reveal the truth (or part of it) to Macbeth and Banquo and who later appear to confirm the downfall and tragic destiny of the tyrannical Macbeth.

Macbeth is introduced in the play as a warrior hero, whose fame on the battlefield wins him great honor from the king. Essentially, though, he is a human being whose private ambitions are made clear to the audience through his asides and soliloquies (solo speeches). These often conflict with the opinion others have of him, which he describes as "golden" (I:7, 33). Despite his fearless character in battle, Macbeth is concerned by the prophecies of the Witches, and his thoughts remain confused, both before, during, and after his murder of King Duncan. When Duncan announces that he intends the kingdom to pass to his son Malcolm, Macbeth appears frustrated. When he is about to commit the murder, he undergoes terrible pangs of conscience. Macbeth is at his most human and sympathetic when his manliness is mocked and demeaned by his wife (see in particular Act I, Scene 7).However, by Act III, Scene 2, Macbeth has resolved himself into a far more stereotypical villain and asserts his manliness over that of his wife. His ambition now begins to spur him toward further terrible deeds, and he starts to disregard and even to challenge Fate and Fortune. Each successive murder reduces his human characteristics still further, until he appears to be the more dominant partner in the marriage. Nevertheless, the new-found resolve, which causes Macbeth to "wade" onward into his self-created river of blood (Act III, Scene 4), is persistently alarmed by supernatural events. The appearance of Banquo's ghost, in particular, causes him to swing from one state of mind to another until he is no longer sure of what is and "what is not" (I:3,142).But Macbeth's hubris or excessive pride is now his dominant character trait. This feature of his personality is well presented in Act IV, Scene 1, when he revisits the Witches of his own accord. His boldness and impression of personal invincibility mark him out for a tragic fall. Lady MacbethMacbeth's wife is one of the most powerful female characters in literature. Unlike her husband, she lacks all humanity, as we see well in her opening scene, where she calls upon the "Spirits that tend on mortal thoughts" to deprive her of her feminine instinct to care. Her burning ambition to be queen is the single feature that Shakespearedeveloped far beyond that of her counterpart in the historical story he used as his source. Lady Macbeth persistently taunts her husband for his lack of courage, even though we know of his bloody deeds on the battlefield. But in public, she is able to act as the consummate hostess, enticing her victim, the king, into her castle. When she faints immediately after the murder of Duncan, the audience is left wondering whether this, too, is part of her act.Ultimately, she fails the test of her own hardened ruthlessness. Having upbraided her husband one last time during the banquet (Act III, Scene 4), the pace of events becomes too much even for her: She becomes mentally deranged, a mere shadow of her former commanding self, gibbering in Act V, Scene 1 as she "confesses" her part in the murder. Her death is the event that causes Macbeth to ruminate for one last time on the nature of time and mortality in the speech "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" (Act V, Scene 5).

