10. William Shakespeare

• women

• female characters range from the profound to the superficial, the evil to the heroic

• the role of women in society is a reoccurring theme in Shakespeare; are women limited by their biology or by social expectations?

• Lady Macbeth prays for the strength to take a baby from her breast and smash its head against a wall to achieve her ambitions (a rejection of a woman’s biological function and the desire for male power)

• as such Shakespeare’s work is full of woman who transcend traditional expectations as well as those who are a passive love interest

• crossdressing in an interesting feature of Shakespeare, sometimes a plot device, often played for laughs, nether the less when a woman “becomes” a man she is often more capable than the male characters

MACBETH

Plot overview

At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is a brave and loyal Thane to King Duncan. After hearing a prophecy that he will become king himself, Macbeth is overcome by ambition and greed. Bolstered by the prophecy and his wife’s encouragement, he kills King Duncan and takes the throne. Afterwards, Macbeth’s guilt, fear, and paranoia lead him to commit even more murders to secure his power. His confidence in the prophecies eventually leads to his downfall and he is overthrown and killed by those he has wronged.

The main theme is ambition. Macbeth is not very ambitious at the beginning of the story. The turnover comes when he is encouraged by his wife and kills King Duncan. From this moment he feels free to kill whoever comes to his way. Macbeth shows us that excessive ambition sometimes takes humanity out of the person.

Themes:

Betrayal and Treachery – As soon as Macbeth hears prophecy of his becoming the king from the witches, he starts thinking about ways to get to the position. This instigates treacherous thoughts in him. He plans to kill the king at the inciting of his wife Lady Macbeth, who joins him without feeling any qualm for the king or others. The betrayal in Macbeth lies in treachery of Macbeth. Duncan is not only his king, but also a kinsman and friend. Therefore, this betrayal is another significant theme of the play.

Conflict of Good and Evil – The conflict of good and evil starts as soon as Macbeth has the thought of becoming the king. He becomes ambitious due to the prophecy of the witches which is the start of evil. This evil, once unleashed, refuses to be bottled up. This leads to murders, conspiracies and manipulations in the whole kingdom in which king, guards and many others are killed. The good prevails by the end when Macbeth faces defeat. Banquo, Malcom and Donalbain too are shown in good light, representing good along with Duncan

Fate – Another theme is the prophecy of the witches. Will I be a king if I will be inactive about it? There is a big battle inside Macbeth about this. Whether to be active an go over the corpses or inactive and wait whether the prophecy will be right or not.

Motifs:

Predestination – One of the powerful motifs in the play is the prediction of the witches. The witches appear in the first act and then in the third and last. They make a prediction that Macbeth shall be the king, and that his wife will be the queen. All the actions of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are based on these predictions. Whatever action they take, its basis is the same prediction, and its attendant features that they will have to do nothing. In fact, these predictions occurring at different times make the play move forward with a fast pace.