Macbeth Universal Themes

Ambition is often the driving force in one’s life. It is supposed to be the motivating factor that drives one towards success. Society also deems ambition a necessary quality of their leader. It can be said that Macbeth exhibits this quality of ambition. He is the strong, valiant warrior who has won in battle and brought victory to Scotland. However, Macbeth’s quest to acquire more power-his ambition-ultimately leads to his tragic demise. How can one allow himself to be destroyed by such a thing? Before Duncan’s murder, Macbeth questions and second guesses his ambitious tendencies and actions. Despite his anxiety, he succumbs to these tendencies and finds himself in an increasingly precarious situation, with his back against the wall and growing ever closer to his almost inevitable end.

Recall the story of Snow White. The girl took a bite out of an apple because it looked delectable. Little did she know that it would knock her out and put her into a deep sleep. Think about the tale of Aladdin. He found this magic lamp which was to bring him an immense fortune, but his greed got the best of him and it ended up consuming him in the end. The Lion King, a young cub was exiled after his father’s death, only to return years later and take back his rightful throne. In Hercules, an evil god was given a prophecy by three fates and forced them to come true which resulted in his own undoing. Macbeth shares a template with a plethora of tales and stories, many of which have gained popularity in the Walt Disney Franchise. Whilst these narratives and the play may have different overall storylines and characters, the vital themes and character framework remain very similar to the core ideas of the 16th-century play.

Ambition is an admirable trait that enabled famous writers and scholars to attain an unbelievable greatness. However, highly ambitious people often end up failing because they are unable to fill up an insatiable hole of greed that leads them to constant frustration and dissatisfaction. Just as an excessive ambition can start with malice, it can end in anguish and despair. In the play, Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, the main protagonist, Macbeth, and his wife, Lady Macbeth, demonstrate an ambition that has an exacerbating impact on them that slowly leads to the self-destruction and obliteration of people around. After Lady Macbeth clouded Macbeth’s mind, Macbeth killed a benevolent king Duncan. But even with crown and power, Macbeth spend his life in fear and anxiety, until the weight of the ambition was relieved by his downfall. Through Macbeth’s character, Shakespeare shows that the extreme ambition that was emerged out of ferocious passion could devour an individual’s moral goodness, which in turn would carve the path directly to the total misery. Possessing such ambition makes the individual live in a self-imposed fretfulness and expose the closest people under consequential threats.

A motif is a repeating symbol that takes on a figurative meaning. A motif can be an object, a color, the weather, or even an idea or a concept. Motifs are usually used to establish a certain mood or a theme, and they have a symbolic meaning. For example, in a fairy tale, some motifs would be: the handsome prince, the wicked witch, talking animals, and magic fairies. Another example would be the song “Beasts of England” in Animal Farm by George Orwell, and it is a motif that mainly serves as propaganda to the animals. In Macbeth by William Shakespeare, motifs are seen all throughout the book, like the motif of blood and how it represents guilt. The motifs of blood, sleep, and birds affect the character development and relationship of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.

In William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth evil is conveyed in many ways through characters, themes and settings. Many themes are explored in detail contributing hugely to the sense of evil with characters being used along with these themes to create evil within the characters. These themes and characters are shown in different settings at different times consequently affecting the mood and atmosphere of the play.

Shakespeare’s famous play “Macbeth” is about Macbeth taking his fate and others into his own hands. Ambition is a prominent theme that affects Macbeth and Lady Macbeth as they seek the royal crown. First, The three witches tell Macbeth what could happen in the future for example they say he will become thane of Glamis, thane of Cawdor, and finally future king. He takes it into his own hands and speeds up the process. “All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!”~~~. This quote from the text fuels Macbeth's ambition for more power.

One theme in William Shakespeare's Macbeth is their is consequences for your actions. A recurring motif that shakespeare uses is guilt and it represents how one's actions will always have consequences. “More shall they speak; for now I am bent to know, But the worst means for the worst.” (Shakespeare 46). The motif represents that idea that once you do something wrong or harmful to someone, it can never be undone.

Macbeth is a proud and robust Scottish general who is looked up to by the community. He is the Thane of Glamis and later is named the Thane of Cawdor, which is what leads his greed and ambition rise up to affect his thoughts and personality. Macbeth wants nothing more than for the prophecies given to him by the witches to come true, but he does not have the drive to act upon his desires. It is only with the persuasion that he was able to perform upon what he wanted to do as was able to kill Duncan. This had however traumatized him in ways that could not be reversed.

Macbeth is stating that his ambition is starting to take control of him, and is

Ambition is like a set of dominoes. Once the first one tips, the rest follow shortly with no decrease in force. In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, his characters, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth experience this continuous momentum of ambition. In his play, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth plot to become king and queen, but the first part involves killing the standing king, Duncan.

The work of Shakespeare seems to be timeless by the themes he creates because they relate to all time periods. Shakespeare's play, The Tragedy of Macbeth, has multiple themes that can represent human nature: such as appearances can be deceiving. Particularly, it is seen throughout the play with the characters Macbeth and Lady Macbeth; although it does show people who are truthful to their appearance such as Macduff.

Within William Shakespeare’s timeless play, Macbeth, he develops the intangible conflict between partial truths and insatiable ambition. Despite the conflict between the small-minded characters and their plight for the throne or their life, the thematic moral hidden behind the plots of man is embodied by these selfsame short-sighted characters. Overall, ambition is fed and sustained by fulfillments of the partial truths and in which ambition is sown to grow its deceitful fruits. Within this piece, the namesake character Macbeth is the focal point of this struggle as he inadvertently harms himself at both a tangible and intangible level.

Macbeth’s ambition develops into obsession the moment he condones the thought of forcing King Duncan to give up his throne to him. However his

Themes in Macbeth The following themes will form the basis of your examination essay questions. In groups of 2-3, find at least three quotes that depict these themes in the play. Once you have found the supporting evidence, you will need to present the quotes to the class and explain how these quotes establish the theme’s importance in the text. 1.

According to the Marriam-Webster Dictionary, theme is defined as "a subject or topic of discourse or of artistic representation." Throughout human history stories have evolved, and so have the themes behind them. Whether it is through the use of an adage, proverb, or folk tale the meaning behind one is something we all can think of. Plays and other artworks are no different. When reading the literally artwork titled Macbeth by Shakespeare, it is filled with themes and concepts that can be translated to normal everyday life.