Macbeth Motifs

Motifs

Hallucinations

Visions and hallucinations recur throughout the play and serve as reminders of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s joint culpability for the growing body count. When he is about to kill Duncan, Macbeth sees a dagger floating in the air. Covered with blood and pointed toward the king’s chamber, the dagger represents the bloody course on which Macbeth is about to embark. Later, he sees Banquo’s ghost sitting in a chair at a feast, pricking his conscience by mutely reminding him that he murdered his former friend. The seemingly hardheaded Lady Macbeth also eventually gives way to visions, as she sleepwalks and believes that her hands are stained with blood that cannot be washed away by any amount of water. In each case, it is ambiguous whether the vision is real or purely hallucinatory; but, in both cases, the Macbeths read them uniformly as supernatural signs of their guilt.

Violence

Macbeth is a famously violent play. Interestingly, most of the killings take place offstage, but throughout the play the characters provide the audience with gory descriptions of the carnage, from the opening scene where the captain describes Macbeth and Banquo wading in blood on the battlefield, to the endless references to the bloodstained hands of Macbeth and his wife. The action is bookended by a pair of bloody battles: in the first, Macbeth defeats the invaders; in the second, he is slain and beheaded by Macduff. In between is a series of murders: Duncan, Duncan’s chamberlains, Banquo, Lady Macduff, and Macduff’s son all come to bloody ends. By the end of the action, blood seems to be everywhere.

Prophecy

Prophecy sets Macbeth’s plot in motion—namely, the witches’ prophecy that Macbeth will become first thane of Cawdor and then king. The weird sisters make a number of other prophecies: they tell us that Banquo’s heirs will be kings, that Macbeth should beware Macduff, that Macbeth is safe till Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane, and that no man born of woman can harm Macbeth. Save for the prophecy about Banquo’s heirs, all of these predictions are fulfilled within the course of the play. Still, it is left deliberately ambiguous whether some of them are self-fulfilling—for example, whether Macbeth wills himself to be king or is fated to be king. Additionally, as the Birnam Wood and “born of woman” prophecies make clear, the prophecies must be interpreted as riddles, since they do not always mean what they seem to mean.

Reversal of Nature

One of the most common motifs in Macbeth is reversal of nature. This is prominent in role reversal between characters, unnatural weather, masculinity and femininity reversal, and unusual events.

We are first presented in Macbeth with the three witches, who show characteristics of their male counterparts such as a beard. From I.iii.45-47:

"You should be women,
And yet your beards forbid me to interpret
That you are so."

The witches also predict various reversals of the natural order in their chants. They tell Macbeth that, although he will be king, he will not beget kings, unlike Banquo. In I.i.10-11:

"Fair is foul, and foul is fair.
Hover through the fog and filthy air."

The second example of "reversal of nature" is with Lady Macbeth and her masculine characteristics when compared to the norm at the time and her husband's femininity. After she reads her husband's letter, she asks for the gods to "unsex" her and therefore, remove all feminine feeling from her mind. She takes charge over Macbeth, which was unusual for the time. Macbeth meanwhile falters under her manipulation.

The weather also shows evidence of the reversal of the natural order. As Macbeth enters in I.iii.48. he exclaims:

"So foul and fair a day I have not seen."

The not only connects him to the witches' previous chant, but it also foreshadows future events. Later, Lennox describes the night of Duncan's murder in II.iii.58-59:

"Some say the earth
Was feverish and did shake."

This provides imagery for the murder of Duncan.

In II.iv.12-13 a quote by the Old Man.

" A falcon, tow'ring in her pride of place,
Was by a mousing owl hacked at and killed. "

This is an example of the motif reversal of nature because a falcon is killed by a owl who feeds on mice.

Blood

Blood is often used to symbolize guilt, or the lack of it. For example, in II.3.59-62, Macbeth has just murdered King Duncan and feels horribly guilty for his deed. Duncan had thought rather fondly of Macbeth, and had trusted him after his previous Thane of Cawdor had betrayed him. Macbeth, with blood covering his arms and hands, exclaims

"With all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No; this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red."

This means that he feels extremely guilty, and does not believe that he will ever be able to overcome it. Not even Neptune, the god of the sea, could wash all of the blood away. In fact, it would turn the ocean red with blood.

In II.3.110, Macbeth describes Duncan as having had "golden blood," which contrasts with his own. Duncan had no guilt and had done nothing to anger Macbeth, or to make him worthy of being murdered. In spite of this fact, Macbeth still murdered King Duncan and contaminated his blood in the process.

Another example of the blood motif occurs in Act V. Macduff has come and challenged Macbeth to a sword fight to which Macbeth refused. This happened because Macbeth didn't want to shed anymore blood (kill people) than he already has and because more bloodshed is more guilt. Macbeth is already suffering from his guilt and more guilt would just cause more problems for him.

"Of all men else I have avoided thee.
But get thee back! My soul is too much charged
With blood of thine already." (V.viii.4-6)

Manipulation

Another motif in Macbeth is manipulation. Many people throughout the play attempt to manipulate others in order to fit their own needs and desires.