DuncanThe king of Scotland should be a figurehead of order and orderliness, and Duncan is the epitome, or supreme example, of this. His language is formal and his speeches full of grace and graciousness, whether on the battlefield in Act I, Scene 2, where his talk concerns matters of honor, or when greeting his kind hostess Lady Macbeth in Act I, Scene 6. Duncan also expresses humility (a feature that Macbeth lacks) when he admits his failure in spotting the previous Thane of Cawdor's treachery: "There's no art to find the mind's construction in the face" (I: 4,11).Most importantly, Duncan is the representative of God on earth, ruling by divine right (ordained by God), a feature of kingship strongly endorsed by King James I, for whom the play was performed in 1606. This "divinity" of the king is made clear on several occasions in the play, most notably when Macbeth talks of the murdered Duncan as having "silver skin lac'd with . . . golden blood" (Act II, Scene 3). The importance of royal blood, that is, the inheritance of the divine right to rule, is emphasized when, in the final scene, Duncan's son Malcolm takes the title of king, with the words "by the grace of Grace / We will perform."MacduffMacduff is the archetype of the avenging hero, not simply out for revenge but with a good and holy purpose. Macduff is the character who has two of the most significant roles in the play: First, he is the discoverer of Duncan's body. Second, the news of the callous murder of his wife and children (Act IV, Scene 3) spurs him toward his desire to take personal revenge upon the tyrannical Macbeth. When he knocks at the gate of Macbeth's castle in Act II, Scene 3, he is being equated with the figure of Christ, who before his final ascension into Heaven, goes down to release the souls of the damned from hell (the so-called "Harrowing of Hell").Like Macbeth, Macduff is also shown as a human being. When he hears of the death of his "pretty chickens," he has to hold back his emotions. Even when (in Act IV, Scene 3) Malcolm urges him to "Dispute it like a man," Macduff's reply "I will do so. But I must also feel it as a man" enables the audience to weigh him against Macbeth, an unfeeling man if ever there was one. In the final combat between hero and anti-hero, this humanity is recalled once more when Macduff cries out, "I have no words; my voice is in my sword." It is his very wordlessness that contrasts with Macbeth's empty rhetoric.BanquoBanquo's role in the original source for Macbeth was as Macbeth's co-conspirator. In Shakespeare's play, he is depicted instead as Macbeth's rival; the role of fellow plotter passed to Lady Macbeth. Like Macbeth, Banquo is open to human yearnings and desires: He is, for example, just as keen to hear what the Witches have in store for him in Act I, Scene 3. He is kept from sleep by his dreams of the Witches (Act II, Scene 1). And in his soliloquy at the start of Act III, Scene 1 — "Thou hast it now . . . " — there is more than a hint of resentment and, possibly, of the same naked ambition that leads Macbeth astray. Nevertheless, Banquo is a sympathetic figure for several reasons. First, he is ignorant of what the audience knows concerning the murder of the king and of his own impending doom. Second, he is a father whose relationship with his son is clearly an affectionate one.MalcolmWith his brother Donalbain, Malcolm quickly ascertains the danger of remaining in Scotland and flees the country (Act II, Scene 3). By the time he reappears, in Act IV, Scene 3, he has won the support of Edward the Confessor (king of England), he has mobilized troops under

Northumberland and Siward, and (to borrow a phrase from King Lear) he is "every inch a king."If Macduff is the stereotypical revenger, Malcolm is the embodiment of all that is good in kingship, and this is seen particularly in Act IV, Scene 3, in which he tests the allegiance of Macduff. His testing of Macduff, although dramatically longwinded, is psychologically accurate. By pretending to be what he is not, he hopes to coax from Macduff a confession of his loyalty. This feature of his character — playing a part in order to strengthen the prospect of good — is in stark contrast to Macbeth, who plays a part in order to advance his own evil. In the final scene of the play, Malcolm is presented as the future king. His use of the phrase "by the grace of Grace" indicates the importance that he attaches to the service of good and reminds the audience of his direct descent from one who ruled by divine right, as opposed to Macbeth, who usurped the throne. Like his father Duncan, Malcolm is the representative of order.

Shakespeare coined many popular phrases that are still commonly used today. Here are some examples of Shakespeare's most familiar quotes from Macbeth. You just might be surprised to learn of all the everyday sayings that originally came from Shakespeare!"Fair is foul, and foul is fair." (Act I, Scene I)"When the battle's lost and won." (Act I, Scene I)"When shall we three meet again in thunder, lightning, or in rain? When the hurlyburly 's done, When the battle 's lost and won." (Act I, Scene I)"If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me." (Act I, Scene III)"Nothing in his life became him like the leaving it; he died as one that had been studied in his death to throw away the dearest thing he owed, as 't were a careless trifle." (Act I, Scene IV)"Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o' the milk of human kindness." (Act I, Scene V)"Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under't." (Act I, Scene V)"I dare do all that may become a man; Who dares do more is none." (Act I, Scene VII)"Screw your courage to the sticking-place." (Act I, Scene VII)"I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself, and falls on the other." (Act I, Scene VII)"Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand?" (Act II, Scene I)"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" (Act II, Scene II)"There's daggers in men's smiles." (Act II, Scene III)"What's done is done." (Act III, Scene II)"By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes." (Act IV, Scene I)"Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble." (Act IV, Scene I)"Out, damned spot! out, I say!" (Act V, Scene I)."All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand." (Act V, Scene I)"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."(Act V, Scene V)"I bear a charmed life." (Act V, Scene VIII)

