in depth analysis of language, structure, context and subtext of quotes for 8 themes in macbeth with key moments in each theme
the themes are: ambition, deception, fate, guilt, violence, nature, macbeth’s effect on scotland and kingship
ambition
this play shows how ambition is dangerous as it can cause you to spiral out of
control.
‘I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, only vaulting ambitions,
which o’erleaps itslef and falls on the other’
having only ambition to motivate him is dangerous as it might cause him to
jump too far he ends up falling back down (essentially he’ll be so ambitious
that it leads to his downfall)
proleptic irony as it foreshadows the way his ambition and greed for power
will eventually be what gets him killed.
Ambition as a tool for manipulation:
lady Macbeth uses ambition to insult Macbeth and call him inadequate to
convince him to kill Duncan
‘art not without ambition but without the illness should attend it’
repetition of ‘without’ emphasises she is belittling him and pointing out
his flaws.
he has ambition to be king but he doesn’t have the cruelty needed to
achieve this goal so his ambition is useless.
then in act 1 sc7 she continues to use Macbeth’s ambition but lack of
courage to provoke him
‘art thou afeared to be the same in thine own act and valour as thou art
in desire?’
‘like the poor cat in the adage’
compares him to a story where a cat wants to catch a fish but doesn’t
want to get it’s feet wet
ꕥ quotes + analysis 1
, compares him to a simple story to point out the stupidity of his actions
and how he needs to act.
urging him to be braver and act on his ambition
macbeth spends a long time debating the morality of his first murder but
once his ambition has taken over, he has no hesitation n in killing Banquo
to achieve his goals.
ambition can make people immoral and change the way they think
ambition changes Macbeth from brave to a coward ridden with guilt
Duncan describes macbeth
‘alls too weak for brave Macbeth’
‘valiant cousin, worthy gentleman’
also compares him to predator animals
‘yet as sparrows, eagles, or the hare, the lion’
Ross compares him ‘bellona’s bridegroom’ saying he’s like Mars, god of
war
However when he is plotting to kill Banquo, he hires murderers to do so
instead of doing it himself, he has become a coward and more like lady M
as he manipulates the murderers to kill instead of ordering them to.
context: (why Macbeth’s ambition to be king would have been problematic)
great chain of being – everything had an order/ position in life and God
conducts whether things move up
Therefore seen as transgressive to want to move up
macbeth agrees with this at the start of the play: ‘to be king stands not within
the prospects of belief, no more than to be Cawdor’
(it is impossible to become king)
but he says that is is impossible as much as it is impossible to become
thane of cawdor.
just lines later he is made thane of Cawdor
ꕥ quotes + analysis 2
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