Analysing what the play says about ambition

In order to anlayse what the play says about ambition, consider the following questions:

What is ambition? Give a general definition.

In Macbeth, Who is ambitious?
How do they put their ambition into action?
What are the consequences of their ambition? Rewards/punishment?

What does this say to us about ambition? Consider its relation to the important ideas, attitudes and values in the play.

Post to your blog by Thursday.

Examining a re-contextualising of the play

Does the re-contextualising of Macbeth in a restaurant in the Shakespeare re-told series allow the concept to be presented in a way which is faithful to the analysis we have undertaken?

Write a paragraph response justifying your answer.

Natural Order in Macbeth

Natural Order in Macbeth 

What constitutes order in the play Macbeth?  

Essentially the play sees the country go from order to chaos/disorder and back to order. If we trace the path of this, we can explore what the play says about order.  

Answer the following questions, gathering evidence in the form of quotations. 

Think about the start of the play. What is Macbeth rewarded for? What is the first Thane of Cawdor punished for? 

When Macbeth kills Duncan what is his immediate response? What does his intense feeling do guilt tell us?  

Chaos ensues for Scotland. What does this tell us about what Macbeth has done? 

What occurs in the natural world when Duncan is murdered? Why? What does this tell us? 

When Macbeth is killed and Malcolm regains the throne what happens to Scotland?  

How does Lady Macbeth contribute to our understanding of order? Consider her attempts to transgress the boundaries in relation to gender and what this leads to.

 

Ideas, attitudes and values

Ideas, attitudes and values in Macbeth

In a small group, explore some of the ideas, attitudes and values which underpin the play. You could consider ideas, attitudes and values relating to such things as:

Ambition

Power

The natural order

Fate

Gender

Ask yourself what the major characters such as Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Macduff,  Malcolm and Banquo value. What ideas do they have? What are their attitudes to power etc?

Then ask yourself what the text values in relation to these things. You should be able to answer this by exploring what the characters are rewarded or punished for.

For example, Macduff values honour. Macbeth values power. The text privileges honour exemplified through the rightful use of power within the naturalized hierarchy of the play. How do we know this? Because Macbeth is rewarded when he acts honourably in support of the rightful king at the start of the play. He is punished in many ways when he seeks power over honour and the naturalized order.

You might set up a table such as this:

	Characters’ ideas, attitudes and values	The ideas, attitudes and values underpinning the text. Justify with a discussion of rewards and punishments
Ideas
Attitudes
Values

What symbols and motifs have you identified as important in the play?

Character Notes

WITCHES:

1.      What do we know about the character’s personality and attitude?

-          Manipulative

-          Play mind games

-          Devious

-          Come as one

-          Out to trick Macbeth

-          Plot different thoughts in Macbeths head – they seem to know what that thought will lead to

2.      Does this change during the course of the play? Explain

The attitude and personality of the witches remains the same during the play as they continue to play mind games with Macbeth throughout various events for the entirety of the play. 

3.      Does the character reveal things about another character through his of her actions, dialogue or by comparison?

Yes, when they speak to Macbeth telling him many things such as:

-          That he will be king

-          Watch out for Banquo’s son becoming king

-          Forest will move on Dunsenane

-          These thoughts make him second guess his manliness

-          Macbeth is easily manipulated

-          He is ambitious from the start

-          Gullible for believing the witches

4.      What do we not know about the character and his or her thoughts, feelings or motivations?

-          Why they plan to mess with Macbeth’s head

-          Why they play mind games

-          Why they are heartless and evil

-          Why they want to see Macbeth fail – (motivations)?

-          Why do they tell Banquo what they do?

-          What is their relationship to the notion of fate? Do they cause what happens? Do they just know what people are fated to do?

BANQUO:

What do we know about this character's personality and attitude?

Ø  Appears to be brave, noble and ambitious

Ø  Appears to have a more relaxed attitude than Macbeth. When he hears from the witches about his family’s destiny (his son’s to become King)

Ø  He is more cautious in his approach to the witches than Macbeth

Ø  Banquo focuses on the dangers of the supernatural, he is suspicious of what is going to happen. He tries to warn Macbeth about the witches and that they may be messing with his head. “But ‘tis strange, And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, The instruments of the darkness tell us truths; win us with honest trifles, to betray’s In deepest consequence.” (1.3. 121-125)

Ø  “I dreamt last night of the three weird sisters. To you they have showed some truth.”  (2.1. 21-23) – in a way it demonstrates that the witches are not to be trusted

Does this change during the course of the play? Explain.

Ø  His attitude does not really change during the course of the play, however he does become quite wary of Macbeth and realizes that he played a part in King Duncans murder. This is shown when he states “I fear thou played’st most foully for’t. (3.1.2-4)

Does the character reveal things about another character through his or her actions, dialogue or by comparison.

Ø  His thoughts about Macbeth change during the play and he becomes suspicious of Macbeth, believing that he was responsible for the murder of King Duncan.

What do we not know about the character and his or her thoughts, feelings or motivations?

Ø  He may not be as honorable as the play presents him to be. We are not aware of his thoughts, he may have been thinking that if he remains quiet about his suspicions of Duncan’s murder then he and his sons will benefit in the long run.

Ø  We do not know who he has spoken to about this, we also do not know why he keeps quiet about his suspicions

LADY  MACBETH:

•           First seen when reading the letter from Macbeth, about his idea to kill Duncan and the witches prophecies

•           Loving wife

•           Conniving, determined, manipulative, devious, coercive

•           Lacks confidence in Macbeth’s ability to murder Duncan

•           When Macbeth tries to back out of the murder, she convinces him to continue, attacks his manhood

•           Plans the murder

•           evil, organized, ruthless

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•           Wasn’t involved in the murder of Banquo, didn’t hear about it until afterwards.