Topic #1The term tragic hero refers to a central character who has a authoritative status in the

drama, but through a flaw in his or her character brings about his or her demise. The flaw may consist of a poor decision that is made and creates a situation the character cannot change or control. The tragic hero recognizes his or her flaw, however there is nothing that can be done to avert tragedy. Macbeth is seen as a tragic hero. Write a paper tracing the sequence of events that contribute to Macbeth’s demise and tragic end.OutlineI. Thesis Statement: Macbeth is seen as a tragic hero. He compromises his honor and negates moral responsibility to attain power and position which result in his tragic end.II. Definition and characteristics of a tragic hero1. Fate2. Weakness3. Poor decision making resulting in a catastrophe4. Realization of flaw but unable to prevent tragedyIII. The WitchesA. Plan to meet MacbethB. Statement that fair is foul, and foul is fairIV. Allegiance to Scotland and DuncanA. Battle with MacdonwaldB. Battle with the King of NorwayC. Duncan’s Response1. Honor bestowed on Macbeth2. Duncan’s opinion of MacbethV. Witches on the battlefieldA. The prophecyB. Macbeth’s ResponseC. Banquo’s ResponseVI. Macbeth’s meeting with DuncanA. Duncan greets Macbeth with respectB. Macbeth’s reaction to Duncan naming Malcolm as his successorVII. Decisions made before Macbeth is kingA. Lady Macbeth’s plan1. Macbeth’s response2. Lady Macbeth’s Influence on Macbeth3. Macbeth’s decisionB. Eve of the Murder1. Floating Dagger2. Macbeth’s reactionC. Duncan’s Murder1. Murder of the guards2. ResponseD. Discovery of Duncan’s body1. Macbeth’s reaction2. Duncan’s sons3. Macbeth named as kingVIII. Decisions made as KingA. Banquo1. Fear of prophecy

2. Hires MurderersB. Banquet1. Reaction to Murderers2. GhostC. Meeting with the Witches1. Response to Prophecy2. Macduff and family3. Leaving for Dunsinane in EnglandD. Battle with Malcolm’s forces1. Dunsinane prophecy2. Young Siward3. False sense of securityE. Reactions to Lady Macbeth’s illness and deathF. Meeting Macduff1. Guilt2. Revealing prophecy to Macduff3. Macbeth’s realization that the Witches told him half-truthsIX. Macbeth’s tragic endA. Macduff’s victoryB. Malcolm’s speechTopic #2Lady Macbeth is seen as a controlling factor in Macbeth’s life. She is able to control his actions and events. However, she loses control of Macbeth. Write a paper describing what control she has in Macbeth’s life and how the loss of that power contributes to her demise.OutlineI. Thesis Statement: Lady Macbeth’s desire for power prompts her interest in controlling Macbeth’s actions. However, she loses control which contributes to her tragedy.II. Introduction of Lady MacbethA. Reading Macbeth’s letterB. Witches prophecy fulfilledC. Opinion of MacbethD. Desire for Power1. Strength needed2. Her planIII. Meeting with MacbethA. Affection towards each otherB. Lady Macbeth’s planIV. Power over MacbethA. Macbeth’s Decision about Lady Macbeth’s plan1. Lady Macbeth’s response to Macbeth

Themes link Link In Macbeth, ambition conspires with unholy forces to commit evil deeds which, in their turn, generate fear, guilt and still more horrible crimes. Above all, Macbeth is a character study in which not one, but two protagonists (the title character and Lady Macbeth) respond

individually and jointly to the psychological burden of their sins. In the course of the play, Macbeth repeatedly misinterprets the guilt that he suffers as being simply a matter of fear. His characteristic way of dealing with his guilt is to face it directly by committing still more misdeeds, and this, of course, only generates further madness. By contrast, Lady Macbeth is fully aware of the difference between fear and guilt, and she attempts to prevent pangs of guilt by first denying her own sense of conscience and then by focusing her attention upon the management of Macbeth's guilt. In the scene which occurs immediately after Duncan's death, Lady Macbeth orders her husband to get some water "and wash this filthy witness from your hand" (II.i.43-44). He rejects her suggestion, crying out, "What hands are here. Ha! they pluck out mine eyes! / Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand?" (II.i.56-58). But she in turn insists that the tell-tale signs of his crime cannot be seen by others, that "a little water clears us of this deed" (II.i.64). But midway through the play, Lady Macbeth loses both her influence over her husband and the ability to repress her own conscience. Once her husband has departed to combat against Macduff's forces and Lady Macbeth is left alone, she assumes the very manifestations of guilt that have been associated with Macbeth, insomnia and hallucinations, in even more extreme form.As for the motive behind the theme of guilt, it is ambition for power, and it does not require much for Macbeth to embrace the weird sisters' vision of him as the ruler of all Scotland. Macbeth is ambitious, but it is Lady Macbeth who is the driving force behind their blood-stained rise to the throne(s) of Scotland. Lady Macbeth is awesome in her ambition and possesses a capacity for deceit that Shakespeare often uses as a trait of his evil female characters. Thus, when she greets her prospective victim in Act I, she "humbly" tells King Duncan that she has eagerly awaited his arrival and that her preparations for it are "in every point twice done, and then double done" (l.vi.14-18). The irony here is that double-dealing and falsity are at hand, and Lady Macbeth's ability to conceal her intentions while at the same time making hidden reference to them has a startling effect upon us.Beyond the evil that human ambition can manufacture, Macbeth has a super-natural dimension to it; indeed, the play opens with the three witches stirring the plot forward. Even before his encounter with the three witches, Macbeth finds himself in an unnatural dramatic world on the "foul and fair" day of the battle (I.iii.39). Things are not what they seem. After his first conclave with the witches, Macbeth is unable to determine whether the prophecy of the witches bodes "ill" or "good." He then begins to doubt reality itself as he states that "nothing is / But what it is not" (I.iii.141-142). The prophecy, of course, is true in the first sense but not what Macbeth takes it to be in the second. In like manner, the three predictions made to Macbeth in the first scene of Act IV seem to make him invincible; but the "woods" do march and Macbeth is slain by a man not ("naturally") born of woman.

