English Literature Component 1:
Shakespeare and Poetry
Macbeth
Character Analysis
Macbeth
What does Macbeth symbolise?
The perils of ambition/ hubris
What is Macbeth’s hamartia?
- Could be either ambition or the desire to kill
- His ambition wants him to be king, but he recognises that all he has to do is wait
- And when his ambition gets him to the position of King, his bloodlust is not yet
satisfied, and he ends up killing Banquo
Describe Macbeth’s character in the beginning of the play
- Initial presentation as the stereotypical hero, he is noble, brave and courageous
How does Macbeth fit into the role of the tragic hero?
What is a tragic hero?
What are Macbeth’s key characteristics?
- Ambition
- Guilt
- Violence and bloodlust
How is Macbeth’s ambition explored throughout the play?
- Macbeth allows himself to be controlled by his ambitions, he becomes impulsive
as the play continues
- Initially, when he learns of the witches’ prophecy, he is startled, causing Banquo
to ask
Lady Macbeth
Is Lady Macbeth the catalyst in Macbeth’s resolve to kill Duncan?
- No, because she gets him all wrong
- She claims he is ‘full of the milk of kindness’ like he isn’t the nation’s greatest
warriors
- Rather than realising that she could send her husband to do the work, she wants
to do it herself, therefore asking to ‘unsex me here’
, - She doesn’t have good psychological insight, and therefore, her assessment of
herself and her husband is completely wrong
- Also macbeth enjoys killing people, that is why he is the best warrior in the first
place, and he has ambition
Key Quotes and Interpretations
Act 1
“Double, double toil and trouble / Fire burn and cauldron bubble”
- Witches
- Reflective of the overall theme of the supernatural
- Sounds like they are cursing him
- Double implies that they are wishing twice the trouble and toil upon Macbeth,
which we see unravel in the play
- Shows how what the witches say can often be contradictory and that you
shouldn’t trust them
‘Fair is foul and foul is fair, hover through the fog and filthy air’
- ‘Fog’ implies that the witches will never speak clearly
- ‘Filthy’ suggests that they will always talk badly of everyone
- ‘Fair is foul’: tricky to differentiate the difference between good and evil;
what is fair for M (regicide to claim his throne) is foul for everyone else so
could be reflective of M’s actions
- Reflective of the theme
- This could also imply M will do things that are foul and disregard things
that are fair for his ambition
- Points out the paradox between both terms
- Antithesis
, - Chiasmus - points out the paradox and similarity between two terms - links
to the impression Lady Macbeth gives "look like the innocent flower, but be
the serpent under't"
- Spoken in trochaic tetrameter which makes it sound like a spell
‘Why do you dress me in borrowed robes?’
- ‘Robes’ of thane of Cawdor will never truly be his, similar to how the title of king
will never truly and righteously be his
- Similar language used later on in the play
- Macbeth
‘Be warned/ The instruments of darkness tell us truths / Win us with honest trifles, to
betray / In deepest consequence’
- Banquo
- Warns Macbeth early on about the witches, highlighting his character as the ideal
Jacobean man, who turns to religion in a time of evil rather than the supernatural
- This signposts the beginning of his role as Macbeth’s foil as their thoughts and
actions begin to differentiate
- Also foreshadows Macbeth being consumed by said evil instruments leading to
his demise
‘Stars, hide your fires/ Let not light see my black and deep desires’
- Macbeth
- Religious imagery
- Similar tone and lyrical to the chant of the witches
- Use of Duncan’s words negatively j like he’s gna use D’s power negatively and
effectively take what originally belonged to him
- Originally ashamed of his evil thoughts + intentions
- On the path of manipulating fate
‘My dearest partner of greatness ’
- Macbeth abt LM
- Idolises her
- Not conforming to the norm of the Jacobean time of the hubby being superior to
the wife
- This equality of status would been unusual to a typical audience who would
immediately sense something was wrong
- In fact superlative ‘greatness’ implies that LM has a higher status than M, this
power she used to manipulate M into doing what she wants (to become Queen)
‘I fear thy nature is too full of the milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way’
- LM
- Suggests that M is too kind and righteous to kill D to claim his crown
- Reinforces previous theory about power dynamics + how LM uses this to get
what she wants
, - Excited by the prophecies
- ‘The milk of human kindness’ like breast milk → she uses her femininity as her
weapon essentially
