Ambition Supernatural Violence Guilt Good vs. evil
Betrayal
Slide 3
Ambition plays a key factor for the reason behind Macbeths and
Lady Macbeths decision to murder Duncan. Ever since they heard the
witches prophecy that Macbeth will be king, a temptation had risen
in Macbeths mind to kill Duncan and become the king as fast as he
could. This is supported by the fact that when Macbeth is killing
not just the king, but more people including his good friend
Banquo, he does not feel greedy or sad, but just more protective
for his title of king. His will to become king has overtaken him
and thus he has been consumed by his ambition. The fact that there
is so much temptation and will hidden inside the characters mind
proves that one of the themes in Macbeth is Ambition.
Slide 4
Witchcraft is a prominent idea in Macbeth, and in fact the play
begins with the three witches. The witches are technically the
thing that started it all and which caused Macbeth to get
over-ambitious to become king. At the start of the play, the
witches predict that Macbeth will be king and they tell this to
Macbeth. The whole concept starts here, when the witches predict
that Macbeth would be the king and the Thane of Cawdor and minutes
later one of the prophecies comes true. The whole story is
revolving around the idea that the witches accurately predicted
that Macbeth will be crowned king and caused Macbeth to go on the
loose and start doing wrong things. Since the witches are the cause
of all the things going on, it can be said that one of the main
themes in Macbeth is supernatural.
Slide 5
Violence is the central idea in Macbeth and many characters are
shown to be violent to fulfil their goal. The play begins with a
war and Macbeth presents himself as a strong and loyal warrior
fighting against the rebel forces. Later, to achieve his ambition,
Macbeth cruelly murders Duncan and his soldiers when they are
sleeping. Lady Macbeth also wants her womanly qualities gone so
that she can have courage to get filled with cruelty. Violence is
also used to prove the masculinity of the characters- for example
Macbeth wants to kill anyone who doubts about him being the kings
murderer and Macduff wants to kill Macbeth to take revenge. The
idea that violence is depicted in many of the scenes and characters
in the play shows that violence is one of the main themes in
Macbeth.
Slide 6
Although most of Macbeth is about violence and ambition, there
is also another part of guilt. Guilt is felt by a few of the
characters in the play, prominently being featured on Macbeth
himself. Before he kills Duncan, Macbeth is almost stopped by his
guilt, represented by the floating dagger, if not for his wifes
reprimands. After the murder, Macbeth also refuses to go in the
room again. Another scene is when Macbeth is done murdering Banquo
and is having dinner, he sees the ghost of Banquo on one of the
chairs. Lady Macbeth is also full of guilt, and this is shown when
she starts sleepwalking in the middle of the night and reveals
everything. All this shows that Shakespeare has represented guilt
in different forms in the play and thus, guilt is one of the main
themes in Macbeth.
Slide 7
The idea of good vs. evil is clearly shown in Macbeth from the
beginning. The play starts with Macbeth being very loyal and brave
and fighting for his country. However, when the three witches tell
him that he will be king, the evil part of his mind takes over his
good part and supported by his wife, Macbeth turns completely evil.
The evil witches do not tell Macbeth to murder anyone, but because
Macbeths evil part has taken over his conscience, he does not think
of any other way except violence. Even when Macbeth wants to follow
the path of good, Lady Macbeth calls him a coward and once again,
evil takes over the good and Macbeth commits the murder. In the
play, good and evil are always shown fighting together, and thus
one of the main themes in Macbeth is good vs. evil.
Slide 8
Betrayal is the most obvious theme in Macbeth. Macbeth was one
of the most loyal of the kings subjects. The king is so pleased
with Macbeth that he even makes him the Thane of Cawdor without a
second thought. However, betrayal is shown when Macbeth goes
over-ambitious and murders his own king, whom he had a blood
relation with. This is a strong evidence that to Macbeth, the king
was never really the most important thing. In olden days, the king
was given the spot after god, but Macbeth killed his own king.
Another evidence of betrayal is that Macbeth killed his own very
good friend, Banquo, who otherwise would have been the last to die.
All these ideas show that Macbeth only cared about himself and
betrayed the closest to him, thus one of the main themes in Macbeth
is betrayal.