The Meanings of Macbeth
There is no single right way of thinking about or performing Macbeth. It
has been hugely popular for almost four hundred years, performed many
thousands of times in very different versions. Millions of words have been
written about it since Shakespeare’s time. It is impossible to reach a final
answer to the question ‘What is Macbeth about?’ because the play works
on so many different levels, a multitude of interpretations are possible –
all with a claim to truth.
The aim of this edition of Macbeth is to enable you to make up your own
mind about the play. The following pages give possible starting points for
thought and activity. All are invitations to explore further on your own or in
a group, and so help you bring the play alive in your own imagination. The
play is like a kaleidoscope. Every time it is performed or read, it reveals
different shapes, patterns, meanings, interpretations. For example,
Macbeth is:
A) a historical thriller: a fast-moving action-packed murder story
showing that crime does not pay
B) a psychological study of a murderer’s mind: Macbeth constantly
reveals his innermost thoughts
C) a play of political and social realism: showing how an oppressive
hierarchical society systematically produces corrupt individuals
D) a play of illusions: showing the effect on human beings of the
mysterious or supernatural (the Witches, the dagger, and so on)
E) a play of ideas of themes: for example, ‘appearance and reality’
F) a dramatic poem: showing how a poet of genius uses language and
imagery to great imaginative effect
G) A tragedy: the portrayal of the fall of a great man because of a fatal
flaw in his character (Macbeth’s ambition causes his death).
The Themes of Macbeth
Themes are ideas or concepts of fundamental importance that recur
throughout the play, linking together plot, characters and language.
Themes echo, reinforce, and comment upon each other and the whole
play. Some major themes in Macbeth are:
Ambition: ruthless seeking after power by Macbeth, urged on by his wife.
It is the tragic flaw that causes his downfall
Evil: the urge to destroy whatever is good; the brooding presence of
murderous intention and action
Order and disorder: the struggle to maintain or destroy social and natural
bonds; the destruction of morality and mutual trust
Appearance and reality: evil lurks behind fair looks. Deceit and hypocrisy
mean that appearances cannot be trusted
Equivocation: telling deliberately misleading half-truths
Violence and tyranny: warfare, destruction, and oppression recur
throughout the paly
Guilt and conscience: Macbeth knows that what he does is wrong. He does
it none the less, and suffers agonies of conscience as a result.
Man: the violent cut-throat feudal society of hierarchical male power
breeds bloody stereotypes of what it is to be a man. However, the play
offers other vision of manhood.
Other themes are: the supernatural, retribution, innocence and goodness,
harmony and grace, fate and free will, loyalty and patriotism,
overconfidence
Imagery in Macbeth
Macbeth is rich in imagery: vivid works and phrases that conjure up
emotionally charged mental pictures. They carry powerful significance, far
deeper than their surface meanings.
Darkness and light: ‘Dark night strangles the travelling lamp’
Blood: the word ‘blood’ occurs over one hundred times in the play
Babies and children: signifying vulnerability and innocence
Disease and medicine: Scotland is sick under Macbeth’s rule, and
individuals are corrupted. But individuals and societies may be cured
Feasting and hospitality: eating together is a sign of friendship and
community. Macbeth’s disrupted banquet signifies the moral dissolution of
both himself and Scotland.
Sleep: the Macbeths lack the healing balm of sleep
Animals, birds and insects: the many references to ominous creatures
heighten the destructive, fearful atmosphere
Clothes: Macbeth’s usurpation of the throne of Scotland dresses him in
‘borrowed robes’
Other images include: acting and theatre, eyes, hunting and sport, hands
History into Drama
History’s Macbeth: eleventh-century Scotland was a violent and troubled
country. Feuding families and clans fought to control trade and territory.
The castle was the power base of each rival war-lord. Political murder and
revenge killings were commonplace. Marauding Vikings and Norsemen
raided constantly.
Macbeth was born into this violent world in 1005, son of the great family
that ruled Moray and Ross. His own father was murdered by his cousins.
Macbeth married Gruach, granddaughter to a High King of Scotland. There
is no historical evidence about Lady Macbeth’s influence on her husband.
Duncan’s rule had been ineffectual and unpopular. He was thirty-eight
when he was killed, possibly by Macbeth, who was elected High King of
Scotland in 1040. Macbeth ruled for seventeen years for the first ten as a
competent, reforming king. He gave Scotland a long period of
comparative peace and stability. There is no evidence that Macbeth
dabbled in witchcraft; indeed, he was a strong supporter of the Church.
Duncan’s son Malcolm invaded Scotland in 1054, supported by the English
King, Edward the Confessor. Macbeth was killed on 15 August 1057 at Peel
Ring, Lumphanan in Mar. He was buried at Iona, the sacred burial palace
of the Kings of Scotland.
Holinshed’s Macbeth: Shakespeare was a playwright, not a historian. But
he knew that history provided splendid materials for plays: war, conflict,
ambition, the downfall of great rulers. Earlier in his career he had written
his English history plays drawing on the stories in Raphael Holinshed’s
Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland (1587). Holinshed made
uncritical use of earlier historians and believed that Tudor monarchy was
the best form of government. His story of Macbeth now fired
Shakespeare’s imagination. But Shakespeare never slavishly followed any
source. He selected, altered and added to achieve maximum dramatic
effect. He invented Banquo’s Ghost, and most of the cauldron scene.
Shakespeare changed Duncan from an ineffectual king into an old and
revered ruler, and omitted Macbeth’s ten years of good rule.
A Macbeth for King James?
King James I succeed Queen Elizabeth I on the English throne in 1603. He
was a member of the Stuart dynasty and already King of Scotland.
Macbeth may have been performed before King James in 1606. It contains
many echoes of Jame’s interests:
Banquo: Holinshed included an elaborate family tree of the Stuart
dynasty, showing King Jame’s descent from Banquo. Shakespeare has a
single stage direction. Unlike Holinshed, Shakespeare did not make
Banquo an accomplice to Duncan’s murder. Instead, he lays full
responsibility on the Macbeths. This alteration presumably pleased King
James, who hated regicides (king-killers). In fact, Banquo never existed.
He was invent as the source of Stuart royalty.
Witchcraft: King James’s interest in witchcraft was well known. He visited
Oxford in 1605 and was greeted by three witches who hailed him the
descendant of Banquo
The Gunpowder Plot, 5 November 1605: a medal was struck to
commemorate the king’s escape. It showed a snake concealed by flowers.
The Plot is believed to be referred to in Act 2 Scene 3, line 50.
Equivocation: a Catholic priest, Henry Garnet, was accused in 1606 of
treason for involvement in the Gunpowder Plot. He was found to have
committed perjury, but claimed to have the right to equivocate (tell
deliberately misleading half-truths) in self defence. Equivocation is a major
theme of the play.