A prime example of this is with Lady Macbeth. She uses her influence with her husband to convince to murder King Duncan. Previously, Macbeth had written her a letter telling her of the events that had occurred, including his new title. He had just become the Thane of Cawdor and, based on the witches' prophecy, was in line to become a king. This made him mention his thoughts of killing King Duncan, which brought out the desire for power in his wife. When he arrived at his own castle, he decides to go along with her new plan to poison and stab the King. However, he starts expressing doubt later in the night after considering the King's trust in him. At this point, Lady Macbeth continues using manipulation to try to convince him to go along with it.

One of the ways that she tries to manipulate Macbeth can be found in her line at I.vii.48-59. She is trying to reconvince her husband to go along with her plan. This was due to her lust for power that would be fulfilled if she became queen of Scotland. She exclaims:

"What beast was't then
That made you break this enterprise to me?
When you durst do it, then you were a man;
An to be more than what you were, you would
Be so much more than a man...
...I have given suck, and know
How tender 'tis to the babe that milks me:
I would, while it was smiling in my face,
Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums,
And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you
Have done to this."

This means that Lady Macbeth would only see him as a man if he does it. Otherwise, she would see him as a coward. She then goes on to say that if she had promised to "dash the brains out" of a her own newborn, she would have kept the promise.

A second, and major, example of manipulation in Macbeth is with the three witches. They give the prophecy to Macbeth, knowing that he and his wife will plan to murder King Duncan in order to fulfill it. The witches prophesize this to Macbeth and his companion, Banquo, at I.iii.48-50:

"Macbeth: Speak if you can, what are you?
First Witch: All hail Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!
Second Witch: All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!
Third Witch: All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!"

Here they say that he is both Thane of Glamis and of Cawdor, even though he only knows of his title of "Thane of Glamis," and that he will also become the king later. This prophecy is fulfilled later, when Ross notifies him of his new title as Thane of Cawdor.

The witches yet manipulate Macbeths yet again near the end when they show him various confusing apparitions. Hecate commands tham to confuse Macbeth and give him a sense of security thta will lead to his downfall. The first apparition, an armed head, warns Macbeth of Macduff. Macbeth then decides to have Macduff's family murdered. Macduff ends up killing Macbeth as revenge, showing how the witches manipulated Macbeth into his downfall.

The second apparition, a bloody child, tells Macbeth that none born of a woman can harm him. When Macbeth finally meets Macduff, Macbeth tells him this prophecy, but Macduff tells him that he was prematurely born through surgery. Once again, the witches succeeded in manipulating Macbeth by providing him with a false sense of security.

The third apparition, a crowned child with a tree in his hand, tells him that no one will harm him until the forest of Great Birnam Wood comes against him on Dunsinane Hill. The opposing forces take branches from the forest's tress and use them to hide themselves from Macbeth's forces.

Clothing

Act One

Scene 2, line 24 – unseamed him from the nave to the chops

Scene 3, line 112 – Why do you dress me in borrowed robes?

Scene 3, line 155 – New honors hang upon him like our strange garments

Scene 7, line 35 – Golden opinions from all sorts of people that would be worn now in

their newest gloss

Scene 7, line 38-39 – Was the hope drunk wherein you dressed yourself?

Act Two

Scene 2, line 45 – sleep that knits up the raveled sleeve of care

Scene 4, line 48 – lest our old robes sit easier than our new

Act Three

Scene 1, lines 18-19 – indissoluble tie forever knit (Banquo saying that he and Macbeth

are knit together – irony is that Macbeth is about to kill him)

Act Five

Scene 1, line 4 – “throw her nightgown upon her”

Scene 2, line 17 – cannot buckle his distempered cause within the belt of rule

Scene 2, line 25 – like a giant’s robe upon a dwarfish thief

Scene 4, lines 6-7 – let every soldier hew him down a bough

Macbeth’s relationship with Banquo and with Lady Macbeth

Referring to things that are not our own

New positions

Macbeth’s abilities or inabilities

Macbeth fitness to rule

Macbeth’s inability to justify himself/his actions

Macbeth’s character Macbeth (strength to weakness and weakness to strength)

Equivocation

Act One

Scene One, lines 12 ff. – Fair is foul and foul is fair

Scene Three, line 38 – So foul and fair a day I have not seen

Scene Three, lines 66-69 – lesser than, yet greater, etc.

Scene Three, line 138 ff. – cannot be good, cannot be ill

Scene Three, line 153 – why do you start and seem to fear things that do sound so fair?

