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Macbeth Study Notes
Macbeth – brave warrior destroyed by “vaulting ambition” (fatal flaw)
 Courage & fighting skills emphasised by sergeant & Ross (1
...
55): “Bellona’s
bridegroom” (wedded to Roman goddess of war, image highlights his devotion to
combat & prowess especially with alliteration)
 Apparent loyalty to king: his sword “smok’d with bloody execution” of traitors
 Praised & rewarded by trusting Duncan: “worthy gentleman!” & ennobled as
Thane of Cawdor, ironically given title of dead rebel – foreshadowing regicide
 Initial openness with best friend Banquo as talks about his fortunes, promises to
discuss prophecy with fellow-soldier later, “free hearts”
 Macbeth thrown into confusion by witches’ prophecy (1
...
e
...
”
 First soliloquy in 1
...
1), his subconscious brain projects
feelings he is trying to suppress, ignores warnings: sees “dagger of the mind”
 Murder visualised, personified and described in gory detail, mind racing
 Hears bell in night “for it is a knell That summons thee [Duncan] to heaven, or to
hell”, relish of rhyming couplet, grim humour, soldier’s coping mechanism?
 Macbeth & wife never articulate what “it”, “that” or the “deed” – suppress truth

Guilt – ill-equipped for psychic consequences of his crimes
 Very agitated after murder, imagines hearing voice during assassination,
“Macbeth shall sleep no more!”, repeated for emphasis (2
...
35-43)
 Lists benefits of rest in repairing body, removing worry, making mind healthy,
providing nourishment… to highlight what he has lost, scarred conscience
 Foreshadows future restlessness: frequent references throughout rest of play to
Macbeth’s weariness & lack of refreshing sleep: “terrible dreams”, at night lies on
bed in “restless ecstasy” & mind “full of scorpions” (3
...
2)
 Playing many parts: loyal subject when castle discovers Duncan’s death; strong
ruler inciting Banquo’s murderers; host & friend to his thanes at the state banquet
 False speech to thanes on discovery of dead Duncan foreshadows his future
sense of real futility, acted part eventually proves true: “All is but toys” (2
...
95)
 Recognises vicious cycle of violence, murders spiral out of control in an attempt
to cling on to power: “Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill” (3
...
55)
Increasingly hardened & worried – chooses to challenge his destiny
 Fears a “fruitless crown” & “barren sceptre” without any chance of descendants
& desperately jealous of former friend, “the seed of Banquo kings!” (incredulous)
 Acknowledges reality: sold his soul to the devil for worldly prize, Faustian pact:
“mine eternal jewel Given to the common enemy of man” (3
...
68)
 Metaphor of combat (jousting), reverting to battlefield & violence, unsuited to
diplomacy: “come, fate, into the list, And champion me to the utterance!”
 Limits of Macbeth’s power as, despite best efforts, fails to cheat his destiny &
ruthless over-confidence only hastens his demise (tragic irony)
 Trusts no-one as “Third Murderer” utilised to check on paid assassins who
ruthlessly eliminate Banquo but prove unable to catch Fleance
 Sees Banquo’s ghost at banquet (3
...
” (3
...
25)
 Dramatic irony of becoming powerful king but feeling more under threat & worse
off than before – ambition has betrayed Macbeth
 Impossible to escape downward spiral, despair: “I am in blood / Stepp’d in so far,
that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o’er
...
4
...
3
...
3
...
2
...
1
...
with English army near, reacts brutally: orders soldiers to scour
country & “Hang those that talk of fear”; insults messenger “cream-faced loon”
 Hardened: “I have supp’d full with horrors”, ignores screams of wife & refuses to
grieve her “dusty death” as life seems meaningless; wearied repetition of
“tomorrow”, note how language itself almost seems pointless (5
...
25)
 Nihilistic attitude: compares his existence to an inexperienced actor trapped by
his part, written by someone else - “Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more…”
 Realises deception of prophecy: illusions stripped away – sympathy as victim of
manipulation, “equivocation of a fiend that lies like truth” (misled with riddles)
 Defiant: chooses to die in battle, “Give me my armour”, recklessly leaving safe
castle where he could “laugh a siege to scorn” (5
...
3) to directly engage enemies
 Madly self-confident & courageous (“Yet I will try the last” – fight to the end) &
brief flicker of conscience when confronting Macduff (complexities of character)
 Fall, ruined reputation, emphasised by adjectives from “brave” & “noble” to
“black” & “Devilish” – “untitled tyrant, bloody-scepter’d”, “hell-hound” & “dead
butcher” (curt insult after head is chopped off & displayed to jubilant people)
Lady Macbeth – ruthless evil & psychological deterioration
 Close relationship “dearest partner of greatness” (1
...
5
...
2
...
4)
 Rational view of world believing only in what can be physically seen
 Yet increasing unease revealed in private, “by destruction dwell in doubtful
joy” (alliteration), position never secure, always threat & not “content (3
...
5-7)
 Completely absent from Act 4 & reappearance sleepwalking particularly shocking

 Driven insane by suppressed guilt, relives Duncan’s murder in her head, imagery
contrasts: “all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand” (5
...
49)
 Madness revealed through speech in jumbled prose (not iambic pentameter)
highlights her confusion, agitation & anguish: “Out, damned spot; out, I say
...
2)
 Claim “Hell is murky” reveals intimate experiences of evil & crimes’ punishment
Turning Point & key scene (1
...
e
...
1) ambition mirrors Macbeth
 contemporary audiences believed any disorder in human affair was reflected by
chaos in the world of nature i
...
‘unruly’ stormy nights
2) Abuse of power: contrast between kingship and tyranny
 Malcolm’s “king-becoming graces” – character & blood of true ruler, recognised
by Caithness as doctor for sick Scotland, “medicine of the sickly weal” (5
...
27)
 Macbeth locked in vicious cycle as increasing paranoia & desperation to hold
onto his crown results in a spate of murders
3) Gap between appearances & reality – Macbeths’ hypocrisy & duplicity in
pretending to be loyal subjects & considerate hosts for elderly King Duncan
 Witches’ incantation “Foul is fair” highlights blurring of moral boundaries,
confusion about right and wrong in Macbeth’s Scotland
 Equivocation – prophecies tempt Mac with “honest trifles” to betray in “deepest
consequence”; victim of manipulation by “instruments of darkness”? (1
...
123-6)
Symbolism
 Banquet where order & fellowship of feast (society), “drink a measure / The table
round” (3
...
7)
 But Angus (5
...
e
...
4
...
3
...
7

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