MORALITY

 Moral conflict – Macbeth knows that Murdering is absolutely wrong, conflicted over
whether not to do it anyway, and knowingly go against what he knows is right
 Invites us to question the extent to which external forces influence Macbeth’s moral struggle
– can be seen as victim of fate or as influenced by supernatural forces
 Despite being influenced by others, Macbeth is never convinced that murdering Duncan is
the right thing to do
 Suggests overall that acting immorally is a conscious decision

KINGSHIP
 The successor wasn’t always the eldest son – Duncan officially names Malcolm – shows he’s
considering the future, wants stability and security
 Duncan an example of an ideal king – he’s described as ‘gracious’ and inspires loyalty in
subjects, seen as a ‘most sainted king’ – rightful ruler of Scotland, ‘temperance’ – shows his
calm and peaceful manner
 Macbeth – ‘tyrant’, rules selfishly, using violence and lies – “false” and “deceitful” – rarely
referred to as ‘King’, not accepted as true king; Macbeth’s unlawful reign reflected by the
overturned natural order – day turns to night and horses eat each other
 Good king should be holy – appointed by God, Macbeth ‘devilish’ – DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS

GOOD VS EVIL
 Classic tale of good triumphing over evil, the moral are rewarded; the immoral are punished
 A story of moral justice, battle for the throne becomes a story of good and evil
 Macbeth has potential for greatness – a ‘noble’ person but is overcome by his evil desires
 Moral murder – rewarded for fighting against traitors; heroic code - a collection of principles
that dictate how a nobleman should act in order to gain honour
 Punishment for the immoral – both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, Macbeth’s punishment –
instability from murdering Duncan, hallucinations “dagger” and Banquo’s ghost, is ultimately
killed by Macduff, called a ‘hell-hound’
 Macbeth acknowledges the immorality of the murder of Duncan – ‘he’s here in double trust’
– hospitality an important principle in Shakespearean times
 Lady Macbeth’s punishment – goes mad from guilt, sleepwalks, dies as punishment for her
immorality, Malcolm suggests she took her own life “took her own life” – cruelty and
aggression linked with masculinity – “unsex” and “direst cruelty”, femininity holds her back
from violent and evil actions
 Masculine ideas of evil focus on violence and bloodshed, Lady Macbeth represents an other
form of evil – more feminine manipulation – witches and LM
 Battles used to represent good and evil – Scotland vs Norway, ‘merciless Macdonald’ and
‘villanies of nature’, play ends with a battle against Macbeth to restore the rightful king
(cyclical structure)

GENDER
 Explored by the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth; show how gender seems
to be defined more by our personality and actions
 Lady Macbeth initially sees Macbeth as too kind ‘too full o’th’milk of human kindness’ – milk
as in breastmilk, links kindness to femininity
 Macbeth’s masculinity under threat – “are you a man?”, Lady Macbeth makes Duncan’s
murder a test of his manliness
 GENDER ROLES in relationships - traditionally the man seen as more dominant, in Macbeth,
it’s initially Lady Macbeth, dominates the conversation, contradicts traditional gender roles
 Defying traditional gender roles – both to an extent defy their gender roles
  Shakespeare may be suggesting that there is something unnatural or incongruous about
men and women defying gender roles; Lady Macbeth asks the the ‘spirits’ to unsex her – the
supernatural forces indicate the incongruity of her request (Lady Macbeth needs to defy
nature to become more masculine, against the natural order of things)
 “take my milk for gall” – suggests Lady Macbeth needs to pollute and corrupt her body to
become more masculine, unnatural desires, would corrupt future generations, bad for wider
society
 Macbeth arguably becomes more effeminate as the play progresses – starts a hero, is
manipulated by LADY MACBETH, cowardly murders Duncan, goes mad, loses a fight to
Macduff
 Male femininity a cause/product of immorality
 Their tragic ends signal the unnaturalness of defying gender roles

WOMEN & CHILDREN

 Children = lineage – continue the blood line after death, inherit and secure the family name
 Fleance becomes a threat – if he inherits the crown
 Women – role to give birth
 Necessary for Lady Macbeth to lose her femininity “come to my woman’s breast / and take
my milk for gall”
 Lady Macduff – contrast to Lady Macbeth, good and caring, shows love and affection
towards her son

