Ambition - correct answer The weird sisters' prophecies spur both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to try to fulfil their ambitions, but the witches never make Macbeth or his wife do anything, they act on their own. Macbeth allows his (unhealthy) ambition to overwhelm him. Lady Macbeth is also crushed...
Ambition - correct answer The weird sisters' prophecies spur both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to try
to fulfil their ambitions, but the witches never make Macbeth or his wife do anything, they act on their
own. Macbeth allows his (unhealthy) ambition to overwhelm him. Lady Macbeth is also crushed with
guilt. They both sacrifice their morals to achieve power.
Fate - correct answer The Weird Sisters tell Macbeth and Banquo their prophecies. By trying to
master fate once, Macbeth puts himself in the position of having to master fate always. At every instant,
he has to struggle against those parts of the witches' prophecies that don't favour him. Macbeth
becomes so obsessed with his fate that he becomes delusional: he becomes unable to see the half-
truths behind the witches' prophecies. By trying to master fate, he brings himself to ruin.
Violence - correct answer It begins in battle, contains the murder of men, women, and children, and
ends not just with a climactic siege but the suicide of Lady Macbeth and the beheading of its main
character, Macbeth. Every violent act, even those done for selfless reasons, seems to lead inevitably to
the next. "Blood will to Blood"
Nature vs The Unnatural - correct answer If there was political order, then there would be natural
order. Macbeth shows this connection between the political and natural world: when Macbeth disrupts
the social and political order by murdering Duncan and usurping the throne, nature goes haywire. The
unnatural events of the physical world emphasise the horror of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's acts, and
mirrors the warping of their souls by ambition.
Manhood - correct answer Lady Macbeth challenges Macbeth when he decides not to kill Duncan,
Banquo refuses to join Macbeth in his plot, Lady Macduff questions Macduff's decision to go to England,
and on and on. 'Macbeth' questions and examines manhood itself. Does a true man take what he wants
no matter what it is, as Lady Macbeth believes? Or does a real man have the strength to restrain his
desires, as Banquo believes? All of Macbeth can be seen as a struggle to answer this question about the
nature and responsibilities of manhood.
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