Themes

=Themes in Macbeth=

In the book, many of the main characters go insane, some from power, some from guilt. Macbeth hallucinates a dagger in midair which he interprets as a sign to murder the beloved King. He then hallucinates the ghost of Banquo, one of his good friends who he arranged to have killed. Lady Macbeth has terrible nightmares (and washes her bloodless hands, remarking angrily about a stubborn spot of blood) and sleep walks nightly in the days leading up to her suicide.
 * ===Insanity and Its Connection to Guilt===

Macbeth, who was looked upon as the most heroic and noble man in all of Scotland, turned corrupt and evil at the thought of gaining power. In Act I Scene II, a captain tells King Duncan about what happened in the Scots' battle with the Irish invaders. Macbeth is introduced as a hero because he killed the leader of the Irish, Macdonald, who was a traitor. Macbeth is named the Thane of Cawdor and eventually becomes caught up with his power. By the end of the play, the heroic Macbeth turns into traitorous Macbeth. It is a theme that recurred throughout the entire play.
 * ===**The Corruption of Power**===

Shakespeare expertly amalgamates reality with fiction, by having characters interact with witches. The mystical creatures lead the characters into the backwaters of imagination, they are vile, ugly, and malodorous and possess uncanny precognition. They brew disgusting mixtures and conjure up visions that give MacBeth insight into the future and ultimately lead to his demise. Fate and destiny were expressed throughout the play, Macbeth. The three witches exposed information to Macbeth that he was eventually going to become King. However, by revealing this news about his future, it caused Macbeth and his wife to commit numerous murders of which did not need to occur. Ultimately, fate would have made Macbeth King, but because he was greedy and tried to take a shortcut, he did not live to be King very long. Another perspective of this recurrent theme is that the fate of Scotland was not meant for an unworthy ruler who had to kill innocent people for the crown. Therefore, it was destiny that brought an end to Macbeth’s life for the better of Scotland. Shakespeare's //The Merchant of Venice// has been criticized for its supposed Antisemitism, by having a Jewish moneylender named Shylock embody stereotypes and act maliciously. Others read this work as a plea for the eradication of prejudice, by having a kangaroo court try Shylock and having him deliver a speech in which he says that there is really no important difference between Jews and Christians. In Macbeth, there is similar ambiguity. Yes, the rulers are male. Yes, the war heroes are male. Yes, the female witches are spoken to pejoratively and act with shameless evil. And yes, Lady Macbeth is (for a majority of the play) a cruel, calculating woman who sees power as a justification for murder. Like those who read Venice with Antisemitism, there will be people who read these characters as embodiments of sexism. However, there is also, like in Venice, another interpretation to be had. Remember the line "unsex me here" and try to read it as Shakespeare's critique of stereotypes, rather than acceptance of them. Bigotry is an evil virus, an infection that must destroyed, and perhaps Shakespeare felt that as well.
 * **The Natural and Unnatural Worlds**
 * **Fate and Destiny**
 * **Bigotry**


 * **Loyalty and Betrayal**

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The first Thane of Cawdor, on whom the king deposited all of his loyalty was hanged because of treason, so due to that, Macbeth then becomes Thane of Cawdor, and he later on he kills the king, in order to become King, so both Thane of Cawdors were trusted and betrayed their king. Macbeth killed Macdonald, the Thane of Cawdor because he was a traitor. Macbeth was seen as a great hero of the army and was given the title of Thane of Cawdor by King Duncan. King Duncan trusted Macbeth and believed that he would be loyal and never do anything like Macdonald did. But Macbeth soon became caught up in power, and his actions of killing King Duncan and later other people. proves that he betrayed King Duncan.======