Macbeth Test Prep
Macbeth Themes
Mortality
Gender Issues
Guilt
Sanity
Power
Ambition (desire for power/more)
Fate-Freewill
Morality (right & wrong)
Theme examples:
1. Immoral actions often lead to more immorality and evil actions.
2. Our desire for power can cause a person to lose her/her sense of morality.
3. Guilt drives our sense of morality.
Conflict in Macbeth
Internal
Macbeth vs. Duncan
Macbeth and his conscious – “Stars hide your
fears”
Macbeth debates killing Duncan
Lady Macbeth sleep walking
Macbeth’s need for security
Lady Macbeth wanting to feed unsexed (need for
power)
Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost
Dagger scene
Macbeth’s thoughts about killing Banquo
External
Macbeth vs. Macduff
Macbeth vs. Young Siward
Macduff vs. Malcolm
Lady Macbeth vs. Macbeth
Banquo vs. Murders
Euphemism: referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing
“He whose coming must be provided for” – Lady Macbeth
-Somebody’s who’s provided for is being taken care for.
Soliloquies: an act of speaking one's thoughts aloud when by oneself or regardless of any
hearers, especially by a character in a play
Define ones from class – Act 1.7 & Act 5.5
Macbeth Test Prep
Allusion: to reference something verbally or in thought