POWER
 God-given and unnatural power – DIVINE right of kings, necessary for their power to be
taken away unnaturally
 Lady Macbeth has power over her husband – manipulates him into killing Duncan
 Limitation of human power, Duncan and the Macbeths death; the irony of the witches
revelation and Macduff’s birth highlights humans lack of power
 The witches misleading Macbeth shows the power the supernatural have over humans –
only ones with real power, start the whole series of events
 Characters call on higher powers for support – Lady Macbeth ‘unsex me here’, Macbeth calls
on the ‘stars’ to hide their fires
 Meaning of having power – physical power at the start of the play, loses power over his
mind, loses his power as a hero and lists things he has lost
 Arguably, moral integrity also a power- cowardly kills Duncan
 Macbeth has never had power over his destiny – pawn of fate, witches prophesize him
becoming King and death at the hand of Macduff
 Doesn’t have power over his wife

AMBITION
 Linked to evil and evil deeds, motivates Macbeth to commit evil deeds, how ambition
can spiral out of control
 Does not seem ambitious at start – surprised when given Cawdor
 Lady Macbeth more ambitious, thinks Macbeth is too kind
 Macbeth’s ambition eventually causes his downfall, guilt and paranoia
 Loses everything by the end; is aware that ambition often “o’erleaps itself / And falls” –
foreshadows his own tragic downfall
 A warning against ambition that isn’t balanced by reason or morals, ambition stronger
than his morals “I have no spur / to prick the sides of my intent, but only / vaulting
ambition”
  Banquo is ambitious for his sons, but doesn’t act on the predictions in the violent way
that Macbeth does, “I fear thou play’dst most foully for’t”
VIOLENCE
 Macbeth is shown as a hero at the start despite his violent nature – Praised and rewarded
for killing MacDonald ‘Til he unseam’d him from the nave to th’chops’
 Violent imagery – when LADY MACBETH persuades her husband to murder king Duncan,
‘plucked the nipple from his boneless gums,/and dashed the brains out’
 Murder of children – Macduff’s son – violent and upsetting, children symbolic of innocence
 MACBETH’S DEATH – dies as a traitor, his head displayed – ‘the usurper’s cursed head’

SUPERNATURAL
 The witches – start the play, incredible significance, manipulate Macbeth
 Lady Macbeth calls on spirits to ‘unsex’ her, labels her as evil
 Cause key events of the play, Macbeth influenced by the witches ‘what man dare I dare…’ –
starts speaking in rhyme to Banquo’s ghost
 Macbeth has visions throughout the play, ‘is this a dagger which I see me before me’ –
hallucinations or premonitions
 Ghost of Banquo – symptom of his guilt, "thou canst not say I did it. Never shake thy gory locks
at me."

MADNESS
 After the murder of Duncan, Macbeth believes that he can never have peace, thinks he
hears a voice saying ‘Macbeth doth murder sleep”
 “o, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife” – can’t control his thoughts, constant threat
 Banquo’s ghost – Lady Macbeth tells him it’s his imagination, seeing things that women talk
about in fairy tales ‘a woman’s story at a winter’s fire”
 Lady Macbeth – eventually speaks in prose rather than iambic pentameter, breakdown of
her mind during sleepwalking scene, “Here's the smell of the blood still.  All the perfumes of
Arabia  will not sweeten this little hand. Oh, Oh, Oh!”; Lady Macbeth expresses everything
she constrains when awake

BLOOD
 A1S2 – symbolizes Macbeth’s bravery “smok’d with bloody execution”
 The dagger Macbeth sees as a vision becomes covered in blood as the consequence of
this “bloody business”
 Blood = guilt, size of his crime – “will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood / clean
from my hand”
 Macbeth tells LADY MACBETH “it will have blood they say: blood will have blood”-
murder has consequences
 Lady Macbeth sleepwalking, “Out, damned spot! Out, I say!”

