Theme: Essential ideas to the book, or a unifying idea

Motif: A motif is a structure or literary device used to keep the plot moving, or inform readers of something

Symbol: A symbol is a real-life, concrete version of an abstract idea

Themes: Unchecked ambition: Macbeth starts out as a good fellow, but once the witches prophesy he will be king and his wife starts telling him Macbeth becomes deluded, and once he is king he has no legal system to stop him committing more crimes ; Absolute power corrupts absolutely: Macbeth commits a heinous crime to become king, but once he is in that position he commits many more terrible acts that add to his conscience, he runs Macduff out of the country and kills his family so that Macduff cannot speak or act against him, he kills his once close friend Banquo and tries to kill Banquo’s son so that Macbeth’s line will rule and not Banquo’s.

Motifs: Hallucinations: Macbeth’s hallucinations show the readers that he is not cut out to be a murderer and that he is slowly losing his sanity, they also reveal things that could not be revealed otherwise; Violence, Macbeth is one of the most violent plays (books for that matter, too) that I have read, Macbeth kills everyone, women and children and friends and family.

Symbols: The environment: when Macbeth does something bad storms brew, and when Hecate and the witches are around the weather acts up too, Duncan’s star horses ate each other and attacked their handlers.; Guilt and Blood: the blood symbolizes their guilt, with Lady Macbeth constantly washing her hands and Macbeth seeing bloody things.

Connecting Theme, Motif, and Symbol

Theme: Absolute Power

Motif: Violence

Symbol: Guilt/Blood

Relation between the three:

These all relate to each other because they all cause each other. When Macbeth becomes king he kills more and more thus: absolute power à violence, but the more Lady Macbeth and Macbeth kill the guiltier they get and the more insane and blood-ridden their lives become, leading to Absolute Power à Violence à Blood (Insanity and Guilt).

Motif exemplifying the theme and symbol:

As stated earlier in the relation section they are all interconnected. Violence leads to absolute power at the beginning and starts the whole cycle it is also this violence that creates Lady Macbeth syndrome. So, basically it all stems from this violence.

Shakespeare proposes a list of qualities required for kingship. "The king becoming graces". He includes "justice, vertity, temperance, stableness, bounty, perseverance, mercy, lowliness, devotion, patience, courage, fortitude". Although it is an extensive list Duncan possesses them all. He is just by punishing the traitor Cawdor and rewarding Macbeth and Banquo. He is humble, offering to be Macbeth's guest in return for his bravery. He is compassionate in sending the injured captain to have his wounds bathed. In fact Duncan's "Virtues  will plea like angels trumpet tongu'd". Macbeth on the other hand doesn't possess any of these.

Duncan has some faults. He isn't sufficiently brave or capable to lead his armies on the battlefield. Secondly he is gullible and easily deceived. Cawdor betrayed him when Duncan put his "absolute trust" in him and so did Macbeth. But throughout the play an emphasis is placed on Duncan's good qualities. He is compared to Edward the Confessor, King of England, whose "Sundry blessings hang about his throne that speak him fall of grace". He uses God-given healing powers to cure his subjects of "the evil". Both kings are models of the just and benevolent exercise of power.

Macbeth wants Duncans power due to his " Vaulting ambition". He takes the throne by murdering, against his own conscience, and better judgement, a good man who is his guest, subject and Kinsmen. Regicide is unatural and he knows Duncan was a fine king. Malcolm, Duncan's son, was the named successor and was a "step on which I must fall down else o'er leap for in my way it lies". Yet Malcom was weak and did not contest Macbeth's right to the throne after the death of his father. Instead he fled to England and his brother Donalblaine fled to Ireland.

Macbeth aquires his power illegally and immorally, he become "an untitled tyrant bloddy sceptered". He has usurped the throne, a position that should only be held by Macolm the rightful successor to Duncan. Once in power he abuses it. He is tormented by insecurity and angered by the fact he cannot impose his lineage due to Lady Macbeth's infertility. He murders Banquo but Fleance's escape goads him. He recognises that kingship will only be temporary and that even the "seeds of Banquo" have more of a future than he.

Ironically Macbeth doesn't even enjoy his kingship "to be thus is nothing", the chores of rule irritate him and he begins to envy Duncan's peace. Macbeth the "tyrant" soon become demonic in his rule. He murders Lady Macduff and her children, by hiring assassins. The murder is commited on stage and is the most harrowing moment in the play, as it attacks the family unit, which is the basis of society. Macbeth lacks all the virtues that Duncan and Edward embody.