•           Not involved in the murder of Macduff’s family

•           Despite being the driving force behind Duncan’s murder, she goes mad and is racked with guilt because of all the killings.  In contrast with Macbeth, who goes numb with the killings he commits.

•           slowly drifts away from Macbeth

•           Commits suicide because of guilt and depression goes on

All aspects of Lady Macbeth’s character are represented as the play progresses. Lady Macbeth’s character is revealed through changes in response to incidents during the play. Shakespeare represents all facets of Lady Macbeth’s personality and character through his actions and behavior as the play proceeds. Lady Macbeth’s changing character can be represented through three main sections of the play; before, during and after the murder of Duncan.

During the play:

Lady Macbeth becomes manipulative of Macbeth by telling him he is not a man and is too full of human kindness (1,7,49) 

“Yet do I fear thy nature; it is too full oh the milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way.”

Relationship with Macbeth changes and becomes lonely Lady Macbeth and Macbeth lose their relationship together. She no longer holds the power or ambition.

 “Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty.”

Lady Macbeth shows that she becomes paranoid and over come with grief – shown when she is sleep talking about what has happened.

Reveals:

Also revealing that Macbeth is easily manipulated.

Lady Macbeth shows us that Macbeth is ambitions – wanting to kill to become a king She also shows that Macbeth is ruthless, in getting what he wants Lady Macbeth reveals that Macbeth can become quite devious

What we don't know:

Lady Macbeth never says why she has such a yearning for power.

The audience doesn't know why she never had children.

Also we do not know why Macbeth doesn’t tell Lady Macbeth about the later murders,

The audience never hears much from Lady Macbeth within society after Macbeth has gone to war.

 When Macbeth has his experience with the ghosts, the audience isn’t confronted with Lady Macbeth’s thoughts.

We do not know how or why the enormous change occurs in Lady Macbeth. She goes from being in control and seemingly evil and devious to overwhelmed by guilt.

LADY MACDUFF:

·         Wife of Macduff, the Thane of Fife

·         Mother of an unnamed son and other children

·         Her appearance in the play is brief and she appears in Act 4, scene 2

·         Although her appearance is limited to this scene, her role in the play is quite significant

Act IV, Scene 2

·         She appears alongside the thane of ross and her son

·         She is furious at her husband for his desertion of his family

·         Lady Macbeth is left with her son, her fury toward her husband mingling with affection for her child

·         Later, the scene is invaded by a group of murderers sent my Macbeth

·         She is killed offstage

Husbands:

·         Lady Macbeth and Lady Macduff, share some basic qualities

·         Like Lady Macbeth, Lady Macduff has a husband who has abandoned her with the intention to manipulate power

·         The contrasts are clear and ironic

·         Lady Macbeth believes Macbeth to be too full of the “milk of human kindness,” while Lady Macduff is furious at her husband for his abandonment of his family.

·         Lady Macduff is considered a significant character in the play

·         Lady Macbeth’s real name was Gruoch

MACDUFF:

Personality and attitude:

Macduff isn't a man of many words, which means… everyone listens when he talks. We first hear Macduff as he expresses raw, honest grief at the King's murder: "O horror, horror, horror! Tongue nor heart/ Cannot conceive nor name thee! … Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope/ The Lord's anointed temple, and stole thence/ The life o' the building!" (2.3). (Apparently, even grief can't keep him from busting out elaborate metaphors to describe death.) Even more than the king's own son, Macduff appears to mourn the loss of the king, and the man.

He’s not so overwhelmed by grief that he can't pay attention to what's going on around him. He's the only one who asks why Macbeth killed the guards senselessly. He's also the first to see that Lady Macbeth is fainting. And, instead of prattling on about his suspicions, he decides to leave for England. This isn't a cowardly act, but rather a brave one intended to aid Malcolm in enlisting the English against Macbeth.

Basically, in Macduff we see a guy who can feel and act. After his wife and children are killed, Macduff is flailing around a little, saying things like "All my pretty ones? … all my pretty chickens and their dam/ At one feel swoop?" (4.4). Malcolm tells him to man up (literally), and Macduff says, sure: but he's also going to "feel it as a man" (4.4). In other words, men feel deeply. In fact, they just might feel more deeply than women, or unmanly men like Macbeth.

Revenge

Calm and collected at the beginning

Caring towards his family

Morally good

Honourable: Assumes his family is safe and does not consider Macbeth killing his family

Does this change through the course of the play?

Yes, he fled out of the country before his family are murdered so this raises suspicion that he was the one who killed Duncan. Macbeth then kills Macduff’s family therefore making Macduff come back to get revenge on Macbeth by killing him. He changes throughout the play because at the start he is morally good ect however towards the end, he will do whatever it takes to kill Macbeth.

Does the character reveal things about another character this his or her actions, dialogue or by comparison

His attitude towards Macbeth triggers other people to see his side of things and can make everyone take action with dealing with Macbeth.

What do we not know about the character and his or her thoughts, feelings or motivations?

If Duncan has feeling without action, and Macbeth has action without feeling, then Macduff seems to have both. He's a true man. Then why doesn't he become king? Because he accepts his natural place: as a friend to his country and to his true king.

Doubted Macbeth from the beginning – why didn’t he make it clear that Macbeth was suspicious.

How friendly he is with Duncan, Macbeth and Banquo before all of this happens?