- Beginning of her emasculation of M
‘Come you spirits/ That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here’
- LM
- Direct link to witches
- By revoking her femininity she believes she would gain more power in society in
those times to carry out acts she is willing to do as the only thing constraining her
is gender
- Shows her desperation for power
- Her femininity is not that of the norm of said time period, she uses it as a weapon
to manipulate her hubby into doing what she wants (murder) which is a
masculine display of power
- Therefore she uses her feminine power (sexuality) for masculine gains (murder +
power)
- Through LM Shakespeare explores power and gender → how both of these
themes play into each other in a time wherein they were strict and defined (eg:
men were the only ones who could gain political power and status, a woman only
gained status if her husband or father did)
- Throughout her soliloquy, LM continues to reject motherly attributes by ordering
said spirits to ‘take milk from her gall’ because to her and the audience at the
time women were seen as weak and emotional. This is further explored through
her projection of this insecurity of having emotions when she is emasculating M
and complaining that she is too emotional
‘Look like the innocent flower/ But be the serpent under’t’
- LM
- Link to the supernatural as snakes seen as having witch connections → further
reinforces her supernatural link
- Link to the Genesis story of Adam and Eve implying their heaven will soon turn
into hell
- Reflective of the theme of deception and appearance vs. reality
- Similar to what she’s been doing → using the guise of femininity to control and
emasculate M into committing murderous acts
‘I have no spur/ To prick the sides of my intent, but only/ Vaulting ambition which
o’erleaps itself’
- M
- Hints that M will bring upon his own demise
- Highlights his hamartia: hubris
Shakespeare and Poetry
Macbeth
Character Analysis
Macbeth
What does Macbeth symbolise?
The perils of ambition/ hubris
What is Macbeth’s hamartia?
- Could be either ambition or the desire to kill
- His ambition wants him to be king, but he recognises that all he has to do is wait
- And when his ambition gets him to the position of King, his bloodlust is not yet
satisfied, and he ends up killing Banquo
Describe Macbeth’s character in the beginning of the play
- Initial presentation as the stereotypical hero, he is noble, brave and courageous
How does Macbeth fit into the role of the tragic hero?
What is a tragic hero?
What are Macbeth’s key characteristics?
- Ambition
- Guilt
- Violence and bloodlust
How is Macbeth’s ambition explored throughout the play?
- Macbeth allows himself to be controlled by his ambitions, he becomes impulsive
as the play continues
- Initially, when he learns of the witches’ prophecy, he is startled, causing Banquo
to ask
Lady Macbeth
Is Lady Macbeth the catalyst in Macbeth’s resolve to kill Duncan?
- No, because she gets him all wrong
- She claims he is ‘full of the milk of kindness’ like he isn’t the nation’s greatest
warriors
- Rather than realising that she could send her husband to do the work, she wants
to do it herself, therefore asking to ‘unsex me here’
, - She doesn’t have good psychological insight, and therefore, her assessment of
herself and her husband is completely wrong
- Also macbeth enjoys killing people, that is why he is the best warrior in the first
place, and he has ambition
Key Quotes and Interpretations
Act 1
“Double, double toil and trouble / Fire burn and cauldron bubble”
- Witches
- Reflective of the overall theme of the supernatural
- Sounds like they are cursing him
- Double implies that they are wishing twice the trouble and toil upon Macbeth,
which we see unravel in the play
- Shows how what the witches say can often be contradictory and that you
shouldn’t trust them
‘Fair is foul and foul is fair, hover through the fog and filthy air’
- ‘Fog’ implies that the witches will never speak clearly
- ‘Filthy’ suggests that they will always talk badly of everyone
- ‘Fair is foul’: tricky to differentiate the difference between good and evil;
what is fair for M (regicide to claim his throne) is foul for everyone else so
could be reflective of M’s actions
- Reflective of the theme
- This could also imply M will do things that are foul and disregard things
that are fair for his ambition
- Points out the paradox between both terms
- Antithesis
, - Chiasmus - points out the paradox and similarity between two terms - links
to the impression Lady Macbeth gives "look like the innocent flower, but be
the serpent under't"
- Spoken in trochaic tetrameter which makes it sound like a spell
‘Why do you dress me in borrowed robes?’