A king's duty to his country must be above his own interests, hence Macbeth's rule is sailed. Macbeth brings only chaos to Scotland, this is symbolized in the darkness that coverd the land  "tis day and yet dark night stangles the travelling lamp". Nature becomes disturbed " a mousing owl hawked at and killed a falcon" horses "broke their stalls and started eating each other". Ross laments that Scotland "cannot be called our mother  but our grave". Royal power corrupts Macbeth and his tyrannical rule is imposed upon the country for which he fought so many battles to protect.

"Each new morn, new widoes howl, new orphans cry, new sorrows strike heaven on the face", these are the effects of Macbeths rule. He broke open the Lords "annointed temple" and stole power for himself. He is in total contrast to Duncan and Edwards kingly virtues. Order and peace are only restored to Scotland when Malcom, the "soverign flower" and Duncan's rightful successor, takes up the crown. For Macbeth kingship was abstract, it was dipping through his fingers at any moment.

I think that Macbeth is considered a tragic hero. According to Aristotle's description a tragic hero who must be born into nobility which Macbeth has. He must have a tragic flaw caused by personality, behavior, or mistakes, which is ultimately what he has done because of his ambition. He must have a reversal in fortune resulting from his control issues, which is something that happens in the end of the play.

Macbeth's downfall was caused by numerous things, but I think it can be traced back to the murder of King Duncan. In the beginning he didn't even want to murder Duncan but Lady Macbeth made him. Towards the end of the play Macbeth is told that Macduff might harm him so he orders his whole castle, family and all, to be murdered. So you can see how one event led to his eventual demise.

All in all, in the end I think Macbeth is considered a tragic hero. He has done or has the qualities mentioned by Aristotle, and his biggest tragic flaw is his ambition. So, Macbeth is considered the tragic hero of the whole play.

While many biographers conclude that Poe's wife was the real Annabel Lee, it is also possible that she was a fictional character. Annabel Lee was the main figure being spoken of in the poem, but she could also be considered as a symbol of a rare, pure and tender love. There was something about her description that evokes innocence, purity and childlikeness (characteristics that Virginia Clemm possibly had). It is indeed strange that Poe, an orphan and drunkard who had experienced so much cruelty from life, should marry a thirteen year old sickly girl. Perhaps, in his mind, there was an undying ideal, a longing to find tenderness and innocence in a woman and become united with her. This ideal notion was symbolized by Annabel Lee, and if she was indeed Virginia Clemm, we can say that Clemm was the only true love that Poe ever had.

In the first line of the poem, we can read, “it was many and many a year ago, in a kingdom by the sea”. The sea here was used to represent the speaker's memory. The entire phrase suggests that Annabel Lee's death occurred a very long time ago, but the sea speaks of reminiscence and an undying memory of love. This particular pattern was repeated in the succeeding stanzas, where each time the “kingdom by the sea” was mentioned, there was also a mention of things which belonged to a distant past. Poe wrote in the second stanza, “I was a child and she was a child, in this kingdom by the sea”. At the time this poem was written, Poe cannot be considered a child, as he was way past his early twenties. Clearly, he was simply using the word "sea" as a vehicle to illustrate unfading memory of a loved one which cannot be erased by time. He seems to be implying that the memory of love he had for his woman cannot be erased even after the pain of loss and death. Thus at the end of the poem, we can find him staying beside the dead girl's sepulchre by the sea.

The poem suggests that the speaker's love for Annabel Lee was of such divine and everlasting nature that it disturbed divine creatures themselves. The jealousy of the “winged seraphs of heaven” speaks strongly about the magnitude of the couple's love for each other. Obviously, the love was too much (it was a love that was more than love) that the heavenly beings chose to inflict death on poor Annabel. It is possible that the “winged seraphs” personify ill fate, and the “highborn kinsman” represents God Himself. The reason for the jealousy was not explained in the poem. Either Poe merely used it as a plausible excuse to justify an untimely death, or he simply wanted to blame ill fate, or possibly God, for the loss of his love. Or perhaps, poet as he was, he was just trying to sound a little bit more poetic. We can only surmise, because only Poe, dead in his grave and his love long been buried, has all the answers to the questions that belie "Annabel Lee".