SLEEP
 Sleep representative of innocence in Macbeth
 Banquo cannot sleep – nightmares after seeing the witches – ‘and yet I would not sleep’ –
not innocent from supernatural influence
 After Duncan’s murder – Macbeth hears a voice cry `sleep no more / Macbeth doth murder
sleep’
 Lady Macbeth sleepwalks – symptom of disturbed mind

APPEARANCES VS DECEPTION
  Macbeth’s skills of deception improve throughout the play “look like th’ innocent flower /
but be the serpent under ‘t”- Lady Macbeth worried Macbeth won’t be able to deceive the
guests, suggests he’s easy to read
 Improves – manages to look like a loyal subject who is upset about Duncan’s death
 DONALDBAIN – ‘there’s daggers in men’s smiles’ – suggest they’re surrounded by people
who pretend to be friends but pose a threat in reality, aware of appearances being
deceiving,
 DUNCAN – “there’s no art / to find the mind’s construction in the face”- can’t see people’s
true intentions, doesn’t learn from the previous Cawdor’s betrayal, is betrayed by the
Macbeths
 HECATE AND THE WITCHES – mislead Macbeth to lead him towards his downfall, “Fair is
foul, and foul is fair”, “None of woman born / shall harm Macbeth”

FATE VS FREE WILL

 FATE - The idea that everything has already been decided – people can’t change what
happens to them
 FREE WILL – human choose their own course of action, future depends on these choices
 If it’s fate Macbeth can’t be blamed as it was destined to happen, however if free will exists
then Macbeth’s own choices lead to his downfall
 Macbeth believes it’s fate at the start – ‘chance may crown me / without my stir’, he’ll
become king without doing anything to make it happen
 Aware of his fate but believes only his actions will fulfill it
 Malcolm named heir – Macbeth realizes that he needs to act to be King “That is a step on
which I must fall down, or else overleap”
 Tries to prevent fate by killing Banquo and FLeance – thinks he can change what happens
 At the end of the play he believes people aren’t in control of their lives
 Deliberate choice – ‘we will proceed no further’
 Self-fulfilling prophecies
 Could ignore them like Banquo

MACBETH
 A brave hero, but violent, “Bellona’s bridegroom”, comparing him to Mars, God of war
 Feels most comfortable on a battlefield – doesn’t have to worry about morality
 Appropriately dies in battle – “I will not yield” – comes a full circle, returns to the brave
soldier he was in Act 1
 Ambitious – “I have no spur / to prick the sides of my intent, but only / vaulting ambition”
 Cold and calculating killer, murders Duncan, Banquo and Macduff’s family
 Lets himself be infliuenced by his wife, his ambition is stronger than his morality
 Does have a conscience – feels uncertain or guilty ‘Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this
blood clean from my hands”, reluctant to kill Duncan who has “honoured” him, “we will
proceed no further in this business”
 His guilt leads him to hallucinate and have mental unbalance, Banquo’s ghost and “Macbeth
doth murder sleep”
 His violent ambition has ruined all his noble characteristics “hell-hound” and “abhorred
tyrant”
 World-weary and cynical by the end of the play – thinks life means nothing, “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.”
 Easily influenced, wouldn’t have killed Duncan if not for LADY MACBETH, however acts alone
later on, “Be innocent of the knowledge”
  Influenced by the supernatural – trusts the witches, “two truths are told”, dagger may be
supernatural, seeks them out again,
 Begins to eventually mirror them – “what man dare I dare, approach like the rugged Russian
bear”

MACDUFF
 Loyal subject. – ‘o horror, horror, horror’, struggles to speak about what he’s seen
 Doesn’t go to the feast in Act3 S4 – shows he doesn’t support Macbeth’s rule over Scotland
 Flees England to the rightful King, to Malcolm
 Wishes to restore Scotland to ‘wholesome days’ – patriotic, “Bleed, bleed, poor country!”;
Puts his country before his family – Goes to England but leaves his wife and children
unprotected
 HONOURABLE FATHER – Macbeth becomes the wronged hero who wants to avenge the
deaths of his loved ones; “Tyrant, show thy face” ‘My wife and children’s ghosts will haunt
me still” – feels guilty about being unable to protect them, however doesn’t seem to enjoy
violence/killing – considers killing Macbeth a burden
 MACBETH V MACDUFF – symbolic of good vs evil, Macduff seeks revenge for his family;
Macduff’s destiny to kill Macbeth, circumstances of his birth, Macduff returns to the stage in
the final scene with Macbeth’s head
 Macduff is brave and a soldier – ‘I have no words:/My voice is a my sword”
 Grieves for his family “All my pretty ones? / Did you say all?”; untraditional masculinity – will
‘feel’ his grief ‘as a man’
 Kills Macbeth to restore the rightful line of succession but also to avenge his family – thinks
that his wife and children will ‘haunt’ hum until he kills Macbeth

