MACBETH - F/L/S - KEY ESSAY NOTES:
1. supernatural doesn’t control us - Macbeth’s hamartia = curiosity + desire to challenge his
fate
2. Macbeth = tragic hero - dangers of a patriarchal society - women shouldn’t be denied
power/should be denied power
3. consequences for the Great Chain of Being - dangers of committing regicide + going
against the natural order - removal of sleep (motif)
Form:
● Revenge tragedy - Macbeth is adequately punished for his usurpation of the throne -
Banquo haunts + humiliates him in front of the nobles - form of God’s avenging +
triumph over evil - consequences of betraying Great Chain of Being
● Tragedy - Macbeth is unable to fully deal with his curiosity + desire to challenge fate -
audience feels catharsis + pathos for Macbeth because he is unable to actually - see
Macbeth’s demise in character - when Lady Macbeth dies - because they’re the same
person his ambition also dies - the only part left in Macbeth is the part which is “too full
of the milk of human kindness” - realises the error of his ways - Macbeth becomes a
villain = his tragedy
● Anti-climatic ending - balance after tyranny - sense of poetic justice - Macbeth is
brutally punished = tragedy of his wasted potential = catharsis = question whether
Macduff’s reign will last
● Macbeth’s association with the supernatural corrupts him - in Greek myth - fate was
decided by the three fates who decided when you would live + die + cut they cut the
thread to represent the ending of your life - couldn’t avoid that fate
● In Greek tragedy - they try desperately to avoid fate - this meets them to get to their fate
● Shakespeare subverts the conventions of tragedy - Macbeth finds out that his fate is to
be King - he does everything he can to achieve his fate - doesn’t try to avoid his fate -
Shakespeare points out that the tragedy in Macbeth isn’t the gods imposing a fate upon
him - it’s his own free will
● England = masculine - Scotland = feminine (context = paganism)
, ● Peripetia = hero’s error in judgment which leads to a sudden shift in the change of
events
● Anagnorisis = realisation about the reversal brought about by his own actions
Ending:
● Peripetia = Macbeth’s trusting of the witches - Macbeth uses epistemological questions
to the witches is too trusting of them
● Anagnorisis - when Macbeth realises that Lady Macbeth is dead - she was never affected
by guilt + she was morally cold - then he decides to die - he knows he going to hell -
catharsis for the audience - manipulated by LM
● Anagnorisis - after Macduff’s revelation that he was “untimely ripped” from his mother’s
womb - Macbeth understands the witches have played him - the realisation is too late to
save him
● Binary opposition between Macduff + Macbeth - the fact that Macduff kills Macbeth
symbolises that betraying God + turning to the supernatural will have consequences
● Kerzel’s 2015 film
- Malcolm rides into the battlefield past Macbeth’s dead body
- Banquo then runs after him with Macbeth’s daggers - perhaps the story has come full
circle - hinting that Malcolm’s kingship is as vulnerable as King Duncan’s + as
“fruitless” as Macbeth’s
● Macbeth is humiliated in death - he dies in the green world (where there are no rules) -
it’s ironic - where he first sinned (due to the witches' manipulation) + where he will last
sin
● Macbeth’s decision to go onto the battlefield - makes him want to die as a false
Renaissance man (which he never was) + he should have never been - because he’s a
soldier = binary opposition between Macbeth + Macduff
● When Lady Macbeth dies - because they’re the same person his ambition also dies - the
only part left in Macbeth is the part which is “too full of the milk of human kindness” -
realises the error of his ways - Macbeth becomes a villain = his tragedy
1. supernatural doesn’t control us - Macbeth’s hamartia = curiosity + desire to challenge his
fate
2. Macbeth = tragic hero - dangers of a patriarchal society - women shouldn’t be denied
power/should be denied power
3. consequences for the Great Chain of Being - dangers of committing regicide + going
against the natural order - removal of sleep (motif)
Form:
● Revenge tragedy - Macbeth is adequately punished for his usurpation of the throne -
Banquo haunts + humiliates him in front of the nobles - form of God’s avenging +
triumph over evil - consequences of betraying Great Chain of Being
● Tragedy - Macbeth is unable to fully deal with his curiosity + desire to challenge fate -
audience feels catharsis + pathos for Macbeth because he is unable to actually - see
Macbeth’s demise in character - when Lady Macbeth dies - because they’re the same
person his ambition also dies - the only part left in Macbeth is the part which is “too full
of the milk of human kindness” - realises the error of his ways - Macbeth becomes a
villain = his tragedy
● Anti-climatic ending - balance after tyranny - sense of poetic justice - Macbeth is
brutally punished = tragedy of his wasted potential = catharsis = question whether
Macduff’s reign will last
● Macbeth’s association with the supernatural corrupts him - in Greek myth - fate was
decided by the three fates who decided when you would live + die + cut they cut the
thread to represent the ending of your life - couldn’t avoid that fate
● In Greek tragedy - they try desperately to avoid fate - this meets them to get to their fate
● Shakespeare subverts the conventions of tragedy - Macbeth finds out that his fate is to
be King - he does everything he can to achieve his fate - doesn’t try to avoid his fate -
Shakespeare points out that the tragedy in Macbeth isn’t the gods imposing a fate upon
him - it’s his own free will
● England = masculine - Scotland = feminine (context = paganism)
, ● Peripetia = hero’s error in judgment which leads to a sudden shift in the change of
events
● Anagnorisis = realisation about the reversal brought about by his own actions
Ending:
● Peripetia = Macbeth’s trusting of the witches - Macbeth uses epistemological questions
to the witches is too trusting of them
● Anagnorisis - when Macbeth realises that Lady Macbeth is dead - she was never affected
by guilt + she was morally cold - then he decides to die - he knows he going to hell -
catharsis for the audience - manipulated by LM
● Anagnorisis - after Macduff’s revelation that he was “untimely ripped” from his mother’s
womb - Macbeth understands the witches have played him - the realisation is too late to
save him
● Binary opposition between Macduff + Macbeth - the fact that Macduff kills Macbeth
symbolises that betraying God + turning to the supernatural will have consequences
● Kerzel’s 2015 film
- Malcolm rides into the battlefield past Macbeth’s dead body
- Banquo then runs after him with Macbeth’s daggers - perhaps the story has come full
circle - hinting that Malcolm’s kingship is as vulnerable as King Duncan’s + as
“fruitless” as Macbeth’s
● Macbeth is humiliated in death - he dies in the green world (where there are no rules) -
it’s ironic - where he first sinned (due to the witches' manipulation) + where he will last
sin
● Macbeth’s decision to go onto the battlefield - makes him want to die as a false
Renaissance man (which he never was) + he should have never been - because he’s a
soldier = binary opposition between Macbeth + Macduff
● When Lady Macbeth dies - because they’re the same person his ambition also dies - the
only part left in Macbeth is the part which is “too full of the milk of human kindness” -
realises the error of his ways - Macbeth becomes a villain = his tragedy
