Mind Map Gallery Macbeth Themes
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Macbeth Themes
A brave Scottish general named Macbeth receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland.
Edited at 2020-09-29 07:23:45
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- Outline
Macbeth-Mind-Map-Themes
Ambition
- Kingship
- Macbeth talks of Duncan as a good king
- Macbeth worries that his "fruitless crown"means he won't leave a line of kings afterhe dies "no son of mine succeeding"
- The witches show Macbeth a line of eightkings.
- Power
- Lady Macbeth's power over Macbeth
- Macbeth's power over Scotland
- Macbeth's loss of power when the rebelsrise up against him
- Power over one's own mind
- Control
- Tyranny
- Consequences of ambition
- Before the murder, Macbeth knows that his"vaulting ambition" could lead to hisdownfall.
- The Thane of Cawdor is executed for hisambitious plot to overthrow Duncan
- Context: Is Shakespeare warning ambitiouscourtiers against similar plots?
- Context: Shakespeare plays on theinsecurities of the time, writing one yearafter the Gunpowder Plot.
Good and Evil
- Supernatural- things that are unnatural areconsidered to be evil.
- Witches
- Lady Macbeth summoning the spirits
- Hallucinations
- Deception
- Macbeth's duplicity
- Lady Macbeth encourages him to beduplicitous "look like the innocentflower but be the serpent under it"
- Appearance vs reality
- Pretending to be someone you're not "starshide your fires; let not light see my blackand deep desires".
- Tyranny
- Macbeth's tyrannical leadership
- Overthrown by Macduff
- Good can triumph over evil
- Good characters are heroic and brave
- Murder and violence
- Macbeth's crimes get darker and darker-murders Duncan, then Banquo, thenMacduff's children.
- Does Macbeth still have any good in him?
Loyalty and Guilt
- Blood symbolises guilt
- Blood on Macbeth's hands- can't bewashed away, even with "all of Neptune'socean"
- Lady Macbeth can't wash the blood off herhands "out out damned spot"
- Sleep symbolises innocence
- Duncan murdered in his sleep- he isinnocent
- "Macbeth doth murder sleep"- Macbethcan't sleep because of the guilt he feels.
- Lady Macbeth sleep walks and reveals herguilt.
- Duncan believes Macbeth is loyal "Oworthiest cousin!", "brave Macbeth","noble Macbeth". He was loyal to Duncanin battle.
- Conscience
- Macbeth's conscience symbolised by thedagger?
- Lady Macbeth asks for the spirits to removeher femininity- her conscience- so that shecan be "Filled from the crown to the toetop-full of direst cruelty"
- Context: conscience is a Christian virtue.Having a conscience means you have somemorality. When do Macbeth and LadyMacbeth lose their consciences?
- Guilt implies they do have a conscienceafter all.
Supernatural
- Witches
- Hallucinations
- Ghosts
- Banquo's ghost appears at the feast-symbol of Macbeth's guilt. He is haunted byhis actions.
- Apparitions (conjured by the witches)
- Fate and Free Will
- Is Macbeth free to make his own choices?
- Macbeth believes fate drives his actions. Heseems to deny his own free will.
- Context: Jacobean belief in the Wheel ofFortune- Fortune would determine yourfate.
- Context: Christian belief in God's power.God chooses our paths, though we do havefree will.