Epitomes of ambition are prevalent in Macbeth. Initially, Macbeth is the “bravest” soldier and the honourable Thane of Glamis. Macbeth's purity and innocence is suggested in “Duncan hath born his faculties so meek, hath been so clear in his great office that his virtues will plead like angels”. The simile “like angels” makes reference to a holy and religious subject, emphasizing Macbeth's morality and ethics. In “What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won”, the composer juxtaposes the plight of the Thane of Cawdor and the Thane of Glamis. It is suggested that the Thane of Cawdor's death was resulted by Macbeth's efforts, placing him in a position of power. This further foreshadows Macbeth rise to authority, being King. During Macbeth's confrontation with the witches, he orders “Stay, you imperfect speakers. Tell me more”.

Macbeth still endeavours to seek information, despite the witches being “imperfect”. This irony portrays Macbeth's great ambition for power which distorts his perspective of reality. It is also this meeting that changes Macbeth forever and this is evident in his scheming mind, “If good, then why do I yield to that suggestion, whose horrid image doth unfix my hair and make my seated heart knock at my ribs against the use of nature?” The vivid imagery implies how seriously the prophecies have impacted on Macbeth's mind, to the point of considering murder. This further signals Macbeth's transformation from good to evil, under the influence of ambition prevalent in the witches' prophecies. Thus, even the most “perfect” soldier like Macbeth is capable of becoming “imperfect”, under the influence of ambition.

The stench of guilt is thoroughly explored and portrayed by Shakespeare throughout the play. This is most evident through the use of blood imagery. Before the murder of King Duncan, Macbeth states “I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent”. This suggests that initially, Macbeth is free of guilt and feels no real reason to harm a person he is so loyal to. The metaphor of spurring a horse suggests that Macbeth's actions will only serve to aggravate the situation and will do him no benefit. After the murder of Kind Duncan and Banquo, Macbeth begins to feel guilty, “With all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas in carnadine, making the green one red", which represents the greater guilt that has been accumulated upon him. The use of the hyperbole serves to emphasis how deeply this guilt has affected him mentally; he cannot rid himself of the images of the murder.

Guilt is also shown in Macbeth's commitment to death and deceit. Macbeth feels that there is no point in retracting away from the evil, “I am blood stepp'd in so far, should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o'e”. The metaphor of the blood bath emphasises the extent of Macbeth's sins. As a result of his wrongdoings, Macbeth feels that stopping now would be as hard as continuing and thus accepts the guilt encumbered on his mind. Guilt is also portrayed to have deadened Macbeth's feelings, “She would have died here after, there would have been a time for such a word, tomorrow”. This shows how indifferent Macbeth is to his loving wife and signifies the completion of the transformation that Macbeth undergoes. Thus, under influence of guilt, it is shown that Macbeth has changed and altered into an immoral being.

The play Macbeth has been composed by Shakespeare to divulge the detrimental effects of guilt and ambition on one's character. Macbeth has now transformed into one who is completely different to his previous self; his actions are ruthless, irrational and unrealistic. As shown by the surrounding events within the play, the play conveys the idea that any person can undergo a change and become evil.

Macbeth and his wife were both considered protagonists despite their progressively wicked and sinful personalities. Although some might see Macbeth as a comedy in view of its happy ending for the inhabitants of Scotland, in reality, it is a tragedy, as the play tells a story that ends on a cheerless note. Although the play concluded with a positive outcome for the citizens of Scotland, Macbeth and his wife died terrible deaths as a consequence for their actions. This play is considered a tragedy because the protagonists could not overcome the forces which were arrayed before them.

Both protagonists were tainted by an overpowering ambition. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is quite skeptical of the three witches' prediction that he will become the Thane of Cawdor, then the King of Scotland. Much to his surprise and intrigue, the then-current King, Duncan, awarded Macbeth the title of Thane of Cawdor, after hearing of his various exploits and bravery in the battlefield. Thrilled that the witches' projections came true, Macbeth soon began to ponder the possibilities of fulfilling his prophecy as King. After hearing of the three witches' prophecy, the protagonists were convinced that their original plan to murder Duncan was justified. Macbeth decided that he could not wait to become king, and his desire consumed him with greed and temptation. After much prompting from his wife and the confirmation of the prophecy, Macbeth was able to summon the courage to kill Duncan in order to succeed the throne quickly. Lady Macbeth played a vital role in murdering of the king, as she coaxed and manipulated her husband into carrying out her will. She had shown her profound resolve to kill Duncan on the very night when she exclaimed:

O, never

Shall sun that morrow see! (I,v,67-68)

Lady Macbeth means to say that Duncan would not see the light of the next day, as he would have passed away by then. It is important to note that Banquo, Macbeth's close friend, was also told that his sons would become kings. This led him to have ambitious thoughts. However, unlike Macbeth, he never enforced these thoughts with actions, and never felt the urgency to murder Duncan for the success of his family. He explained to Macbeth that he was willing to do anything to become a father of kings, as long as he could have done it with a clear conscience:

So I lose none

In seeking to augment it, but still keep

My bosom franchised and allegiance clear,

I shall be counseled. (II,I,32-35)

Several actions that the protagonists took during throughout the play portrayed their immoral intentions and decisions; their mindsets changed, and bordered on the lines of madness and insanity. Macbeth, a once-honorable general to the King, corrupted his mind with murder of his monarch. After the first murder, he became heartless and unfeeling, and eventually mustered the ability to kill large numbers of people, even families, without burdening conscience. He shows his determination to eliminate the ruler to become king when he explains:

If it were done when ‘tis done, then ‘twere well

It were done quickly. If the assassination

Could trammel up the consequence, and catch

With his surcease success; that but this blow

Might be the be-all and the end-all here,

But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,

We'd jump the life to come. (I,vii,1-7)

He was so consumed by greed that he was willing to risk his life for the opportunity to become the king. He proved himself foolish by trusting the words of three strangers, recent acquaintances that he had never met before. Although the three witches' prophecies ended up being fulfilled, it would have been wise for Macbeth to see through the evil intent of such evil women. By pondering their predictions so deeply, he succeeded only in obtaining guilt, and his eventual downfall. Furthermore, he allowed his overreaching ambition to cloud his judgment; had he controlled himself, he would have realized the gravity of the implications of murder. When Macbeth realized the extreme seriousness of his crime, he lamented:

Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself

And falls on th' other. (I,vii,27-28)

In a moment of regret, he contemplated the ways that people who rush ahead of themselves often succeed only in advancing themselves towards their own demise. Lady Macbeth, too, lost control of her normal self, and allowed her ambitions to impair her clear thinking. She attempted to "desex" herself, in order to be capable of assisting in the King's assassination. A once loving wife who was tempted by power, Lady Macbeth became intoxicated with power, and began to control her husband into carrying out her will. After aiding in murdering Duncan, she felt sentiments of extreme guilt that carried her to the point of unbearable pain, the cause of her suicide. She stated that she would have been perfectly capable of completing the tasks herself, had there not been the fact that King Duncan looked like her father:

Had he not resembled

My father as he slept, I had done't. (II,ii,16-17)

While tormented by her memories of the murder, Lady Macbeth walked and talked in her sleep. She rubbed her hands together, as if she were washing them with water. While the doctor was examining her "illness", she stated:

Out, damned spot! Out, I say! One: two: why,

The, ‘si time to do't. Hell is murky! Fie, my

Lord, fie! A soldier, and afeard? What need we

Fear who knows it, when none can call our power to

Account? Yet who would have thought the old man

To have so much blood in him! (V,I,32-37)

Lady Macbeth, unable to cope with the heavy weight that her heart was carrying, had subconsciously let out her emotions while sleeping. After some time, however, she had become an insomniac, for fear of the visions of the murder that haunted her. As a direct effect, she soon became frail and unhealthy, causing her to take her own life.

The deaths of the protagonists caused the genre of Macbeth to be considered a tragedy, and a loss for the audience. The plot did not end happily for the protagonists, though some may, mistakenly, see the play as a comedy in sight of the positive resolution for the Scottish people. However, the overall setting, mood, and outcome of the play were extremely gloomy and bleak. Due to the corruptive nature of the evil intentions that stemmed from an overpowering ambition, the protagonists were cast into great disorder and confusion. The sorrowful and hapless circumstances in which they found themselves led Macbeth and his wife to feel very guilty, the indirect cause of their untimely deaths. When ambition is great enough to cloud one's judgment, the actions that are driven by it will often lead to ruin.