MacbethMacbeth (mak-BEHTH), thane of Glamis, later thane of Cawdor and king of Scotland. A brave and successful military leader, and potentially a good and great man, he wins general admiration as well as the particular gratitude of King Duncan, his kinsman. Meeting the Three Weird Sisters, he succumbs to their tempting prophecies, but he also needs the urging of his wife to become a traitor, a murderer, and a usurper. He is gifted, or cursed, with a powerful and vivid imagination and with fiery, poetic language. Gaining power, he grows more ruthless, until finally he loses even the vestiges of humanity. He dies desperately, cheated by the ambiguous prophecies, in full realization of the worthlessness of the fruits of his ambition.

Lady MacbethLady Macbeth, the strong-willed, persuasive, and charming wife of Macbeth. Ambitious for her husband’s glory, she finds herself unable to kill King Duncan in his sleep because he resembles her father. As Macbeth becomes more inhuman, she becomes remorseful and breaks under the strain. In her sleepwalking, she relives the events of the night of the king’s murder and tries to wash her hands clean of imaginary bloodstains.BanquoBanquo (BAN-kwoh), Macbeth’s fellow commander. A man of noble character, seemingly unmoved by the prophecy of the Three Weird Sisters that he will beget kings, he is not completely innocent. He does not disclose his suspicions of Macbeth, and he accepts a place in Macbeth’s court. After being murdered by Macbeth’s assassins, Banquo appears at a ceremonial banquet. His blood-spattered ghost, visible only to Macbeth, unnerves the king completely. In the final vision shown to Macbeth by the Three Weird Sisters, Banquo and his line of kings appear.The Three Weird SistersThe Three Weird Sisters, three witches, sinister hags who seem more closely allied to the Norns or Fates than to conventional witches. They make prophetic statements to Macbeth that are true but deceptive. Their prophecy of his becoming thane of Cawdor is fulfilled immediately, tempting him to take direct action to carry out the second prophecy, that he shall be king. They lull him into false security by telling him that he has nothing to fear until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane and that he cannot be killed by any man born of woman.MacduffMacduff (mak-DUHF), thane of Fife. He and Lennox arrive at Macbeth’s castle just after the murder of King Duncan, and Macduff discovers the body. A brave but prudent man, he flees Scotland and offers his help to Malcolm. Underestimating the villainy of Macbeth’s character, he is thunderstruck at hearing of the atrocious murder of his wife and children. He becomes a steel-hearted avenger. Before killing Macbeth, he deprives him of his last symbol of security, for as a cesarean child he was not actually born of woman. He presents Macbeth’s head to Malcolm and proclaims the young prince king of Scotland.DuncanDuncan, the king of Scotland. Gentle and trusting, he shows great kindness to Macbeth. His murder by Macbeth is therefore almost incredibly fiendish.MalcolmMalcolm (MAL-kuhm), King Duncan’s eldest son. Far more cautious and shrewd than his father, he leaves for England to escape possible assassination. He is reluctant to give his trust to Macduff but finally, realizing his loyalty, accepts his aid in taking the throne of Scotland.DonalbainDonalbain (DON-ahl-bahn), King Duncan’s younger son. After consulting with Malcolm, he agrees to take a separate path, going to Ireland so that the potential heirs to the throne would not be accessible to a common assassination.FleanceFleance (FLEE-ahns), the son of Banquo. He escapes the murderers who kill his father and lives to haunt Macbeth with the Three Weird Sisters’ prophecy that kings will spring from Banquo’s line.Ross

