Lady Macbeth Questions Macbeths Manhood
From ambition to guilt, the themes of Macbeth contribute to its standing as one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies. Themes, or underlying ideas throughout a work of literature, add layers of meaning to Macbeth. Studying them will give you a deeper understanding of this important literary work.
Over and over again in Macbeth, characters discuss or debate about manhood: 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. Through these challenges, Macbeth questions and examines manhood itself.
- When Macbeth’s manhood is questioned by Lady Macbeth, he is forced to commit murder and other atrocities just to look man enough. This shows that men are expected to be courageous enough to carry out anything that needs to be done. Macbeth feels less of a man when his wife manipulates him by questions his manhood.
- Showing her ambition and strength, Lady Macbeth declares to Macbeth that with her own baby she would, “dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you have done to this.” There is a strong connection between manhood and violence as in Lady Macbeth’s speech she asks to be ‘unsexed’ so that she can help her husband commit murder.
- When the Ghost of Banquo appears at Macbeth's banquet, Macbeth reacts strongly, showing his fear both in words and body language. However, he is the only one who sees the ghost, so the banquet guests are astounded, and Lady Macbeth is angry that her husband is making a fool of himself. She takes him aside and asks, Are you a man?'
- Macbeth lacks strength of character, which his wife possesses. When Macbeth is hesitant to kill King Duncan, she persistently questions his manhood and makes him eager to prove his bravery. After killing the king, Lady Macbeth’s strength deteriorates. She is psychologically affected by the inhumane acts she pushed Macbeth into.
- Macbeth’s manliness is overridden in this part of the play because of Lady Macbeth’s power. Macbeth questions the success of their plan because he fears they will get caught. Lady Macbeth, however, never budges, which leaves Macbeth with only one choice, to follow through, not because he absolutely has to, but because a “woman” is.
Theme of Ambition in Macbeth
One of the strongest themes in Macbeth is ambition and the destruction that can happen when hubris and greed for power go unchecked. The title character of the play, Macbeth, is a Scottish general who listens to the prophecy of three witches. The witches tell him he will become king, planting the seed of ambition in his soul. Together with his wife, Macbeth commits increasingly more violent acts to achieve his goal, sacrificing everything for ambition. Eventually, this pursuit of goals becomes Macbeth’s hamartia, or fatal flaw.
As the play progresses, the tension increases between ambition and what must be sacrificed to achieve a goal. At various points, Macbeth himself is aware of this tension, as you can see in these lines where he describes how he needs his ambition to succeed:
I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself
And falls on th’other
At first, Macbeth is reluctant to resort to violence in service to his ambition, but with prompting from Lady Macbeth, he slides down the slippery slope of sacrificing others for his own ends. Lady Macbeth sees his reluctance and speaks about her own philosophy that power comes only to those who will set aside moral concerns:
Thou wouldst be great
Art not without ambition, but without
The illness should attend it.
Macbeth Theme of Appearance and Reality
Another significant theme in the play is the disparity between appearance and reality. How people perceive things, what their eyes see and what their own biases permit them to believe, is apparent throughout Macbeth. Even as the play opens, the witches speak to this theme, indicating nothing is what it may seem:
Fair is foul, and foul is fair.
Deception is a major part of Macbeth, which involves murder and cover-ups. When Macbeth kills Duncan, Lady Macbeth tells him they must both dress in their night clothes in order to appear innocent.
Lady Macbeth directly describes the importance of appearance and deception in Act I when she says the following:
To beguile the time,
Look like the time,
Look like th' innocent flower
But be the serpent under 't.
Theme of the Supernatural in Macbeth
Another important theme in Macbeth is the supernatural. It all starts with the witches, who offer the prophecy about Macbeth’s future. Even Macbeth’s statement about the witches shows how they are part of the supernatural:
Into the air; and what seem'd corporal melted
As breath into the wind. Would they had stay'd.
Later, Macbeth sees an apparition of a dagger, another element of the supernatural. He has difficulty determining whether the dagger is really there or is an element of his imagination:
'I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but
A dagger of the mind; a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?
