macbeth key quotes (ambition)

Question 1

what are the key themes in macbeth?

Answer 1

ambition and power, supernatural, corruption of nature

Question 2

act 1 - “I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, only vaulting ambition” analysis this

Answer 2

1. Shakespeare has his protagonist, Macbeth clearly state his hamartia to the audience
2. Shakespeare suggesting Macbeths fatal flaw ( ambition )
3. Later in the same soliloquy, Macbeth says this ambition “overleaps itself” (trips itself up), suggesting Macbeth is aware on some level that he is doomed if he commits regicide

Question 3

Act 1 (LB) - “when you durst do it, then you were a man”

Answer 3

LB is attacking Macbeth’s masculinity
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LB is reverting Jacobean era stereotypes, shes being manipulating and dominating a man.

Question 4

act 5 (M) - “Life […] is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”

Answer 4

An example of nihilism: a belief that life is pointless.
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It could represent a moment of anagnorisis: a tragic hero’s realisation that all his actions were for nothing and he will be defeated