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Themes are the big ideas that run through the entire play. AQA expects you to track these themes across the play and connect them to context. This lesson covers three closely linked themes: ambition, power, and kingship.
Ambition is the driving force of the play — Macbeth's "vaulting ambition" (1.7) is his hamartia (tragic flaw) and the engine of every major event.
| Stage of the play | How ambition is presented | Key quote |
|---|---|---|
| Act 1 (before the murder) | Ambition as temptation — Macbeth is drawn to the idea of kingship but knows it is wrong | "I have no spur / To prick the sides of my intent, but only / Vaulting ambition" (1.7) |
| Act 1 (Lady Macbeth) | Ambition as ruthless determination — she is willing to sacrifice her femininity for power | "unsex me here, / And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full / Of direst cruelty" (1.5) |
| Acts 2–3 (after the murder) | Ambition breeds paranoia — gaining power only creates fear of losing it | "To be thus is nothing, / But to be safely thus" (3.1) |
| Acts 4–5 (tyranny) | Ambition becomes self-destructive — Macbeth's ambition has consumed his humanity | "Life's but a walking shadow" (5.5) |
Shakespeare does not present ambition as inherently evil — Banquo also hears the prophecy but chooses not to act on it. The play suggests that:
Examiner's tip: When writing about ambition, always connect it to context. Jacobean audiences believed that excessive ambition was a sin — it meant wanting more than God had ordained for you. Macbeth's ambition is not just a character flaw; it is a spiritual transgression.
Power in Macbeth is presented as something that can be exercised legitimately or illegitimately, and Shakespeare makes it clear which form he endorses.
| Aspect | Legitimate power (Duncan/Malcolm) | Illegitimate power (Macbeth) |
|---|---|---|
| Source | Divine Right — God's appointment | Violence and murder |
| Exercise | Justice, generosity, mercy | Fear, paranoia, tyranny |
| Effect on Scotland | Peace, loyalty, natural order | Chaos, distrust, unnatural events |
| Outcome | Loyalty from subjects | Rebellion and overthrow |
Prophecy → Temptation → Murder (Duncan) → Paranoia → More murder (Banquo)
→ Tyranny → More murder (Macduff's family) → Isolation → Overthrow → Death
Each murder does not make Macbeth more secure — it makes him less secure. This is Shakespeare's central point about illegitimate power: violence breeds more violence.
"It will have blood, they say; blood will have blood" (3.4)
Lady Macbeth associates power with masculinity and weakness with femininity:
"unsex me here" (1.5) "When you durst do it, then you were a man" (1.7)
She manipulates Macbeth by challenging his manhood, equating violence with masculinity. Shakespeare may be critiquing this association — the play shows that the pursuit of power through violence destroys both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.
Examiner's tip: The link between masculinity and power is a rich area for analysis. You could argue that Shakespeare subverts gender expectations — Lady Macbeth, the character who most aggressively pursues "masculine" power, is ultimately destroyed by guilt and madness, suggesting that the equation of masculinity with ruthlessness is toxic and self-defeating.
Kingship is one of the play's most important themes, directly connected to the political context of James I's reign.
God → Angels → Monarch → Nobility → Gentry → Commoners → Animals → Plants → Minerals
The monarch sits directly below God. Disrupting this order (through regicide) disrupts the entire cosmos.
Shakespeare uses several characters to define good and bad kingship:
| Characteristic | Good king (Duncan/Malcolm) | Tyrant (Macbeth) |
|---|---|---|
| Legitimacy | Appointed by God / rightful succession | Seized power through murder |
| Relationship with subjects | Mutual loyalty and love | Ruled by fear |
| Justice | Fair, merciful | Arbitrary, cruel |
| Effect on nature | Natural order maintained | Unnatural events (storms, darkness, animals) |
| Outcome | Stability and prosperity | Destruction and overthrow |
"Besides, this Duncan / Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been / So clear in his great office, that his virtues / Will plead like angels" (1.7)
"justice, verity, temperance, stableness, / Bounty, perseverance, mercy, lowliness, / Devotion, patience, courage, fortitude" (4.3)
Macbeth's Scotland is described as suffering under his rule:
"Alas, poor country, / Almost afraid to know itself! It cannot / Be called our mother, but our grave" (4.3)
Shakespeare's portrayal of good vs bad kingship would have pleased James I, who:
Examiner's tip: Always link kingship to the Divine Right of Kings and the Gunpowder Plot. A top answer might say: "Shakespeare presents Macbeth's reign as a perversion of the natural order, reinforcing the Jacobean belief that a monarch's authority comes from God. For an audience still shaken by the Gunpowder Plot, Macbeth's catastrophic downfall would have served as a powerful warning against any who would challenge the divinely appointed king."
Question: How does Shakespeare present ambition as a destructive force in Macbeth?
Shakespeare presents ambition as a force that corrupts incrementally, transforming Macbeth from a "brave" and loyal warrior into a nihilistic tyrant. In his Act 1 Scene 7 soliloquy, Macbeth acknowledges that he has "no spur / To prick the sides of my intent, but only / Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself / And falls on th' other." The equestrian metaphor of a rider who "o'erleaps" and falls conveys the self-defeating nature of unchecked ambition — it propels the ambitious person past their goal and into destruction. The adjective "vaulting" suggests ambition that is excessive and uncontrollable, beyond the bounds of reason. Crucially, Macbeth is self-aware: he knows that ambition is his only motivation, and yet he proceeds. This would have been particularly significant to a Jacobean audience who believed that God had assigned each person their proper place in the Great Chain of Being; to desire more than God had ordained was not merely a character flaw but a sin. Shakespeare further reinforces ambition's destructive power through the play's structure: each murder committed to secure Macbeth's position only generates new threats, creating a vicious cycle that ends only with his death. Through this, Shakespeare warns that ambition divorced from moral restraint does not elevate — it annihilates.
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