Often, the theme of the supernatural in Macbeth directly relates to the theme of appearance vs. reality. Macbeth has an increasing level of difficulty telling the difference between something that is supernatural and something that his mind has created.
Macbeth Theme of Guilt
Guilt is one of the most significant themes in Macbeth, since the play deals directly with murder and other crimes. Macbeth’s guilt over the murder of Duncan and Banquo lead him to commit more crimes in order to cover up his acts. He is tormented by the guilt and concern over the consequences of his actions and loses his grasp on reality.
Lady Macbeth also feels guilt for her role in these crimes, and she tries to explain it away and give herself a clean slate:
What’s done
Cannot be undone.
However, she is unable to clear her conscience and continues to be tormented. She begins to go insane. When she speaks one of the most famous lines in the play, she is sleepwalking and dreaming that the blood of the king is on her hands and cannot be washed away”
Out, damned spot! Out, I say!
Theme of Femininity and Masculinity
Femininity and masculinity represent another important theme of Macbeth. Specifically, Shakespeare explores how both genders are related to violence.
In one scene, Macbeth urges his hired assassins to kill Banquo by questioning their masculinity. In another, Lady Macbeth questions Macbeth’s manhood when he waffles on his decision to kill Duncan:
When you durst do it,
Anno 1701 mac free download. Then you were a man.
The play also explores how femininity and violence are related, painting the character of Lady Macbeth as just as ambitious and ruthless as her husband but much more deceitful in her actions. Lady Macbeth chafes at her restrictions, wishing to be less constrained by the expectations for her gender:
Unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of direst cruelty.
Theme of Fate and Free Will in Macbeth
Another very important theme of Macbeth is the role of fate and how it interacts with free will. From the very beginning, Macbeth is following a false prophecy that the witches presented. Is he fated to kill Duncan? Or does he simply believe it is his fate and use his free will to make it happen?
In Act I, Macbeth states that he thinks that if fate has plans for him, it will require no action from him :
If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me,
Without my stir.
However, as the play progresses, Macbeth takes an ever more involved role in his own destiny, continuously making ruthless choices in the service of ambition. His actions show that he doesn't want to leave his future up to chance, despite what he may have said initially.
Understanding the Message Shakespeare Conveys
Theme is one of the essential elements of story writing, and it adds depth and significance to Macbeth. Beyond being a compelling story, the play has wisdom to impart. Understanding the themes allows the reader to understand what Shakespeare wanted the audience to take away from his work.
B.A. English
Themes and symbols in Macbeth are the basic and repeatedly common thoughts looked at in a literary work. Symbols refer to the forms, characters, and items used to stand for theoretical thoughts, concepts or ideas. There are a number of themes, motifs, and symbols that have been used in Macbeth as discussed and analyzed below:
Masculinity Quotes Macbeth
Major themes in Macbeth
Uncontrolled ambitions
One of the major themes in Macbeth by Shakespeare is the devastating effects that can occur if ambition is allowed to overstep the boundaries of morality. When ambition goes without being checked by moral controls, it can cause more harm than good. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth best bring out the destructive effects of unchecked ambitions. Even though it is not in Macbeth’s nature to commit evil deeds, the prospect of being in power, coupled with the pressure from his wife leads him to become overambitious and plot to do whatever it takes to get into power, including murder. The ambition of Macbeth and his wife to get into the power lead them to plot the murder of King Duncan and they eventually kill him. Ambition is seen to be the driving force in the play. Macbeth and his wife kill King Duncan because of their ambition to get into power. The ambition that Lady Macbeth has for her husband further inspires ambition within Macbeth to do whatever it takes to get into power.
Uncontrolled ambition in the play has been seen to have a corrupting influence on the morals of people. They would go to the extent of killing others just to fulfill their desires and ambitions. Unchecked ambition turned Macbeth into a tyrant, dictator, and murderer because he resorted to killing people who dared oppose him. The effects of uncontrolled ambitions become too much to bear for both Macbeth and his wife. Macbeth ends up feeling guilty for every single evil act he commits. Lady Macbeth also becomes more affected by her evil deeds and those of her husband to the extent that she even commits suicide. At first, ambition appears to be driving them to do great things and advance in life but when their ambition gets to unchecked levels outside the confines of morality, they are consumed by guilt.