Ross, a nobleman of Scotland. He is Duncan’s messenger to Macbeth, bringing him word of his new title, thane of Cawdor. He also bears news to his kinswoman, Lady Macduff, of her husband’s departure from Scotland. His third office as messenger is to carry word to Macduff of the destruction of his entire family. He fights in Malcolm’s army against Macbeth.LennoxLennox, a nobleman of Scotland. He is Macduff’s companion when the latter brings the message to King Duncan at Macbeth’s castle. He also deserts Macbeth and joins forces with Malcolm.Lady MacduffLady Macduff, a victim of Macbeth’s most horrible atrocity. She is human and pathetic.Macduff’s sonMacduff’s son, a brave and precocious child. He faces Macbeth’s hired murderers without flinching and dies calling to his mother to save herself.SiwardSiward (SEE-wurd), the earl of Northumberland, the general of the English forces supporting Malcolm. He is the type of the noble father accepting stoically the death of a heroic son.Young SiwardYoung Siward, the general’s courageous son. He dies fighting Macbeth hand to hand.A Scottish doctorA Scottish doctor, called in to minister to Lady Macbeth. He witnesses her sleepwalking in which she relives the night of the murder.A gentlewomanA gentlewoman, an attendant to Lady Macbeth. She is with the doctor and observes Lady Macbeth during the sleepwalking scene.A sergeantA sergeant (also called captain in the folio text), a wounded survivor of the battle at the beginning of the play. He reports to King Duncan the heroism of Macbeth and Banquo.A porterA porter, a comical drunkard. Roused by the knocking on the castle door, he pretends to be the gatekeeper of Hell and imagines various candidates clamoring for admission. The audience, knowing of Duncan’s murder, can realize how ironically near the truth is the idea of the castle as Hell.HecateHecate (HEHK-eh-tee), the patroness of the Witches. It is generally accepted among Shakespearean scholars that Hecate is an addition to the play by another author, perhaps Thomas Middleton.A messengerA messenger, who brings word that Birnam Wood apparently is moving. His message destroys one of Macbeth’s illusions of safety.SeytonSeyton, an officer attending Macbeth. He brings word of Lady Macbeth’s death.MenteithMenteith,AngusAngus, andCaithness

Caithness, Scottish noblemen who join Malcolm against Macbeth.

Macbeth, a tragedy written by William Shakespeare in the 17th century, expresses clearly the strong pull that desire for power can have over a man. Macbeth, the title character of the play, is often expressed as being the villain of the tragedy. However, through studying the play closely it is clear to see that, rather than being an innately evil character, Macbeth is in fact a tragic hero, doomed by fate from the start to descend into the madness which he did. Had it not been for his hamartia and his interaction with the witches and his wife then the play would have had a very different ending.

Like every tragic hero in literature Macbeth suffered from a tragic flaw, or a hamartia. In his case, his flaw was his vaulting ambition, combined with a lust for power. Macbeth himself recognises this ambition in act I, scene 7 where he states in a soliloquy “I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent but only vaulting ambition”. This comment suggests that he knows that the only thing that prompts his actions is his ambition. While ambition alone is not in fact a bad trait, when added with a lust for power, this ambition can become dangerous. Did having these qualities mean that Macbeth was indisputably corrupt? No, they simply meant that he, like all human beings, had a flaw and a weakness. Indeed, at the start of the play, Macbeth was seen as the hero, being described as “brave Macbeth” in act I, scene II, and shown as a loyal and brave solider on the battle field. He is also frequently referred to as valiant by Duncan throughout the first act. That ambition always resided within him but did not cause a problem until the prophecy was made by the witches in act I.

