- Name:- Payal Bambhaniya
- Batch :- M.A. Sem.1 ( 2022 - 2024 )
- Roll no. :- 16
- Paper No. & Name :- 101 - Literature of Elizabethan and Restoration period
- Assignment Topic :- Thematic Study of 'Macbeth'
- Subject Code No. :- 22392
- Enrollment No. :- 4069206420220002
- Email Id :- payalbambhaniya@gmail.com
- Submitted to :- Smt. S. B. Gardi Department of English, MKBU.
Introduction:-
A theme is the general message or statement about a subject that all the elements of a story or a poem work together to develop. Without a unifying theme, a story contains only arbitrary events and Characters. Theme is specially essential to give your Characters and events meaning, a meaning that often leads to great spiritual or emotional involvement and released by an audience. Theme functions make a story or poem meaningful. Great themes create great drama. So, In the literature themes are very important.
About Writer :-
William Shakespeare ( 1564-1616 ):-
William Shakespeare was an English Playwright, Poet and Actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's greatest dramatist. He is also called England's national poet. Shakespeare occupies a position Unique in world Literature. Other poets, such as Homer and Dante, and novelists, such as Leo Tolstoy and Charles Dickens, have transcended national barriers, but no writer's living reputation can compare to that of Shakespeare, whose plays, written in the late 16th and early 17th centuries for a small repertory theatre, are now performed and read more often and in more countries than ever before.
His works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 Sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses. His plays have been translated into every major language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. His Notable works are below.
- Hamlet
- King Lear
- Macbeth
- Romeo and Juliet
- Othello
- The Tempest
- Midsummer Night's Dream
- As you Like It
Macbeth:-
William Shakespeare's Macbeth is one of the most iconic Character ever created. It is a Famous Tragedy of William Shakespeare. It is based on the history of Scotland. A brave Scottish general named Macbeth receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become king of Scotland. Consumed by Ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the Scottish throne for himself. He is then wracked with guilt and paranoia. Forced to commit more and more murders to protect himself from enmity and suspicion, he soon becomes a tyrannical ruler. The bloodbath and consequent civil war swiftly take Macbeth into the realms of madness and death. Themes of the play are below.
From ambition to guilt, the themes of Macbeth contribute to its standing as one of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies. Themes, or underlying ideas throughout a work of literature, add layers of meaning to Macbeth. Studying them will give you a deepar understanding of this important literary work.
Ambition:-
One of the strongest Themes in Macbeth is Ambition. The weird sisters or three witches' Prophecies spur both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to try to fullfill their ambitions, but the Witches never make Macbeth or his wife do anything. Macbeth and his wife act on their own to fulfil their deepest desires. Macbeth, a good general and by all accounts before the action of the play , a good man, allows his ambition to overwhelm him and becomes a murdering, paranoid maniac. Lady Macbeth, once she begins to put into actions the once hidden thoughts of her mind, is crushed by guilt.
Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth want to be great and powerful, and sacrifice their morals to achieve that goal. By contrasting these two characters with others in the play, such as Banquo, Duncan and Macduff, who also want to be great leaders but refuse to allow ambition to come before honor, Macbeth shows how naked ambition, freed from any sort of moral or social conscience, ultimately takes over every other characteristic of a person. Unchecked ambition, Macbeth suggests, can never be fulfilled, and therefore quickly grows into a monster that will destroy anyone who gives into it.
Guilt :-
Guilt is one of the most significant themes in Macbeth since the play deals directly with murder and other crimes. Macbeth's guilt over the murder of Duncan and Banquo leads him to commit more crimes in order to cover up his acts. He is tormented by the guilt and concern over the consequences of his actions and loses his grasp on reality. Lady Macbeth also feels guilty for her role in these crimes, and she tries to explain it away and give herself a clean slate: "What's done cannot be undone. She is unable to clear her conscience and continues to be tormented. She begins to go insane. When she speaks one of the most famous lines in the play, "Out, damned spot! Out, I say! "she is sleepwalking and dreaming that the blood of the king is on her hands and cannot be washed away.
The Fact that both characters suffer torment as a result of their actions suggests neither Macbeth nor his wife is entirely cold - blooded. Although they commit terrible crimes, they know, on some level, the what they have done is wrong. Their guilt prevents them from fully enjoying the power they craved. Lady Macbeth says What's done cannot be undone in Act five scene one, but her guilt continues to torment her. While Macbeth's guilt causes him to commit further murders in an attempt cover up his initial crimes, Lady Macbeth guilt drives her to insanity, and finally suicide. Thus , we can say that guilt is another important theme in the play.
