gender roles

Banquo vs Macbeth

conscience vs murder

fate vs destiny

reason (M) vs passion (LM)

The devestation that followswhen morals are ignored.

is paired with agression

witches represent Fate. Thatlives are predetermined

How that comes about is downto mans free will.

Killing the King, who was seenas God's representation onearth

Violent disruptions in nature — tempests, earthquakes, darkness at noon, and so on — parallel theunnatural and disruptive death of the monarch Duncan. The medieval and renaissance view of the worldsaw a relationship between order on earth, the socalled microcosm, and order on the larger scale of theuniverse, or macrocosm.

Many critics see the parallel between Duncan's death anddisorder in nature as an affirmation of the divine right theory ofkingship.

The Elizabethans believed in "The Great Chain of Being". This was the idea that everyonewas ordered by God into his allotted place, with the king at the head. By killing the king andtaking his place, Macbeth was subverting this natural order.

Shakespeare's patron, King James, had written abook on this topic, Basilikon Doron, and so thistheme was also of great contemporary interest.

reversal of values

unnatural disorder

deceitful appearance

Shakesperean audience were trained by pamphlets, sermons, orcommon conversation to listen to or read his plays with anattnetion to the subletities of poetic language that is not naturalto modern day readers, as well as sharing the same speechidiom.

A lot of the play is written in iambicpentameters which was a common speechpattern

A single rhymed couplet may also appear at theend of a speech or scene in blank verse, inwhich case it is called a capping couplet.

for effect

to make the script easier to learn for theactors, often would only be one play toshare.

languae used as a way toexpress emotion