Macbeth Concepts

Carol Ann Duffy

Techniques

themes

Floating topic

Macbeth Concepts

Motifs

Subtopic

Prophecy & Fate

Silence

Blood

Check out the "making of Macbeth blood" for the National Theater in England -- they actually talk about how they want it thicker, so it drips down the walls in a particular way...

As Lady Macbeth prepares her plan to kill King Duncan, she asks the spirits of murder to "make thick my blood; / Stop up the access and passage to remorse" (1.5.43-44). In Shakespeare's time, people thought that poison made blood thick -- if you had thin blood, you were wholesome and good. Lady Macbeth doesn't want to feel guilty about the murder, so she is essentially giving her soul to the demons to be poisoned.

Themes

Guilt is the price paid for ruthlessness.

Naked ambition is destructive.

Corrupted leaders lead to corrupted societies.

We are not in control of our Fate, which is death.

Power corrupts.

Tragedy

Shakespearean Tragedy

Aristotle & Greek Tragedy

Main topic

Performance Features

Body language & movement

Speaking the lines

Costume

Set

Literary Features

Irony

Examples of Irony in Shakespeare

Examples of Irony in literature

Metaphor

Word choice (Diction)

Characterization

Setting

Mood

Iambic Pentameter