The Great Chain of Being:-
The Great Chain of Being is another important theme of the play Macbeth. Elizabethan believed that God set out an order for everything in the universe. This was known as the Great Chain of Being. On Earth, God created a social order for everybody and chose words, the king and queen were in charge because God put them there and they were only answerable to God. The Great Chain of Being includes everything from God and the angles at the top, to humans, animals, plants, rocks and minerals at the bottom. Humans are pretty much in the middle, being mostly mortal, or made of spirit. The theory Started with the Greek philosopher Aristotle and Plato, but was a basic assumption of life in Elizabethan England.
This theme is a major influence on Macbeth. Macbeth disturbs the murdering the king and stealing the throne. This throws all of nature into uproar, including a story related by an old man that the horses in their stables went mad and ate each other, a symbol of unnatural happiness. In Macbeth, the theme of the great chain of being - the whole concept of hierarchy in society is said to be in the play. It is evident that society starts to break down and everything is in disorder.
Fate :-
Would Macbeth have become King had he not chosen his murderous path? This question brings into play the matters of fate and free will. The witches predict that he would become Thane of Cawdor, and soon after he is anointed with him. The witches shows Macbeth his future and his fate, but Duncan's murder is a matter of Macbeth's own free will, and after Duncan's assassination, the further assassination are a matter of his own planning. This also applies to the other visions the witches conjure for Macbeth: he sees them as a sign of his invincibility and acts accordingly, but they actually anticipate his demise.
The Relationship Between Cruelty and Masculinity:-
Characters in the play Macbeth frequently dwell on issues of gender. Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband by questioning his manhood. Wishes that she herself could be unsexed. And does not contradict Macbeth when he says that a woman like her should give birth only to boys. In the same manner that Lady Macbeth goads her husband on to murder. Macbeth provokes the murderers he hired to kill Banquo by questioning their manhood. Such acts show that both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth equate Masculinity with naked aggression, and whenever they converse about manhood. Violence soon follows.
Their understanding of manhood allows the political order depicted in the play to descend into chaos. At the same time, however, the audience cannot help noticing that women are also sources of violence and evil. The witches's Prophecies spark Macbeth 's ambitions and then encourages his violent behavior, Lady Macbeth provides the brains and the will behind her husband's plotting: and the only divine being to appear is hecate, the goddess of witchcraft. Macbeth traces the root of chaos and evil to women, which has led some critics to argue that this is Shakespeare's most misogynistic play.
The male characters are just as violent and prone to evil as the women, the aggression of the female characters is more striking because it goes against prevailing expectations of how women ought to behave. Lady Macbeth's behaviour certainly shows that women can be as ambitious and cruel as men. Whether because of the constraints of her society or because she is not fearless enough to kill, Lady Macbeth relies on deception and manipulation rather than violence to achieve her ends.
The play does put forth a revised and less destructive definition of manhood. In the scene where Macduff learns of the murders of his wife and child. Malcolm consoles him by encouraging him to take the news in manly fashion, by seeking revenge upon Macbeth. Macduff shows the young heir apparent that he has a mistaken understanding of masculinity. At the end of the play, Siward receives news of his son's death rather complacently. Malcolm replies that he has learned the lesson Macduff gave him on the sentient nature of true masculinity. It also suggests that, with Malcolm's coronation, order will be restored to the Kingdom of Scotland. Thus, we can say that the theme of relationship between Cruelty and Masculinity is important in the play.
Supernatural:-
Another major theme of the play is the supernatural - the idea there are mysterious forces controlling what is happening in our lives. The very first characters we meet are the three witches, and their prophecies drive the story forward. In Shakespeare's time belief in witchcraft was very strong and many so - called witches were burnt at the stake. It is not taken these ideas seriously and felt Macbeth was somehow possessed. The final battle scene also contains many elements of the supernatural. Macbeth believes he is invincible because many of the witches's Prophecies appear impossible to fulfill and yet just as the witches predicted Birnam wood does indeed move to Dunsinane, and Macbeth is killed by Macduff because he is not a woman born. Thus, we can say that the supernatural is an important theme in the play Macbeth.
Conclusion:-
Thus, we can clearly say that the main theme of Macbeth is Ambition and corrupt power. We follow the story of Macbeth, in which we see that he started out as a good and honorable general. But upon hearing the Witches prophecy of becoming king, up. makes Macbeth crave for power and ambition starts to build up.
Thank you for reading this Assignment.
Word count:- 1,865
Image :- 1
References:-
Bevington, David , Brown, John Russell and Spencer, Terence John Bew. "William Shakespeare". Encyclopedia Britannica, 23 Aug. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Shakespeare. Accessed 3 November 2022.
Florman, Ben. "Macbeth Themes." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 22 Jul 2013. Web. 3 Nov 2022. Frey, Angelica. "'Macbeth': Themes and Symbols." ThoughtCo, Jan. 29, 2020, thoughtco.com/macbeth-themes-and-symbols-4581247.
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