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Macbeth: Themes

Year 10 English

MacBeth- Theme Overview

The central themes of Macbeth revolve around ambition, power, guilt, and the corrupting influence of unchecked desires. At the heart of the play is Macbeth’s ambitious drive for power, which is sparked by the witches' prophecy and further fueled by his wife, Lady Macbeth. This ambition leads him down a path of murder, treachery, and paranoia, resulting in his moral decline and eventual downfall. The theme of guilt is intertwined with Macbeth's actions, as both he and Lady Macbeth are tormented by their conscience, experiencing hallucinations and mental disarray. The play also explores the corrupting effect of power, as Macbeth, initially a noble figure, becomes a tyrant consumed by fear and the need to maintain control. Supernatural elements, including the witches and visions, reinforce the idea of fate versus free will, while the contrast between appearance and reality highlights the deceit and manipulation that underpin Macbeth’s rise to power. Ultimately, Macbeth explores the destructive consequences of ambition, the instability of power, and the psychological toll of guilt.

Course Hero

LitCharts Theme Wheel

The Theme Wheel visualizes all of Macbeth's themes and plot points on one page.

How does the Theme Wheel work?

  • Each wedge of the blue ring represents a scene.
  • Each row of colored boxes extending from a wedge represents a part of the scene. The closer to the blue ring, the closer to the beginning of the scene.
  • The colors in each row indicate which themes are “active” in that part of the scene.

The Theme Wheel is interactive.

  • Themes: Hover over or tap any of the themes in the Themes and Colors Key to show only that theme. Click a theme in the Themes Key to lock it.
  • Summary: Hover over or tap any row of colored boxes to read the summary associated with that row. Click the row to lock the summary.

Infographic

Learn about themes in William Shakespeare's play Macbeth with Course Hero's video study guide.

Bell Shakespeare

Following a bloody battle, he and his comrade Banquo are met by three Weird Sisters who prophesy their future, telling Macbeth he will one day be king. Unable to shake the thought from his mind, Macbeth tells his wife, Lady Macbeth, and the two execute a plan to murder King Duncan at their castle, assuming the crown and taking fate into their own hands.

But the Macbeths cannot enjoy their newly gained power, and their once strong union crumbles. Lady Macbeth is plagued with guilt and Macbeth is consumed by an unquenchable thirst for power, setting in motion a bloody chain of events. King Duncan’s son Malcolm, the rightful heir to the throne, raises an army against Macbeth. With the help of the noble general Macduff, Macbeth is finally defeated and order is restored to Scotland.

Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s best-known tragedies and one of his shortest plays, at just over half the length of Hamlet. It is the play that most reflects the interests of the monarch at the time in which it was written: King James I was famously obsessed with witchcraft.

Art of Smart

The action begins on the eve of a battle between the Scottish army and a Norwegian rebellion, when the two famed generals of King Duncan, Macbeth and Banquo, meet three mysterious women (witches) that have previously cast a prophecy in a storm.