- ‘Robes’ of thane of Cawdor will never truly be his, similar to how the title of king
will never truly and righteously be his
- Similar language used later on in the play
- Macbeth
‘Be warned/ The instruments of darkness tell us truths / Win us with honest trifles, to
betray / In deepest consequence’
- Banquo
- Warns Macbeth early on about the witches, highlighting his character as the ideal
Jacobean man, who turns to religion in a time of evil rather than the supernatural
- This signposts the beginning of his role as Macbeth’s foil as their thoughts and
actions begin to differentiate
- Also foreshadows Macbeth being consumed by said evil instruments leading to
his demise
‘Stars, hide your fires/ Let not light see my black and deep desires’
- Macbeth
- Religious imagery
- Similar tone and lyrical to the chant of the witches
- Use of Duncan’s words negatively j like he’s gna use D’s power negatively and
effectively take what originally belonged to him
- Originally ashamed of his evil thoughts + intentions
- On the path of manipulating fate
‘My dearest partner of greatness ’
- Macbeth abt LM
- Idolises her
- Not conforming to the norm of the Jacobean time of the hubby being superior to
the wife
- This equality of status would been unusual to a typical audience who would
immediately sense something was wrong
- In fact superlative ‘greatness’ implies that LM has a higher status than M, this
power she used to manipulate M into doing what she wants (to become Queen)
‘I fear thy nature is too full of the milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way’
- LM
- Suggests that M is too kind and righteous to kill D to claim his crown
- Reinforces previous theory about power dynamics + how LM uses this to get
what she wants
, - Excited by the prophecies
- ‘The milk of human kindness’ like breast milk → she uses her femininity as her
weapon essentially
- Beginning of her emasculation of M
‘Come you spirits/ That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here’
- LM
- Direct link to witches
- By revoking her femininity she believes she would gain more power in society in
those times to carry out acts she is willing to do as the only thing constraining her
is gender
- Shows her desperation for power
- Her femininity is not that of the norm of said time period, she uses it as a weapon
to manipulate her hubby into doing what she wants (murder) which is a
masculine display of power
- Therefore she uses her feminine power (sexuality) for masculine gains (murder +
power)
- Through LM Shakespeare explores power and gender → how both of these
themes play into each other in a time wherein they were strict and defined (eg:
men were the only ones who could gain political power and status, a woman only
gained status if her husband or father did)
- Throughout her soliloquy, LM continues to reject motherly attributes by ordering
said spirits to ‘take milk from her gall’ because to her and the audience at the
time women were seen as weak and emotional. This is further explored through
her projection of this insecurity of having emotions when she is emasculating M
and complaining that she is too emotional
‘Look like the innocent flower/ But be the serpent under’t’
- LM
- Link to the supernatural as snakes seen as having witch connections → further
reinforces her supernatural link
- Link to the Genesis story of Adam and Eve implying their heaven will soon turn
into hell
- Reflective of the theme of deception and appearance vs. reality
- Similar to what she’s been doing → using the guise of femininity to control and
emasculate M into committing murderous acts
‘I have no spur/ To prick the sides of my intent, but only/ Vaulting ambition which
o’erleaps itself’
- M
- Hints that M will bring upon his own demise
- Highlights his hamartia: hubris
