Ambition was a major theme in the play Macbeth; the ambition in the play led to the destruction and betrayal of characters. In the beginning of the play, Macbeth acts as a brave, courageous man seemingly allowing strength and thoughts before he acted upon wrong actions. However, the extreme thought of becoming king was overwhelming, creating blurs in his vision and cloudy thoughts. His wife encouraged him, along with his ambition, to do what it took to become king. Macbeth and his wife both wanted to be great and were willing to forfeit morals and ethical rights to be powerful. Even Banquo and Macduff wanted to see themselves in power, but figured it wasn’t worth the dishonor and disloyalty. Both Macbeth and his wife gave into weaknesses that led to their destruction by the end of the play. In the end, Macbeth lost everything to his ambition and goals… a fate predicted by the three witches.
The natural and the supernatural are themes revealed heavily in this play. The three witches act as a supernatural force of the play, predicting Macbeth’s destiny and fate. Fate is considered to be ‘fixed’; the outcome of one’s life which is destiny, is already predetermined and cannot be affected by outside forces. Destiny and fate almost seem as a natural element of life, but this can be argued. Weather is a natural element in literature that reflects society and helps to foreshadow predictions and fates. The night of Duncan ’s murder, Lennox describes the night as “unruly” as well as Ross saying “the heavens, as troubled with man’s act, / Threatens his bloody stage” (II iv 5-6). In the same scene, it is discussed that the two man witnesses horses ‘eating’ each other. These descriptions foreshadow the event of negative actions as weather usually does in literature. The witches last apparition, saying that Macbeth will see his end only when Birnam wood moves to Dunsinane Hill, was an ambiguous prediction Macbeth figured was impossible or ‘supernatural’. The idea of a forest moving is simply impossible, however, it was play on words. Towards the end, the forest did move with the help of the opposing army.
Violence is a theme of Macbeth some render as ‘inhumane violence’. In the time period this play was written in, fighting wars was common, but the underlying disloyalty and dishonor are not common themes of this time period. The play opens by mentioning a war between two opposing sides were Macbeth is introduced as a loyal warrior. The murdering of King Duncan is rendered as unnatural and treachery. Violence is much associated with masculinity as portrayed through Lady Macbeth in her “unsex me” speech. After King Duncan is murdered, the servants are murdered, and the murdering doesn’t stop here. Macbeth sends two men out to kill Banquo and Fleance, not wanting them to make a come up after his hard murder. Not only does this play exemplify violence, but also ideas of fear. The play ends with war and Macbeth is finally killed. Macduff felt as though justice had not been served if he didn’t kill Macbeth.
