Macbeth themes

What each theme means, in a few lines. Tap one for its quotes.

Ambition →

Wanting more. Macbeth wants to be king. His wife wants it more. They get it. It makes them miserable.

What a good king is. Duncan is kind and trusts people. He is killed. Macbeth rules by fear. Malcolm learns to trust no one.

Blood that will not wash off. Sleep that will not come. Macbeth feels it first and goes hard. His wife says she feels nothing, then breaks.

Witches. A floating knife. A ghost at dinner. Every one tells the truth. Every truth hurts the person who hears it.

Lady Macbeth says a real man kills. Macbeth believes her. Macduff says a real man also cries.

At the start, Macbeth kills for the king and is called brave. Then he kills the king. Then children. Same skill. Different name.

The witches say what will happen. They never say what to do. Macbeth chooses every murder himself.

Fair is foul. A flower with a snake under it. A smile with a knife in it. Nothing looks like what it is.

Killing a king breaks nature. Horses eat each other. Day turns to night. The play ends when order comes back.