Analysis

To help you look at any scene in Macbeth and interrogate it, it’s important to ask questions about how it's written and why.

Shakespeare’s plays are driven by their characters and every choice that’s made about words, structure and rhythm tells you something about the person, their relationships or their mood in that moment. You should always try and ask yourself, like actors do, why is the character saying what they are saying or doing what they are doing? What is their motive?

Just like Detectives, we need to look for clues to help us answer those questions each time and below you can find some interrogation techniques we use to analyse text, introduced by the actors that use them. 

  • Analysing Macbeth’s Language

    Macbeth has several soliloquies and each of them reveals a lot about his state of mind, his ambitions and fears. In this video, Paapa Essiedu shares some of the things he looks for to help him understand how a character is feeling when he first looks at a soliloquy. The example he is using is from Hamlet, but you can look for the same clues in Macbeth’s soliloquies.

    What can you find by looking at the same things in Macbeth?

    Shakespeare gives characters soliloquies for lots of different reasons, but characters are usually open and honest with the audience in these speeches. Read Macbeth’s soliloquy from Act 2 Scene 1 aloud and see if you can notice the things Paapa tells us to look out for:

    • Punctuation
    • Sounds
    • Line endings
    Macbeth
    Is this a dagger which I see before me,
    The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.
    I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
    Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
    To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but
    A dagger of the mind, a false creation,
    Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?
    I see thee yet, in form as palpable
    As this which now I draw.
    Thou marshall’st me the way that I was going,
    And such an instrument I was to use.
    Mine eyes are made the fools o’ th’ other senses,
    Or else worth all the rest. I see thee still;
    And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,
    Which was not so before. There’s no such thing,
    It is the bloody business which informs
    Thus to mine eyes. Now o’er the one half world
    Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse
    The curtained sleep; witchcraft celebrates
    Pale Hecate’s off’rings, and withered murder,
    Alarumed by his sentinel, the wolf,
    Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace,
    With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his design
    Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth,
    Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear
    Thy very stones prate of my whereabout,
    And take the present horror from the time
    Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives;
    Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.
    I go, and it is done: the bell invites me.
    Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell
    That summons thee to Heaven, or to Hell.

    Questions to consider

    What can we learn about Macbeth from this soliloquy? Ask yourself:

    • Do the sounds give you a sense of his emotion or lack of it? Which ones stand out? Are there lines or parts of the speech that stand out because of how they sound?
    • There are several rhyming couplets. Where do they occur? Why do you think these words rhyme?

    If you are able to read along, you will also notice the punctuation and where each line ends. This soliloquy is written in verse, like a poem. Ask yourself:

    • How many sentences are there in the soliloquy? Is this more or fewer than you expected and how many of them are punctuated with question marks? Are the sentences a similar length, or are some longer? What do you think this tells us about the way Macbeth is feeling?
    • If you wrote down all the words at the end of each line, what would you think the soliloquy was about? Does that feel right?

    Using Paapa’s strategies we’ve started to look at what the language Macbeth uses tells us about him in this Act 2 Scene 1 soliloquy. See if you can complete the grid and finish four points which explain what this speech reveals about the character at this point in the play.

    Point

    At the start of the soliloquy, Macbeth is frightened and confused by the apparition of the dagger.

    Evidence Select an option

    Explanation

    He asks three questions at the start of the soliloquy, suggesting he is unsure about what he is experiencing. He talks directly to the dagger, calling it ‘thee’ and ‘thou’, which strengthens the reality of his hallucination. He also calls the dagger a ‘fatal vision’, which has a double meaning; he could be talking about the murder of Duncan that he is about to commit, or he could be fearful that the act will put his own life at risk.

    Point

    Macbeth sees the apparition as linked to and caused by supernatural forces and witchcraft.

    Evidence Select an option

    Explanation Click text to edit

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    Point

    During the soliloquy, Macbeth overcomes his fears about committing the murder.

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    What else can I do to explore Macbeth’s language?

    • Try looking for these same things in all of Macbeth’s soliloquies, noting any changes in his language and behaviour. A soliloquy shows you a character’s true thoughts and a lot can be learnt about Macbeth from looking at these moments of truth. How tempted is he by the prospect of becoming king at the beginning and what influences him along the way?
    • Take a look at the things he says immediately before and after his soliloquies. Shakespeare often creates these comparisons to show you something.
    • Keep a record of the imagery Macbeth uses. Macbeth uses lots of imagery about appearance and disguise and you can find out more about this in the Analysing the Imagery section. Think about why this might be connected to his fears and ambitions.

