The Ultimate GCSE Grade 9 Analysis Bundle for
'MACBETH'
GCSE Macbeths Ambition & Masculinity (Act 1 Scene 7 )
Grade 9 Analysis
Shakespeare uses Macbeth’s masculine nature and the motif of ambition as a pawn to publish his views
that the act of regicide must be abolished and taken away from the human mind as this significant act
will have a rippling effect in society. This is evident when Shakespeare makes use of the personification
to describe how Macbeth is aware of his brutal mindset as he believes he wants the ‘’stars to hide your
fire’’ so society are not able to see his ‘’dark’’ and ‘’deep desires’’.This suggests that Macbeth is wanting
his secret of yearning for the throne to be hidden and not to be exposed but only kept to himself and
Lady Macbeth, emphasizing how Macbeth's righteousness and ‘’noble’’ character is shifting away from
him but is being overwhelmed by cruelty and cupidity. The use of the violent noun ‘’fire’’, developing a
very an aggressive tone, suggests that although Macbeth establishes the consequences of becoming King
by committing regicide, he still wants to become dominant and hubristically independent in his ways,
conveying Macbeth's lack of fear and ‘’ avaricious’’ character. Similarly, on a Biblical level, this concept
of hiding the ‘’fire’’ also has references to hell and its eternal agony, emphasizing how Macbeth knows
that his act will force him to combat eternal damnation in the after life but still wants to endure the
qualities of being a King and the dominance he will be able to possess over society, clearly showing his
ruthlessness towards God and disobedience.
Alternatively, the idea that Macbeths is commit regicide when the ‘’stars’’ are out, connoting darkness
and night, suggests how Macbeth is frightened of the sequences that will be expressed if he becomes
King as this concept of killing King Duncan in darkness shows how Macbeth wants to limit the chances as
much as possible of anyone finding out that he killed King Duncan so that he won't be hated by society
and hos flaws wont be able to be easily expressed due to a lack of witnesses. . Therefore, through this
instability of the act of regicide, Shakespeare is hinting how even though it will be Macbeth's fault for
choosing the path on becoming King, there is still an evil driving force that is forcing Macbeth to act
upon this deed which must be part of the blame for regicide. In this way, it is strongly argued that the
witches also play a big role in defining Macbeth's future and ‘’vaulting ambition’’ as because of there
prophecies of ‘’fair is foul’’ and the battles are ‘’lost’’ and ‘’won’’, Shakespeare it emphasizing how they
are the catalyst that is forcing Macbeth's fate to come ever so close whereby they are forcing him to
, metaphorically ‘’fall’’. However, It is also critically argued that through this act of pleading the ‘’stars’’
rather than asking God to help Macbeth, it conveys how it is Macbeth's choice of choosing to distance
himself away from God rather than the witches, as the trust of ‘’stars’’,portrays God as a useless figure in
life where the ‘’stars’’ are more beneficial and important in Macbeth’s life. In this way,
Shakespeare exceptionally utilizes domineering language and masculine tendencies to present Macbeth
as very typical person for his time period and as an anchor to express his views on Jacobean perception
of what it means to be masculine and its unpleasant effect on people
This concept that it is Macbeth's brutal choice making that forced the act of regicide to be present is
further backed up by the concept of the divine rights of being. Through a Jacobean audience perspective,
this was a time where there was a division in how people were perceived in society, called the great
chain of being, whereby the Kings were naturally on top of this great chain of being and closet of God
and the lower class people were the furthest away whom were forced to work in factories and undergo
harsh labour . However, since Macbeth has gone against this natural order, it is evident why Macbeth
then goes on to seeing a ‘’dagger before’’ him and become hallucinated as he has clearly abused the
natural power of Earth, therefore causing a natural disorder to occur and obstruct the natural way of
living life.
GCSE Macbeths Lack Of Guilt (Act 2 Scene 1 )
Grade 9 Analysis
Shakespeare uses Macbeth's lack of guilt as a vehicle to showcase his views that a regicide is an act that
must be made more aware of in a Jacobean society as this can have a rippling effect in wider Britain. This
is evident through the use of hyperbole when Macbeth is yearning for purity by wanting ‘’all great
Neptune ocean to wash this blood clean from my hand?’’, which suggests that there is so much blood on
Macbeth that he even doesn't know whether the whole ocean will be able to clean him and take the
blood away from him, conveying how this act of regicide can be easily expressed to society due to
Macbeth's lack of preparation and eagerness for the throne. However, we could also argue that this may
seem ironic as the fact that he is asking such a huge amount of water to come to clean the blood of his
‘’hand’’(noun), which is such a small size in comparison to the ‘’ocean’’, may suggest how Macbeth is not
drenched in blood but may illustrate how this ‘’blood’’, having connotations of severe injury and
destruction, reflects how nature and God's creation will also suffer and have detrimental consequences
since there is a clear misconception between the volume of sea and blood on Macbeth. Therefore, we
can critically argue that this is why Shakespeare swiftly navigates out readers' attention to the natural
disorder, whereby the ‘’horses ate each other’’ and the sky retained ‘’dark’’, directly after King Duncan
fate to back up this argument that regicide will cause jarring consequences by sowing the seed of
discontent in Jacobean society.