Ambition is a quality that no man lacks, as all men have their ambitions. Once the Thane of Glamis, Macbeth was hooked to his ambitious desire for power. Macbeth's ambitions were at first questioned by himself, after telling his wife that they're not going to kill King Duncan she accuses him of cowardice, and he pleads, "Prithee, peace: / I dare do all that may become a man; / Who dares do more is none" (1.7.46-48). His belief at this time is that a real man wouldn't commit murder. The “dares do more” refers to crossing the line between an honorable kill and an act of sin. In Lady Macbeth's eyes if Macbeth did not kill Duncan than he would not be a man to her anymore, she believes that “When you durst do it, then you were a man” (1.7.47-49). Lady Macbeth also believes he would be denying all urges for greater wealth and prosperity that man should have if he doesn't kill the king. Leaving behind all perspectives of right or wrong, Lady Macbeth wonders why he is not taking the opportunity to be king when he can easily do so. In reality, Macbeth is contemplating the murder of Macbeth because he has morals, qualities that are also considered manly.

Macbeth's journey takes a dark turn when his once high morals begin to decay. After Macbeth was persuaded to kill the king by his wife, his view on what makes a man changed. When Macbeth tries to convince the murderers of all the terrible deeds Banquo has brought upon them, they reply by stating "We are men, my liege" (3.1.102-107). They would not kill unjustified, which is what Macbeth initially believed about killing the king when he identified murder with sin. However, Macbeth replies sarcastically in anger:

Ay, in the catalogue ye go for men,

As hounds and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels,

curs,

Shoughs, water-rugs and demi-wolves, are clept

All by the name of dogs. (3.1.102-107)

He compares them to “hounds and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels,” and not true men. Macbeth believes they pretend to act as men, and that the only way they can become real men is if they kill Banquo. This is one of the first significant events where Macbeth changes his view on what defines a man after have murdering Duncan. Macbeth ends up convincing the murderers “That it was he [Banquo] in the times past which held you” (3.1.76). The “held you” refers to the times Banquo held back or made poor the murderers.

High morals are usually directly related to the patriotic behaviors shown in the play. When the news of the death of his son reaches Siward, he is strangely unmoved. However, pleased in the knowledge that his son died an honorable man, fighting for his cause, he is happy knowing that his sons wounds were on his chest, that his son was not killed running away, “But like a man he died” (5.8.39-43). Though the boy had not reached physical masculinity, that he was still one of the “unrough youths” (5.2.10), he had proven his manliness through his courage in battle. When Ross tells Siward that his son had marks on the front of his body, his father is proud and brags about his death, "Why then, God's solider be he” (5.8.l46). The boy's father seems to have no grief over his son's death, but instead rejoices that his son “Protest[s] their [his] first of manhood.” This simply means that his son had adequately proven himself worthy to be called a true man.

When it is generally thought that honor, patriotism, and courage are attributes associated with men, the barrier between genders is broken in Macbeth. Especially in terms of violence, women such as Lady Macbeth are capable of murderous and violent actions. Her only barricade is her gender, to do what men do, she must essentially become a man:

Come, you spirits

That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,

And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full

Of direst cruelty! (1.5.40-43)

Lady Macbeth is a man trapped in a woman's body. Her masculine nature seeps through her murderous intentions. If the spirits "unsex" her, she won't be bothered by a woman's kindess or remorse. She will be a cruel killer of “direst cruelty,” like a man. Lady Macbeth begins to lose her sanity the night of Duncun's murder and cannot relate to her feelings or guilty conscience. She admits that "she could kill her only child just as easy” (1.7.72-74). All perception of right and wrong lost, Lady Macbeth sinks afterwards into guilt, and eventually commits suicide. Also questioning the barrier separating men from women are the wyrd sisters. Banquo challenges the witches, "you should be women, / And yet your beards forbid me to interpret / That you are so" (1.3.45-47). This gender confusion further symbolizes the confusion Lady Macbeth has in awakening her masculine side.

By the end of the play Macbeth pays dearly for his masculine ways, with death. Ultimately beginning and ending on the battlefield, Macbeth has always agreed that violence and combat was a sure way of proving masculinity. Macduff believed this too, but also thought there was more to a real man than only thoughtless violence. When Macduff realizes that his wife and children have been murdered, he breaks down and begins to weep. Malcolm tells him to “Dispute it like a man” (4.3.259), wanting Macduff to keep his emotions in check. Malcolm affirms his belief that real men don't cry when he says this, but Macduff believes differently, as when he states “I shall do so, / but I must also feel it as a man” (4.3.260). Macduff then promises to convert these emotions into a “manly” revenge against Macbeth. The end of Macbeth reveals there is much more to masculinity than meets physical appearance, that it is only something earned through one's courageous actions and sincere emotions.