Macbeth: Themes

1. Fate and Free Will

• Macbeth meets the Weird Sisters
• Macbeth becoming King - was it always meant to happen?
• Lady Macbeth's role
• Was the end of the play foretold? Did the witches accurately predict the future, or did the future only happen because the Witches told Macbeth it would, so he acted accordingly?
• How much of the story is down to Macbeth's free will?

2. Ambition

• Is Macbeth ambitious, or stupid?
• Do the witches prey on his ambition?
• Who is more ambitious - Macbeth or Lady Macbeth?

3. Power

• How does Macbeth exert power?
• How is Macbeth's expression of power different to Duncan's?
• How is Lady Macbeth powerful?
• Who are the most powerful characters in the play?
• Do the witches hold any power?

4. Versions of Reality

• Hallucinations
• The world the witches present v the world that exists
• Macbeth's idea of reality
• The predictions/prophecies
• The existence of witches in the world

5. Gender

• Macbeth and Lady Macbeth
• The Witches and the power they hold
• Control between the genders
• Gender roles

6. The Supernatural

• The Witches as a subversion of religion
• The Unholy Trinity - the recurrence of the number 3
• Are the Witches real?  Or are they in Macbeth's mind?
• Are the Witches magic?  Can they see the future?  Or are they just manipulative?

7. Violence

• Why does the violence take place off-stage?
• Macbeth's violent tendencies becoming uncovered
• Lady Macbeth's covert violence
• The hallucinations
• The murders and the murderers
• Why doesn't Macbeth do his own dirty work?

8. Time

• "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow... life is but a walking shadow"
• Macbeth can't wait to be King
• Waiting v acting now