One of the main themes in Macbeth is supernatural forces, this theme is performed by the three witches when they perform a spell, part of the spell is used as a quote in Macbeth ‘fair is foul and foul is fair, hover through the fog and filthy air’ this quote represents the witches supernatural being, and sets an uneasy mood. Another important theme of Macbeth is ambition, this is set by Macbeth, as the first prediction came true, and he started to believe in the prophecies. Macbeth refers ‘If chance may have me king, why, chance may crown me without my stir’ this suggests that Macbeth believes that he will become king one day and he has to do something, so he won’t miss the opportunity to become king.
In content, Lady Macbeth is the dominant one by controlling Macbeth and telling him what to do, as Lady Macbeth tries to persuade Macbeth, he is quite unsure whether to go through with killing the king or not, this shows this by a quote from Macbeth ‘we will proceed in this business no-more’ this suggests that Macbeth could do the right thing after all and also he can say no to his wife. As Macbeth follows Lady Macbeth by going through with the plan to kill the king, Macbeth shows that he becomes more dominant and shows his true character, this is shown by a quote after Macbeth has killed the king, ‘I have done the deed, didst thou no hear a noise?’ this suggests that Macbeth is getting more confident and braver by the decisions he is making. Macbeth starts being more independent and relying on himself to get jobs done and trusting no-one but him-self, an example of this is when Macbeth doesn’t tell his wife that he has killed banquo and Macduffs family, this is because he doesn’t feel the need to he has to tell her anything and he doesn’t owe her any explanations.
Macbeth starts to think about the prophecy more and more, he knows it will be a long time for him to gain the thrown if he waits. Macbeth knows that king Duncan sons ‘Donalbain and Malcolm’ are both next in line for the thrown and banquo has a linage of kings waiting for the thrown. Macbeth needs to act quickly in order to make the prophecy come true, as he kills the king he also murders his best friend Banquo and knows that Donalbain and Malcolm will not stay there, as their father has just been murdered. As Macbeth gets worse, he becomes obnoxious and arrogant; also he becomes quick to act. Macbeth forgets about everything with Lady Macbeth and takes matters into account himself. As Macbeth becomes more arrogant, others around him can see how he has changed, as he quotes ‘cowards’ calling his army, and also calling them ‘lazy and self-indulgent’. By these quotes, local people who once called Macbeth ‘a noble hero’ has seen what he is really like, when he becomes greedy and selfish.
In Macbeth, there is a soliloquy used at the end of act 2, scene 1, as a quote states ‘Is this dagger, I see before me’ without this quote we wouldn’t know how much Macbeth is confused, also the quote could be just playing tricks on Macbeths mind and confusing him. Another linguistic device used in Macbeth is ambiguity is Lady Macbeth quoting ‘daggers must lie there’ this quote could have another meaning, like they must stay there. Another example of ambiguity is the storm in act 1, when the witches arrive and when they disappear the storm arrives and when they disappear the storm disappears, this is because usually bad weather is associated with bad thing and in this case it’s the witches, they set an atmosphere wherever they are.
Finally, God chose the king, therefore Macbeth didn’t like this, so he wanted to test god on his theory. So when Macbeth killed the king, he interrupted the whole ‘next in line for thrown’. As Macbeth messed up all this, he went against god, and killed the king which was ‘god’s chosen one’. ‘Devine right for kings’ therefore he went against God and disobeyed him.