  • Analysing Lady Macbeth’s Language

    We first meet Lady Macbeth on her own, delivering a speech about the news she has just received from her husband of the witches’ prophecies and Duncan’s visit. In this video, actor Mark Quartley shares some of the things he looks for to help him understand how a character is feeling when he first looks at a monologue. The example he is using is from The Tempest, but you can look for the same clues in Lady Macbeth’s language.

    What can you find by looking at the same things in Macbeth?

    A monologue is when one actor delivers a speech as part of a scene. It is built up of lots of different thoughts. It can be spoken to another character, or it can be spoken alone, when it is also called a soliloquy. Read Lady Macbeth’s soliloquy from Act 1 Scene 5. As you read, see if you can notice the things Mark tells us to look out for:

    • Imagery
    • Metre
    • Word choice
    Lady Macbeth
    The raven himself is hoarse
    That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
    Under my battlements. Come, you spirits
    That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
    And fill me from the crown to the toe, top-full
    Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood,
    Stop up th’access and passage to remorse,
    That no compunctious visitings of nature
    Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
    Th’effect and it. Come to my woman’s breasts
    And take my milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers,
    Wherever, in your sightless substances,
    You wait on nature’s mischief. Come, thick night,
    And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of Hell,
    That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,
    Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark
    To cry ‘Hold, hold’.

    Questions to consider

    What can we learn about Lady Macbeth from this speech? Ask yourself:

    • Can you make a list of the key images? If possible, try writing these out and grouping them together into topics? Is there a stronger theme of supernatural words or of violence? The ‘raven’ that Lady Macbeth refers to was often seen as an omen of death, or a witch’s familiar. Lady Macbeth makes a cruel joke about how the bird will have a sore throat from crying out so many times that Duncan will die. How does this connect with her other uses of imagery?
    • How do the words sound and does this give a sense of a spell being cast? Look out for alliteration, repetition and sibilance.

    If you are able to read along, you will also notice the punctuation and where each line ends. This soliloquy is written in verse, like a poem. Ask yourself:

    • Think about where the character is breathing and pausing; how does this make her come across? Where do the full stops fall within the lines?
    • Look at the last word of each line. How many of those are words that you included in the lists of imagery you made?
    • Pick out the verbs from the text. Like Mark, can you physicalise each of these? Does this make Lady Macbeth feel more powerful or less so? How do her word choices make her sound? Is she indecisive or confident?

    Using Mark’s strategies, we’ve started to look at what the language Lady Macbeth uses tells us about her in this Act 1 Scene 5 soliloquy. See if you can complete the grid and finish four points which explain what this speech reveals about the character at this point in the play.

    Point

    Lady Macbeth uses the language of spells in her soliloquy, which associates her with the supernatural and witchcraft.

    Evidence

    ’Come, you spirits/That tend on mortal thoughts…’

    Explanation

    She invokes the 'spirits' three times with the repetition of the verb ‘come’ which gives the impression that she is summoning an unseen power. Each time she uses this word it is also a command which gives the impression she is decisive and taking action, referring to the spirits as forces that have control over 'mortal thoughts'.

    Point

    Lady Macbeth believes she will have to be strong to make sure her husband goes through with the murder.

    Evidence Select an option

    Explanation Click text to edit

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    Point

    Lady Macbeth is ambitious and focused on her own needs.

    Evidence Click text to edit

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    What else can I do to explore Lady Macbeth’s language?

    • This is the only moment we see Lady Macbeth alone. How does her language in this scene compare with how she speaks to her husband? How does she differ when speaking to King Duncan or the other thanes? Lady Macbeth advises Macbeth to use a 'false face' with others to hide his intentions. How successful is she in doing this herself?
    • Lady Macbeth’s mental health rapidly declines in the second half of the play, although we do not see her descent into madness as she is offstage. How does her language change when we see her in Act 5? Where she speaks in verse consistently in the first part of the play, she now speaks in prose. What does this tell us about her?
    • Compare Lady Macbeth’s language with that of Hecate in Act 3 Scene 5. What are the similarities and differences? How connected is Lady Macbeth to the language of witchcraft?

  • Analysing the Imagery

    As with all Shakespeare’s plays, there are lots of types of imagery used in Macbeth. It’s a great idea to keep a list of key quotes and examples of these types of imagery in each act and who uses them as you explore the play.