Act Two

Scene four, line 10 – by the clock tis day, yet dark night

Act Three

Scene 2, line 60 – Things bad begun make worse themselves by ill

Act Four

Scene 2, line 30 – Fathered he is and yet he’s fatherless

Act Five

Scene 1, lines 19 and 20 – her eyes are open but their sense is shut

Scene 5, lines 48-49 – to doubt the equivocation of the fiend that lies like truth

Showing that things are not what they seem to be – Macbeth, Lady Macbeth (Macbeth’s

character)

Macbeth’s fitness to rule

Show degeneration or desperation

Blood

Act One

Scene 1, line 14 – What bloody man is that

Scene 5, lines 42-43 – Make thick my blood and stop up the access and passage to

remorse

Scene 7, lines 8-10 – we but teach bloody instructions which being taught return to

plague the inventor

Scene 7, line 83 – will it not be received when we have marked with blood those sleepy

Act Two

Scene 1, line 54 – on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood

Scene 2, line58-9 – go carry them and smear the sleepy grooms with blood

Scene 2, line 66 – if he do bleed, I’ll guild the faces of the grooms withal because it must

seem their guilt

Scene 2, line 72 – Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?

Scene 2, lines 76-77 My hands are of your color but I shame to wear a heart so white

Scene 3, line 94 – fountain of your blood is stopped

Scene 3, line 110 – His silver skin lace with his golden blood

Scene 3, line130 – And question this most bloody piece of work to know it further

Scene 3, line 145-6 – the near in blood the nearer bloody

Act Three

Scene One, line 33 – We hear our bloody cousins are bestowed in England and in Ireland,

not confessing their cruel parricide

Scene one, line 127 – bloody distance (Macbeth saying Banquo is his enemy)

Scene 4, line 14 – There’s blood upon thy face/’Tis Banquo’s then

Scene 4, line 110 – Thy blood is cold, thy bones are marrowless

Scene 4, line 144 – blood will have blood

Scene 4, line 159 – I am in blood, stepped in so far . . . that returning were as tedious as

go o’er

Act Four

Scene 1, line 37 – baboon’s blood

Scene 1, line 69 – pour in sow’s blood that hath eaten her nine farrow

Scene 1, line 134 – blood boltered Banquo

Scene 3, line 36 – bleed poor country

Scene 3, line 66 – I grant him bloody, luxurious, avaricious, false, deceitful, sudden

Act Five

Scene One – Lady Macbeth’s washing her hands – line 38 -- here’s the smell of the blood

still

Scene 8, line 7 – my soul is too much charged with blood of thine already

Scene 8, line 9 – thou bloodier villain than terms can give the out

Scene 8, line 13 – as make me bleed. I bear a charmed life that must not yield . . .

Guilt

Character – Macbeth and Lady Macbeth

Degeneration or movement into depravity (Macbeth) or into torment (Lady Macbeth)

Development of the characters – Macbeth and Lady Macbeth (strength to weakness and

weakness to strength)

Nature

Act One

Scene Three, line 80 – The earth has bubbles and these are of them

Scene Four, lines 31-32 – I have begun to plant thee and will labor to see thee full of

growing

Scene Four, lines 37-38 – There if I grow the harvest is your own

Act Two

Scene Three, line 40 ff. – We were lay our chimneys were blown down, etc.

Scene Four, line 10 – By the clock tis day, yet dark night … Duncan’s horses

Act Three

Scene Three, line 23 – It will be rain tonight

Act Four

Scene One, lines 53 ff. – untie the winds

Scene One, lines 105 ff. – who can impress the forest, bid the tree

Scene Two, line 36 ff. – Lady Macduff and son discuss birds

Act Five

Scene One, line 7 – a great perturbation in nature to receive at one

Scene One, line 54 and 55 – unnatural deeds do breed unnatural troubles

Scene Two, line 36 – to drown the weed and dew the sovereign flower

Scene Three, line 25 and 26 – my way of life has fallen into the sere

Birnam Wood moves

Shows the progression of the play

Reflects the action on stage

Reflects death

Macbeth’s character

Sleep and Sleeplessness

Act One

Scene Three, line 19 – sleep shall neither night nor day, hang upon his penthouse lid

Scene Seven, lines 39-40 – Was the hope drunk . . . wakes it now …

Scene Seven, line 65 – when Duncan is asleep . . .

Act Two

Scene One, lines 7-8 – Banquo – a heavy summons lies like lead . . . will not sleep

Scene Two, line 52 – Sleep no more

Scene Two, line 64 – the sleeping and the dead are but as pictures

Scene Three, line 66 – Shake off this downy sleep, death’s counterfeit, and look on death

itself

Act Three

Scene Two, line 19-25 – sleep in the affliction of these terrible dreams that shake us

nightly

Scene Two, line 25 – Duncan’s in his grave. After life’s fitful fever he sleeps well

Scene Two, line 51 – come sealing night, and scarf up the eye of pitiful day

Scene Four, line 164 – lack the season of all natures, sleep

Scene Six, line 35 – give sleep to our nights

Act Four

None

Act Five

Scene One – Lady Macbeth sleepwalking

Scene Three, line 43 – troubled with thick-coming fancies that keep her from her rest

Guilt

Macbeth’s and Lady Macbeth’s characters

Consequence or punishment

Plot element – play progresses, less sleep