It was essentially the moment that the witches first cast the prophecy over Macbeth that sealed his fate forever. Without the witches foretelling his rise to power as Thane of Cawdor and furthermore as the future king of Scotland, the idea would never have occurred to him. He was initially a modest character, grateful of his position in life. However, once the witches planted the seeds in Macbeths mind they started to flourish and, given his hamartia, the idea wholly consumed him. Though initially he did not believe what they said, once he was granted the title Thane of Cawdor, he started to consider that it could possibly be true. There is a noticeable difference in his attitude toward the prophecy before and after he is made Thane of Cawdor. Before, there is a clear disbelief in his approach, though it’s obvious that he hopes for it to be true. Where as afterwards Macbeth is starting to view his promotion to King as not just a possibility, but rather an inevitable truth. His desire for this power arose and his ambition started to take control. It was this moment that started his transformation from hero, to tragic hero. However, the alteration was a slow one and throughout the tragedy the Witches continued to contribute to Macbeths growing insanity. Their prophecies begun to dictate his every move. This reliance on the witches is seen in the final scenes of the play, where Macbeth shows increasingly reckless behaviour in the battle scene due to the witches’ prophecy that “none of women born would harm Macbeth” (act IV, scene I). He became enraptured by a longing for power, a desire that would not have consumed him so, had it not been for his interaction with the witches. For if the Witches had not come along, than it is certain that Macbeth would not have fallen victim to the clutches of madness like he did. However, it was not only the Witches who contributed to his mighty fall. For it was not until he wrote to his wife that the ambition fully started to form.

If it was the Witches who planted the seeds, then it was Lady Macbeth who helped them to grow. In many ways, Lady Macbeth can be described as the driving force behind the murder of Duncan and thus also Macbeth’s transformation. It was initially Lady Macbeth who created the idea for the murder of the King. Whiles Macbeth had previously considered it, he had never come to a conclusion and had simply left things to see how they turned out. Lady Macbeth was the one who voiced the idea and who pushed it. In act I, scene 7 Macbeth had decided that he would not go through with the act, however he was convinced otherwise by his wife, who questioned his manhood through quotes such as “When you durst do it, then you were a man; And, to be more then what you were, you would be so much more the man” (act I, seven 7). She worked on Macbeth’s ambition and filled his mind with ideas of power. Combined with his tragic flaw, it was almost impossible for Macbeth to resist that temptation. It was ultimately Lady Macbeth who spurred him to murder Duncan.Update: Macbeth was not a typical villain, for whiles he did kill people he felt guilt and remorse for his acts. In the scene following the discovery of Ducans murdered body (act II), Macbeth showed great difficulty in hiding his remorse. This contrasted with his wife, who could easily hide the truth and forge innocence. He was also aware of the consequences that could arise from his actions, as seen in the ‘if it were when tis done’ soliloquy in act I, scene 7. Most other villains created by Shakespeare did not suffer from this same form of guilt as Macbeth, guilt that eventually drove him crazy. This emotion is shown in the scene where Macbeth sees an apparition of Banqo at the banquet. This apparition was a reflection of his remorse for the crime he had committed and his fear of being caught. This guilt and knowledge of the consequences of his actions is one of the main things that separates’ Macbeth from a typical villain and helps make him a tragic hero.

INTRODUCTIONIn 'Macbeth,' the eponymous character fulfils his own overwhelming thirst for power by committing what was viewed to be worst possible crime: regicide. This initial murder of King Duncan acts as a starting point for Macbeth's reign of terror, and results in him no longer being viewed as a courageous warrior, but instead a fraudulent tyrant, eventually leading to his death at the hands of Macduff. Shakespeare uses the crime, its initial aftermath and its long-term consequences to develop the main characters of the play, deepening the audience's understanding primarily of Macbeth but also of Lady Macbeth and Banquo.

According to the Medieval Scottish society in which the play is set, King Duncan is the representative of God on Earth; to kill Duncan is to betray the deity himself, resulting in damnation to an eternity in hell. Where Duncan represents the light of God, the Witches represent the powers of darkness. In this way, it is not solely the act itself which alienates Macbeth from God; in committing the murder, Macbeth is also fulfilling the prophecies of evil. Macbeth later actively seeks out the help of the Witches, certifying his kingship not as a rule by divine right, and not even simply as the rule of a...

-‘Macbeth’ by William Shakespeare is a play in which great contrasts lie between its main characters. ‘Macbeth’ is a tragic play, set in eleventh century Scotland, which explores the psychological and political effects of the eponymous character, who commits regicide in order to fulfil his own ambition and is eventually killed as a result of his tyrannical actions.

