Here are the major themes of
Macbeth:
- Ambition
can subvert
reason:
“From this moment,the very firstlings of my shall
be the firstlings of my hand.” –Act IV, Scene
1
AND
“Thou
wouldst be great; art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend
it.” –Act I, Scene
5
- When
supernatural powers represent evil, they should be ignored.
“But ‘tis strange! And
oftentimes, to win us to our harm, the instruments of darkness tell us truths, win us
with honest trifles, to betray’s in deepest consequence.” –Act I, Scene
3
AND
“Accursed be the tongue that tells me so, for it
hath cowed my better part of man! And be these juggling fiends no more believed.” –Act
V, Scene
8
- The
natural order is disrupted by any upset in the proper order of human
society.
“By
the clock ‘tis day, and yet dark night strangles the traveling lamp. Is’t night’s
predominance, or day’s shame, that darkness does the face of earth entomb when living
light should kiss it?” –Act II, Scene
4
AND
“The obscure bird clamored the livelong night.
Some say the earth was feverous and did shake.” –Act II, Scene
3
- Appearances
do not always reflect
reality.
“There’s
no art to find the mind’s construction in the face. He was a gentleman on whom I built
an absolute trust.” –Act I, Scene
4
AND
“Our separated fortune shall keep us both the
safer. Where we are, there’s in men’s smiles; the near in blood, the nearer
bloody.” –Act II, Scene
3
- Despite
prophecies of the future, people are responsible for their own
actions.
“If
you can look into the seeds of time and say which grain will grow and which will not,
speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear your favors nor your hate.” –Act I, Scene
3
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