- All themes are covered in this document with grade 9 analysis, however there are some characters which i have not completed these are Banquo, Macduff, malcom etc..
- The characters covered include: Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and The witchess.
- The themes covered include: Ambition, Guilt, The Super...
Ambition Quotes
- “I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent but only Vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself”
T- Extended Metaphor
A- Macbeth's intense ambition is revealed to be the only thing driving him to commit regicide. He
desperately wants to be king and a leader. In his mind, being king is the only solution to his issues (of
which there are few) and it is his ambition which becomes his tragic flaw.
- Compares his ambition to a wild horse which he cannot contain, and will eventually lead to his
downfall
- Lady Macbeth is interpreted to be this spur which Macbeth desires and may be linked to the
prophecies made by the witches which is obscure as witches were connected with the themes of
darkness and death suggesting that Macbeth is following orders from the devil who is associated
with, evil spirits and sorcery
“Screw your courage to the sticking place, and we’ll not fail”
- highlights LM's ambition.
- it's also using the imperative "screw" which suggests that LM is in control.
- The use of the word won't suggest that Lady Macbeth is very confident in herself and her ideas, but
it is down to Macbeth’s “courage” - this is almost a test. Stay brave and everything will work out
- this is very unconventional as at the time women would have been expected to be submissive to
their husband
- Lady Macbeth is motivating her husband to go through with killing Duncan.
“This dead butcher and his fiend like queen”
- the use of the word butcher suggests that Macbeth was simply committing the murders, not
feeling guilty and not being the person who planned the murders.
- the use of the word fiend presents LM as the real villain of the story. yet gender roles are still
conformed to through the word "his" as it shows his authority over LM
"Stars, hide your fires; let not light see my black and deep desires"
- Stars and Light seen as traditionally positive are contrasted with "black" and "deep"
- This strong visual imagery presents Heaven and Hell in opposition with Macbeth firmly on the side
of evil. The use of the word ''deep'' portends unthinkable evil deeds
- Macbeth's deeds will be so horrific that even his eye will "fear" what his hand has done.
Context & Evaluation of Macbeth's lack of ambition
- Shakespeare links having ambition here with evil and committing evil deeds.
- Lady Macbeth encouraging Macbeth to murder King Duncan because of her own ambition. This
would be uncommon to the Jacobean audience because women were traditionally not allowed to
have a say in the 'finer life'.
- Shakespeare has intentionally presented her this way to emphasize her ambition over Macbeth's.
, Guilt Quotes
'Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?” - Macbeth
- hyperbole - emphasises the gravity of his crime. Macbeth recognises that he has committed an
unforgivable sin.
- The metaphor used here suggests that not even all the water in the world could wash the guilt
form Macbeth's hands, this shows his immediate regret
- his guilt will poison the world around him
- mythical allusion - avoids addressing the real God due to the grandeur of his unforgivable sin
- the question isn’t whether he will ever be able to wash the blood off, but whether the phycological
burden will ever leave him
- 'blood' motif of guilt throughout the novel
“A little water clears us of this deed” - Lady Macbeth
- We encounter Macbeths Hallucination at the start of the play when he feels his hands are
irrevocably bloodstained, but Lady Macbeth ignores it and behaves as if a “little water (can wash it
away)”
- Ironic as Macbeth later asserts that not even “Neptune's” the God of seas is capable of washing it
away
- Implying that this atrocity which both of them did is unforgivable even to a God who is regarded as
“merciless” cannot overlook such an act
- Suggesting that Shakespeare shows that neither a 'little water' nor an 'ocean' will wash away their
guilt.
- collective pronoun "us" acts as to calm her husband as she places blame on both of them
“All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand” - Lady Macbeth
- her guilt parallels with that of Macbeth
- hyperbolic imagery used to accentuate the depth of her guilt
- Arabia was the source of all perfume in Jacobean times
- Lady Macbeth is sleepwalking and washing her hands, and she is filled with remorse, as evidenced
by the expression “small hands”
- This is ironic since at first she mocked and taunted Macbeth, but now that when her hands are
smeared in blood, she proclaims that nothing will ever be able to erase the blood from her hands
- Macbeth and Lady Macbeths anguish will finally lead to their death signifying that what has been
done cannot be undone.
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