Macbeth is a profound character and an exceptional one; in itself, his place at the heart of Shakespeare’s play ensures this. The strength of his nature, both positive and negative, is stressed through Shakespeare’s comparison of him with other key characters: primarily his co-commander, Banquo and his wife, Lady Macbeth. Where relation to Banquo reveals the weakness of his mortality, comparison with his own wife and his own reflection on his evil deeds renders him thoughtful and profound.

From the very beginning of the play, Shakespeare illustrates the contrast in the character and consciences of Macbeth and Banquo. This initial difference in reaction is very important, marking the beginning of the different paths on which the two characters proceed throughout rest of the play. It is a meeting with three witches which sparks a yearning for kingship in Macbeth, after...

-In the play Macbeth, some of the most significant characters rely upon their ability to equivocate, in order to hide their treacherously covetous, or purely malicious intentions. Most characters take part in these acts of subterfuge, but the three witches, the porter and above all, Macbeth are the most significant. While Macbeth employs these tactics of speech manipulation and ambiguity as the others do, he eventually falls victim to this game of trickery himself, a captive of his own inability to see the deception hidden in the witches’ words.

When Macbeth is introduced, he is undoubtedly a respected and noble Thane, with blatant loyalty to his country. It is not until the witches’ prophecies tempt him with the possibility of a future kingship that he becomes the deceptive, dishonest murderer that plagues Scotland in the later acts of the play. Macbeth’s skill at deception is first put to the test after his murder of Duncan, when, with the intent of appearing innocent, he attempted to mislead Banquo, Macduff, Malcolm, and the other nobles into believing he was nothing more then his king’s loyal subject. He strived to appear just as appalled and surprised as they were by this brutal and unforeseen murder. In an effort to...

-Shakespeare frequently makes use of the adjective ‘weird’ in his tragedy Macbeth. Along with bringing to mind the supernatural and unearthly, the word also forces one to consider the nature of the word’s antonym – what is normal? Macbeth’s emotions and actions become progressively more disjointed through the course of the play. When ultimately he loses his ability to feel emotion, Macbeth also loses his humanity; in other words, he becomes ‘weird.’

The prophecy catalyzing Macbeth’s demise comes from the “Weird Sisters,” and ‘weirdness’ is prevalent throughout the play. For example, Ross says: “Threescore and ten I can remember well: Within the volume of which time I have seen hours dreadful and things strange; but this sore night hath trifled former knowings” (2:4:1-4). Ghosts appear frequently in Macbeth, as do paranormal occurrences. Shakespeare does not use supernatural elements merely to drive the plot, however; elements of weirdness help elucidate Macbeth’s tragic flaw by forcing the reader to define normalcy.

In order to fully understand the importance of ‘weird,’ one must also examine the play’s other themes and symbols. The play’s opening lines are full of dialectic speech and paradox. The Weird Sisters’ speech is full of...

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Shakespeare's Macbeth is a male dominated play. Most of the noticeable characters in Macbeth are male, including Macbeth, Macduff, Banquo, King Duncan, and Malcolm. Despite the lack of female power by numbers, Lady Macbeth proves to be a formidable force of influence. She accomplishes this by psychologically switching genders when the situation is more favorable to a particular sex. Each gender switch brings Lady Macbeth closer to what she thinks she wants. However, switching genders is a feat which requires immense mental strength and towards the end of the play, Lady Macbeth's mental power wanes with guilt and eventually leads to an untimely death.

Lady Macbeth's first mental gender transformation occurs after she reads the letter sent to her from Macbeth and hears of King Duncan's intended visit. She pleads to spirits in Act 1, Scene 5, "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." Lady Macbeth is aware that her intentions of murdering King Duncan are not considered lady-like. Hence, she commands the spirits to "unsex" her, or to strip her of her female sex and replace it with...

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Come you spirit,

That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here.

--Lady Macbeth

More so than any other Shakespearean play, Macbeth functions the most vividly as a psychoanalysis of the state of humanity's development of a sense of sexual self. Now, in a time where terms such a transgendered, pansexual, or heteroflexible are integrated into daily conversation as much as articles of political dispute or details of the latest Yankees outing, the play is all the more fascinating because it validates both Shakespeare's breadth of genius and our developing notion of what it means to be a sexual human. The play functions in essence as a looking glass for any age into which one might peer to observe the manner in which we have grown or perhaps not grown; it is an honest reflection of society and socio-sexual prescriptions in all of their positive and negative ramifications. The play compels us explicitly to challenge those and implicitly all social prescriptions that limit our humanity because of ideas engendered by imperfect cultural evolution.

