This document summarizes several key themes in Shakespeare's Macbeth, including kingship, the natural order, the supernatural, ambition, and gender. It analyzes how Macbeth and Duncan represent different types of kingship, and how Macbeth's murder of Duncan upsets the natural order. It also discusses the role of the witches in tempting fate and the play's exploration of the corrupting influence of ambition, as well as the gender dynamics between Lady Macbeth and her husband. Key scenes are identified for mining quotes related to these central thematic elements.

1. MACBETH
REVISION

2. Boggle: 5 points per 4+ letter word related to
Macbeth; 1 point per other word.
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3. THEME - KINGSHIP
• Our two main examples of Kingship in Macbeth are
Macbeth himself and Duncan.
• It is fair to say that the two are held up as opposites
to each other.
• In Act 1 Scene 2 we see Duncan punishing the
treacherous (the former Thane of Cawdor) and
rewarding the faithful (Macbeth.)
• ―No more that thane of Cawdor shall deceive
Our bosom interest: go pronounce his present death,
And with his former title greet Macbeth.‖

4. THEME - KINGSHIP
• The use of the word ‗bosom‘ is interesting – "bosom interest"
means "vital interests," but "bosom" also suggests that a
relationship of love should exist between a king and his
subject.
• Contrast this with Macbeth, whose subjects fear and loathe
him in equal measure.
• ―And that which should accompany old age,
As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends,
I must not look to have; but, in their stead,
Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honour, breath,
Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not.‖
• Macbeth here bemoans the loss of what a king should have
– love – but of course, his tyranny is what has caused this.

5. THEME - KINGSHIP
• So, what does it mean to be a good King? And
could Macbeth ever have been one?
• Perhaps if he had come by it honestly, his attempts
to be kind and jovial and just (see the beginning of
the banquet scene, before Banquo‘s ghost turns up
uninvited) would have led to a more successful
reign.
• Ultimately, Macbeth‘s murder of Duncan constitutes
an overturning of the natural order, and guarantees
that he will not reign well.

6. THEME – THE NATURAL ORDER
• This is linked to Kingship, in that Macbeth‘s
usurpation of the throne upsets the natural order of
things.
• People in Shakespeare‘s day believed in what they
called The Great Chain of Being, with God at the
top, the Angels just below him, and then everything
in the Earthly realm below them, in order of
importance.
• Emperors and Kings were at the very top of this
Earthly chain, so by killing Duncan Macbeth has
broken the Chain of Being, and invited dire
consequences.

7. THEME – THE NATURAL ORDER

8. THEME – THE NATURAL ORDER
• Immediately after Duncan‘s murder, we hear of
examples of this overturning of nature in action.
• ―On Tuesday last,
A falcon, towering in her pride of place,
Was by a mousing owl hawk'd at and kill'd.‖
• The falcon's "pride of place" is the highest point of its
flight. And the owl, which usually catches mice on the
ground, went up instead of down, and killed a falcon. A
falcon is a day creature, and a royal companion, while
the owl is a bird of night and death. If things in nature
stand for things in human life, King Duncan was the
falcon, and Macbeth the owl.

9. THEME – THE NATURAL ORDER
• ―And Duncan's horses—a thing most strange and
certain—
Beauteous and swift, the minions of their race,
Turn'd wild in nature, broke their stalls, flung out,
Contending 'gainst obedience, as they would make
War with mankind.‖
• A "minion" in this context is someone's favourite. Macbeth
and Lady Macbeth were King Duncan's minions. The King
showered them with honours and gifts, but they turned wild
and made war on their master.
• And of course there are the most unnatural creatures of all –
the witches.

10. THEME – THE SUPERNATURAL
• We know that James the VI and Ist had a
fascination with witches. He even wrote a book
about them.
• Therefore, it‘s not surprising that the play, partially
written to appeal to and flatter the king, opens with
the witches.
• From the beginning, the witches
are called out as unnatural as it
it is mentioned they have beards.

11. THEME – THE SUPERNATURAL
• So, these witches are tied up with the altering of the
natural order seen in the rest of the play. Their
association is with evil and chaos.
• They are also clearly associated with
Macbeth, something which is drawn attention to by
the language.
• ―Fair is foul and foul is fair.‖ - Witches
• ―So foul and fair a day I have not seen.‖ – Macbeth
• However, these witches serve mostly as catalysts to
the action. More potent impetus comes from
Macbeth himself, and his wife.

12. THEME - AMBITION
• All of Shakespeare‘s tragic heroes (and you could
argue that Macbeth is one, despite his tyranny)
have a simple flaw. For Hamlet, it‘s indecision. For
Coriolanus, it‘s pride. For Othello, it‘s jealousy. For
Macbeth it‘s clearly ambition.
• Macbeth really wants to be king. The witches speak
to his secret thoughts at their first meeting, which is
why he reacts so strangely.
• ―Why do you start and seem to fear
things that do sound so fair?‖

13. THEME - AMBITION
• Despite this ambition, Macbeth is considered too
weak by his wife to actually do what would need to
be done.
• ―Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be
What thou art promised. Yet do I fear thy nature;
It is too full o' the milk of human kindness
To catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great;
Art not without ambition, but without
The illness should attend it.‖
• Therefore it‘s up to Lady Macbeth to take charge.
And her ambition to be Queen almost outstrips his
desire to be King.

14. THEME - GENDER
• The gender politics behind this relationship is quite interesting.
In the beginning, it seems as if Lady Macbeth is the one that
wears the trousers in this relationship. She takes charge of the
plans, she bullies Macbeth along, she uses every tool at her
disposal to make sure the murder happens.
• Interestingly, Lady Macbeth seems to believe this will require
the rejection of her gender, as demonstrated in this famous
speech:
• ―Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of direst cruelty!‖
• And here:
• ―Come to my woman's breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you murd'ring ministers‖

15. THEME - GENDER
• Again, milk is mentioned. This seems to be symbolic,
with milk representing the nurturing, warm aspects
of traditional femininity. Too much of this in
Macbeth makes him ―weak‖.
• Lady Macbeth then goes on to attack Macbeth‘s
masculinity when he hesitates. This culminates in her
horrific speech about her potentially murdering a
baby. She seems to have cast off her femininity
absolutely.
• In Lady Macbeth‘s eyes, masculinity is strength and
femininity is weakness. But that strength is tied up in
violence and cruelty.

16. SUMMARY
• Macbeth is one of Shakespeare‘s shortest plays, but it is
rich in interlinked thematic elements.
• Key scenes to mine for quotes:
• Act 1 Scene 3 – Meeting the witches
• Act 1 Scene 7 – Macbeth‘s hesitation
• Act 2 Scene 1 – The dagger speech
• Act 2 Scene 2 – The murder
• Act 3 Scene 1 – Macbeth sets up Banquo‘s murder
• Act 3 Scene 4 – The banquet
• Act 4 Scene 1 – Second visit to witches
• Act 5 Scene 1 – Sleepwalking
• Act 5 Scene 5 – Lady Macbeth‘s death; candle speech.