Macbeth themes
Macbeth themesIn Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Shakespeare is able to develop many major themes in the play; he uses different techniques to put emphasis on certain issues in order to help develop these themes in the story line of the play. The major themes of Macbeth are, Man vs. Evil, Man vs. Himself, and Man vs. Reality. The major techniques that Macbeth uses include foreshadowing, symbolism, and irony. In using these techniques skillfully, Shakespeare is able to develop a plot and clearly define some themes.
One of the major themes of Macbeth is the Man vs. Evil. There is a strong sense of evil in almost every scene of the play. When Shakespeare begins the play with the three witches, he is making it clear to the audience that the play is centering around an evil theme. Throughout the play, each character has to either fight or give in to evil. In the play, evil disagrees with normal human nature. For example, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have to bend their natures to murder King Duncan. First, Lady Macbeth has to beg evil spirits to tear all human feeling from her, and then she has to make her husband ignore his own conscience. However, due to the evil that has been committed, at the end of the play both characters are emotionally destroyed. Fear and guilt drives Lady Macbeth to commit suicide Macbeth sees life as Evil is also a disease. In the play, evil infects Scotland as soon as Macbeth kills King Duncan, Macbeth takes the throne unlawfully through wicked actions. Since the king is infected, Scotland is also infected, and Macbeth is its disease. The longer he is king, the worse things get. But when Macduff takes Macbeth’s head evil no longer exists and Scotland is cured.
Another major theme in Macbeth is the Man vs. Himself. Macbeth’s ambition is his tragic flaw and it is the cause of his downfall. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth seems to be a brave, noble, and loyal thane. For his desire to become king, he is willing to turn his back on what he knows to be right. He lets his ambition lead him to many murderous plots in order to obtain and keep the throne. Lady Macbeth, because of her ambition for her husband, uses all her strength and intelligence for evil purposes. They are completely opposite of Banquo, who will not compromise his honor for anything.
Finally, Shakespeare displays the theme of Man vs. Reality. Practically nothing in the play is what it appears to be. The witches’ predictions sound like good news; actually, they lead to death and Macbeth’s downfall. Macbeth and his wife seem like gracious hosts; actually, they are plotting murder against their guest. The Macbeths appear to achieve what they desire; in reality, they only gain torment and death.
In Macbeth, Shakespeare is trying to get three themes out to the audience. These include evil, ambition, and man versus reality. The techniques that he uses to accomplish this are effective because they are linked to each other. For example, to show that nothing is what it appears to be Shakespeare uses irony. Also, another theme is ambition. Generally, the main plot of the play discusses how Macbeth lets his ambition come in front of what his conscience tells him is right. The witches foreshadow events which gives Macbeth a blind ambition and leads to his ultimate end. Finally, the third theme is that human nature cannot be challenge. Symbolism was used to show this theme. For example, with the symbol of the blood, Lady Macbeth ignored her human nature but it came back to torment her. She believed that they could wash their hands easily and be cleared of the deed but later on she found out that it was not so easy.