Discussion on the Theme of Macbeth

  The main theme of Macbeth, a play by William Shakespeare, is the destruction ensued when ambitions trespass moral limits and constraints. It is expressed in two main characters of the play Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. For instance, Macbeth is quite a courageous person. As a Scottish general, he is not inclined to commit any type of evil deeds but he does desire advancement and power. He murders Duncan even when he knows that he is not doing the right thing for the sake of power. After killing him, he descends into paranoia and guilt. In fact, by the end of play, he becomes frantic and he is unable to have rational thoughts.

            On the other hand, Lady Macbeth is also a determined and ambitious person. However, she is not that capable of withstanding the results and consequences of her immoral actions. She is a forcefully drawn characters of Shakespeare as she pushes her husband, Macbeth, into killing Duncan. There is an instance in the play when Macbeth is hesitating and he does not want to murder Duncan because he finds Duncan to be innocent. This is when Lady Macbeth questions his manhood and challenges him. In this manner, she forces him to kill Duncan and also makes him believe that he should be strong in withstanding the consequences. A problem is suggested by the play that when a person decides and chooses to make the use of violence for furthering his quest for power, it becomes quite difficult to stop. For instance, for Macbeth, even after killing Duncan, he found more threats to the throne such as Banquo, Macduff, and Fleance. He considered violent methods for eliminating these threats as well.

            Even though Macbeth is influenced and encouraged by the witches, his true downfall is led by himself and his ambition. In addition to it, Lady Macbeth is just as willing and ambitious as him. It can be seen in all those instances when she encourages Macbeth to commit the evil deed of killing Duncan. Both of them fail to perceive and foresee that their ambitions would eventually lead them to their downfall. With the murder of Duncan, the ambition of Macbeth to acquire the throne is combined with his paranoia. Instead of enjoying the achievement of his ambition, he is obsessed with the maintenance of his power. It is portrayed in the play that Banquo also has prophecies. These prophecies are targeted at his sons but he does not pursue his goals. It is his morality that stops him from doing so. At the end of the play, it is indicated that even though Macbeth has everything that he wanted, he does not feel joy. He embraces his death in desperate bravery and that is what makes this play tragedy. Ambitions are only good as long as they require only hard work. They become unachievable and should not be pursued if they require trespassing moral and ethical limits. Such ambitions only bright misery and sadness to the person, just as they did for Macbeth (Shakespeare, 1915). 

References of Theme of Macbeth

Shakespeare, W. (1915). Macbeth. Lippincott.