Specifically, the play is about social pressures and the consequent fissures within sexual identity. Readings of the line quoted above may eventually lead some or even many readers to...

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Starting with the witches' assertion that âfair is foul, and foul is fair,â? it is clear that Macbeth is a play in which appearances will be deceiving and morality will be muddled. From the dialogue between King Duncan, Malcolm, and the wounded sergeant in Scene 2, it would appear that Macbeth is the most âfairâ? of all of the figures mentioned, while Macdonwald the Thane of Cawdor, who betrayed the Scots, is most âfoul.â? This can be inferred mainly from the sergeantâs conversation with Duncan in Scene 2, in which he describes Macbethâs valor in combat against the âmercilessâ? Macdonwald. The wounded sergeant describes Macbeth as âbrave,â? and then tells the king that âwell he deserves that name.â? King Duncan echoes the sergeant's admiration with his reply: âo valiant cousin! Worthy gentleman!â? In the next few lines, the sergeant describes Macbethâs unrelenting assault on the enemy, and compares the magnitude of his slaughter to âanother Golgotha,â? which is the place where Christ was crucified. On the other hand, Macdonwald is spoken of with disgust, and since the reader is given only the Scotsâ point of view, we share in their disdain. According to the wounded sergeant, Macdonwald is âworthy to be a rebel,â? which...

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In Greek tragedy, inevitability plays an important role, portraying the protagonists as pawns of the fates, whose roles in the tragedy are distributed arbitrarily and without justice. The outcomes of these roles are decided before the play even begins, for example in Sophocles' Antigone, and thus any actions of the characters during the play are futile, as they cannot affect the outcome. In the worst tragedy of all, the characters must return again and again to play out the same roles, as the wheel turns.

Of course, Shakespeare and the other Jacobean playwrights were not subject to the conventions of Greek tragedy, but nevertheless would have been aware of it and been influenced by it. Inevitability is important in Shakespeare's tragedies too, both as a dramatic device and as a tool in conveying the play's message. A feeling of inevitability keeps the audience enthralled as it watches apparently hopeful events in the knowledge that there is an inexorable downturn sometime in the near future. This leads the audience to sympathise more with the tragic hero, as one caught up in circumstances beyond his control, although of his own making (I will return to this point later). There is an important difference between...

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There is truth to Duncan's line "There's no art to find the mind's construction in the face," for throughout Shakespeare's play Macbeth, both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are not what they most often appear to be. Even Macbeth does not know the extent to which Lady Macbeth's "heart is sorely charged" (p.163). To other characters in the play, Lady Macbeth is merely a 'woman'- one who faints at the word 'murder' and cannot withstand the pressures a 'man' can. Macbeth is seen as a butcher, though in actuality he is "a coward in [his] own esteem" (p.41). Macbeth is a man and Lady Macbeth a woman, yet we see that just as "fair is foul, and foul is fair (p.7), Macbeth plays the role of a 'woman', as Lady Macbeth acts as a 'man'.

Lady Macbeth wants to replace every ounce of compassion and kindness with "direst cruelty", hoping that the dismissal of all her gentle virtues will "stop [the] passage to remorse" (p.33). She calls upon the evil spirits to "unsex" her so that she can rid herself of all signs of femininity (p.33). Lady Macbeth commands the "murd'ring ministers" to "make thick [her]...

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In Shakespeare's Macbeth, Macbeth undergoes a profound and gradual evolution throughout the play. He regresses from a logical, compassionate, caring, and conscientious man, to an entirely apathetic, amoral paradigm of cynical numbness. Macbeth's erosion from logical to irrational, from compassionate to indifferent, progresses slowly but definitively. At his peak, Macbeth proves that he is capable of both rationality and love as he contemplates murdering Duncan. His final decision in this matter illustrates this ethical peak perfectly. Later, we see evidence of a descent from this when he is deciding to kill Banquo: his motives change, and he becomes less logical, less able to see the reasons "against the deed." Finally, Macbeth shows that he has lost it all. Sanity, compassion, logic, everything is gone that once had been so evident at the beginning of the play. Macbeth becomes jaded and cynical, apathetically hopeless, a mass of entity that had once lived in honor.

In trying to decide whether or not to murder Duncan in his soliloquy in Act I Scene VII, both the process by which Macbeth makes his decision (a thoughtful pro-con list) and the final adamant decisionthat he will not murder his kingare indicative of...

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