LADY MACBETH
 Sees women’s maternal instincts as weak, wants to lose her femininity “take my milk for
gall”, “unsex me here”, “of direst cruelty”
 Co-conspirator – comes up with the plot to kill Duncan
 Cruel and ruthless – ambitious and manipulates Macbeth into doing what she wants, wants
to kill Duncan; more ruthless than her husband, ‘dashed his brains out’, instructs him “look
like th’ innocent flower / but be the serpent under ‘t”
 Clever – comes up with the plan to frame the servants for murder, pretends to faint to take
away attention from Macbeth’s unconvincing speech
 Dominant and confident, dominates over the conservation 1,5 - imperatives “come” “fill”,
“stop” and “take”
 SECRETIVE – good ad deception and hiding her true thoughts ‘honoured hostess’ - proves
this with her conservations with Duncan (dramatic irony)
 In the end driven mad by guilt, starts sleepwalking, her mind disturbed, “out damned spot” –
speaks in prose instead of iambic pentameter, loses the mask she wears when awake,
natural and more honest speech; guilt and isolation lead her to kill herself – can’t live herself
 More isolated at the end – Kept from things by Macbeth, can’t cope without her husband
 SLEEPWALKS - sign of possession in Jacobean times, sign of distress – “smell of blood still” ,
“all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand” – haunted by the blood –
symbolic of her guilt

DUNCAN
 Kind and loyal – a generous man who rewards loyalty – hands out honours to Macbeth and
Malcolm – nature metaphors show his nurturing nature
 “His virtues / will plead like angels”, “So clear in his great office”
  Too trusting, trusts Macbeth and doesn’t suspect him, describes the treacherous Thane of
Cawdor as “a gentleman on whom I built / An absolute trust”, ‘there’s no art / to find the
mind’s construction in the face’
 Presented as model king, creates conflict and guilt to Macbeth, “a most sainted King”- divine
right of Kings, ordained by God
 Less violent, not a soldier – doesn’t have traditional qualities of manliness, but shown as
kind, fair and generous – leads the audience to question whether a good leader should be a
violent warrior

STRUCTURE
 ACT 1 – exposition, meet the characters, told Macbeth is a brave warrior
 ACT 2 – rising action , lead up to the main part of the play, murder
 ACT 3 – climax, Banquo, things start to go wrong
 ACT 4 – main conflict, withches and Macduff
 ACT 5 – downfall
Almost cyclical structure – begins with Macbeth killing a traitor, killed for the same

IAMBIC PENTAMETER – ten syllables in pairs, - an unstressed followed by a stressed one

TROCHAIC TETRAMETER – a line that contains four sets of a stressed syllables followed by unstressed
– the witches, odd and unusual, words full of double-meanings,

ASIDES AND SOLILOQUIES – talking to the audience and expressing what they’re feeling, let the
audience understand what is motivatingthem
 Duncan’s murder – “whose horrid image doth unfix my hair” – seems scared about killing
the king, however instantly thinks of it, dramatic irony Duncan doesn’t realize
 LADY MACBETH – Act 1 Scene 5 – “hie thee hither / that I may pour my spirits in thine ear” –
plans to persuade Macbeth
 MACBETH’S DILEMMA – shows how convincing LADY MACBETH, moral dilemma
 Don’t know about Banquo’s murder

PATHETIC FALLACY – ‘thunder and lightning’ – chaos and disruption of the witches
DARKNESS -SYMBOLICAL OF EVIL, the stars disappear when Duncan is murdered

CONTEXT:
Macbeth is a tragedy. We can tell this as Macbeth (the protagonist) has a large ego (fatal flaw). This
flaw is made worse by Lady Macbeth (external pressure) who exploits this to get what she wants.
Macduff is the antagonist (Macbeth’s opposite) and there is a catharsis (the audience feeling horror
and regret).
In the Jacobean era people believed that Kings were chosen to rule by God so they had divine right
to rule. To kill a king was considered to be a crime against God.
In the Jacobean era, England was heavily Protestant and so was scared of witches. They were
believed to have made a pact with the devil in exchange for supernatural powers. 1563 Witchcraft
Act: Legal to kill witches. King James 1 was superstitious about witches.

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.