Lady Macbeth Manipulating Macbeth Quote
Power
Power has manifested itself in different ways in the play. There are major differences between how King Duncan used his position in power and how Macbeth abused power. King Duncan is used to representing good, visionary and forward-thinking leadership. He does not use his power as king to oppress and violate the rights of others. He does not let power get into his head and lead him to commit evil acts. He uses his power well to lead his people to prosperity. Macbeth, on the other hand, is a great example of how a king can misuse power bestowed upon him for his own selfish gains. His greed for power, sparked by false prophesies from the three witches lead him to kill King Duncan and take over power. This does not stop there as his ambition for power makes him commit numerous more murders of people who oppose him. He does this so that he can retain power. Lady Macbeth also proves to be power hungry and would do anything to ensure his husband gets a taste of being in power. She manipulates her husband to do evil acts and kill people so that he can get into power and retain it.
She feels that she will enjoy the privileges of being in power if her husband is the king. Malcolm is also used by the playwright to show that power does not have to corrupt the mind of a leader. Malcolm clearly spells out that to be in power, a king has to be gracious, ensure justice, lowliness, mercy, perseverance, bounty, temperance, and verity. The same qualities were exemplified by King Duncan when he was in power. This is quite opposite of how Macbeth uses power. He only brings death and destruction while he is king. The relationship between tyranny and good kingship is a major theme in the play as summarized and analyzed above. Macbeth has been used as an embodiment of destruction and tyranny while in power, whereas King Duncan, as well as Malcolm, have been used to represent justice and order.
Macbeth Themes and Symbols: Link between Masculinity and Cruelty
Gender issues present themselves numerous times in the play. The male gender is considered to be stronger than the female gender. As is evident, only men serve in the army because they are thought to be the only ones with the ability to fight. The army is not considered a place for women because they are thought to be weak and frail. When Macbeth’s manhood is questioned by Lady Macbeth, he is forced to commit murder and other atrocities just to look man enough. This shows that men are expected to be courageous enough to carry out anything that needs to be done. Macbeth feels less of a man when his wife manipulates him by questions his manhood. He goes ahead to commit atrocities just to prove that he is a man because he does not want to be seen as being weak. This shows that even women themselves believe that they are weaker than men.
Men, just by virtue of being men, are expected to have the ability to be cruel without feeling guilty. Macbeth also questions the manhood of the killers hired to kill Banquo. This is intended for manipulating them to do the job well because it is believed that men are aggressive and cruel. Macbeth and his wife seem to think that being a man gives one the power to be cruel and ruthless. The political wars, chaos, and assassinations also take place because Macbeth feels emasculated when people oppose him. He murders his opponents just to prove that he is a brave man. Women in the play are also used to perpetuate violence and evil. Lady Macbeth manipulates his husband to committing murder by questioning his manhood. The three witches manipulate Macbeth into thinking that he will become the king, forcing him to also commit murder in order to fulfill his manly ambitions.
Appearance and Reality Themes Analysis
Throughout the play, there are people and occurrences that are not what they seem or portray themselves to be. The three witches appeared to have good intentions for Macbeth through prophecies they made. However, it later becomes apparent that they are working for Hecate. They deceive Macbeth using false prophesies to get him to fulfill their own personal agendas. Macbeth and his wife also appear to be devoted and loyal to King Duncan to such an extent that Macbeth is made the Thane of Cawdor but they have secret and evil motives that seek to get King Duncan out of power in order to fulfill their selfish ambitions.
Lady Macbeth appears to be a good and loving wife but she is the force and mastermind behind her husband’s atrocities. Although Macbeth and his wife appear to be having a loving and fulfilling relationship, the reality is that Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband into doing evil and they end up feeling guilty about it. Generally, violence and evil are expected to be perpetuated by men, especially during that time. However, women seem to be just as good in plotting evil and perpetuating violence as seen through the actions of Lady Macbeth, Hecate, and the three witches. They even seem to be better at it than men.