Ambition and Fate

• definition of fate: the length and outcome of one‘s life is fixed and predetermined by external forces
• witches represent this force in Macbeth
• although the fate is a preset matter, the way in which this fate will come about is changeable
• Macbeth believes that he will become king due to the witches‘ prophecy, however, he does not know what needs to be done in order for him to become king
• thus, it is his destiny to become king and he cannot be blamed for it, but he can be blamed for the way he chose to get there
• the witches never make Macbeth or his wife do anything as they act on their own
• Macbeth and his wife‘s ambition is responsible for the play‘s destructivity
  
  • Macbeth as Scottish general does not initially plan on being evil and killing people, but his lust and desire for power thrives him to do so
  • although he knows better, he kills Duncan and is afterwards plagued by guilt and paranoia - later on, this paranoia turns into madness
  • Lady Macbeth is much more determined to achieve her goals and pushes her husband into action - however, she faces more trouble dealing with the repercussions of her immorality
  • she is the driving force behind Macbeth‘s killing spree and is driven mad by the blood being shed on her conscience
  • both get rid of potential threats to their regency violently
  • essentially, they willingly sacrifice their morals in order to become great and powerful
  • Macbeth and his wife stand in contrast to the noble characters of Banquo, Duncan and Macduff
  • they also wish to be great leaders but they follow certain moral codes
  • the story of Macbeth hints at the fact that unreflecting ambition will never truly be fulfilled - fate can never be mastered

Kingship and Natural Order

• Macbeth plays in a time and society in which loyalty plays an important role
• people are loyal to their king, loyalty is expressed through comradeship in warfare, exists between hosts and guests and in the relationship between husband and wife
• however, those interpersonal connections are twisted: Macbeth kills his king, betrays and murders his friend and destroys family bonds, Lady Macbeth dominates her husband
• also, the natural relationship with regard to higher forces such as nature is broken
  
  • earthquakes, darkness throughout the day, tempests mirror the distortion of the natural order that Macbeth has brought about with his decision to kill the king and thus destroying the natural order AND forcing his fate
• both Macbeth and Duncan are kings, but only Duncan is referred to as a king whereas Macbeth is being called a tyrant
• Duncan acts as a model king, subjects are rewarded and he puts Scotland over his own interests
• Macbeth only brings chaos to Scotland and must thus be overcome by Malcom in order for Scotland to being ruled by a true king again

Gender Roles

• Lady Macbeth feels that in order to achieve her goal of pushing her husband into killing Duncan and ultimately, of becoming queen, she must take on masculine characteristics (speech in Act I, Scene 5), she even wishes to be unsexed
• she also manipulates him by questioning his manhood
• she does not contradict Macbeth when he says that a woman like her should give birth only to boys
• both Macbeth and his wife associate masculinity with aggression and brutality (Macbeth questions the manhood of the murderers he has hired)
• when talking about manhood, violence follows soon afterwards
• women as source of evil and violence
  
  • the prophecy of the witches encourages Macbeth‘s brutal behavior while Lady Macbeth plots the deed
  • Hecate - the goddess of witchcraft - supervises the mischief
  • Lady Macbeth shows that women can act just as cruel and ambitious as men
• men are less destructive in Macbeth
  
  • when Macduff is taken by sadness over the loss of his wife and his son, Malcolm tries to console him by encouraging him to take revenge upon Macbeth
  • Macduff then opposes that Malcolm has a mistaken understanding of masculinity
  • Macduff insists that emotional depth and sensitivity are part of what it means to be a man