    Here are three types of imagery that come up a lot in Macbeth and are useful to look out for:

    Disguise Imagery

    • Duncan first mentions the idea of false appearances when talking to Malcolm about Cawdor. He says that there’s ‘no art / To find the mind’s construction in the face’ (Duncan, 1:4). When Lady Macbeth and Macbeth begin to plan Duncan’s murder, they decide to hide their intents through ‘false face’. Macbeth’s face is said to be like ‘a book’ and he needs to ‘look like th’innocent flower’ (Lady Macbeth, 1:5). This imagery is also used when Lady Macbeth and Macbeth disguise their deeds by getting into their nightclothes after Duncan’s murder, and when Malcolm’s army disguise themselves with tree branches.
    • How many examples of disguise imagery can you find in the play and what do they reveal about the characters who use them? Is disguise always presented as a negative?

    Religious Imagery

    • Fear of heaven and hell is hugely important for all the characters in Macbeth. Lady Macbeth calls on ‘murd’ring ministers’ (Lady Macbeth, 1:5) from hell to help with her plans. Macbeth fears that if he kills Duncan all of ‘heaven’s cherubim’ will be horrified and when he goes to murder the king he says the act will lead Duncan to ‘heaven or to hell’ (Macbeth, 2:1). By the end of the play, hellish imagery is used to describe the ‘hell-hound’ Macbeth and the ‘fiend-like’ Lady Macbeth.
    • How many examples of religious imagery can you find in the play? Is there more associated with hell or heaven? Are certain characters associated with one rather than the other?

    Disease Imagery

    • Lady Macbeth uses lots of disease imagery when talking about Macbeth’s lack of courage. She fears he is without the ‘illness’ to murder Duncan in Act 1 Scene 5, calls him ‘green and pale’ (Lady Macbeth, 1:7) and ‘infirm of purpose’ (Lady Macbeth, 2:2). As the Macbeths become more riddled with guilt, his mind is ‘full of scorpions’ and the doctor cannot treat Lady Macbeth’s ‘mind diseased’. Under the tyranny of Macbeth’s reign, Scotland becomes diseased too. Later in the play, the thanes come as ‘med’cine of the sickly weal’ (Caithness, 5:2) of the kingdom.
    • Take a closer look at the extract from Act 2 Scene 4. What does this imagery tell us about the state of the country? Do you think these events have really happened?

    Old Man
    Within the volume of which time I have seen
    Hours dreadful and things strange; but this sore night
    Hath trifled former knowings.
    Ross
    Ah, good father,
    Thou seest the heavens, as troubled with man’s act,
    Threaten his bloody stage. By th’ clock ’tis day,
    And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp;
    Is’t night’s predominance, or the day’s shame,
    That darkness does the face of earth entomb
    When living light should kiss it?
    Old Man
    ’Tis unnatural, Even like the deed that's done.
    On Tuesday last, A falcon, towering in her pride of place
    Was by a mousing owl hawked at, and killed.
    Ross
    And Duncan's horses – a thing most strange, and certain –
    Beauteous and swift, the minions of their race,
    Turned wild in nature, broke their stalls, flung out,
    Contending ’gainst obedience, as they would
    Make war with mankind.
    Old Man
    ’Tis said they eat each other.

    Thinking about Act 2 Scene 4, we’ve started to look at what the disease imagery and word choices in the scene tell us about the state of Scotland. This scene between Ross and the Old Man uses images of a diseased and distorted nature to convey the chaos of the kingdom after Macbeth takes the throne. In the 2018 production the Old Man's lines are delivered by the Porter. What effect do you think this would have?

    See if you can complete the grid and finish four points which explain what this language shows at this point in the play.

    Point

    Ross' language uses a lot of natural images which reveal his fears that the heavens are punishing Scotland. They also act as omens of bad things to come.

    Evidence

    'It’s night’s predominance, or the day’s shame,/ That darkness does the face of earth entomb/ When living light should kiss it?'

    Explanation

    Ross’s prediction that the darkness will ‘entomb’ the kingdom ominously suggests that deaths are to follow. He juxtaposes the darkness of night, associated with evil deeds, with the life-giving ‘living light’, which implies goodness and the heavens. The personification of the light offering a ‘kiss’ also suggests that Scotland is currently lacking affection and care.

    Point

    Duncan’s death has diseased the country, and the inhabitants are now plagued by strange, unexpected events.

    Evidence Select an option

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    Point

    The image of the horses turning on each other reflects the rebellious factions within the kingdom.

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    What else can I do to explore the imagery of disease?

    • Look at Act 4 Scene 3. How do Macduff and Malcolm talk about Scotland? Notice how they personify the land as a wounded woman. Why do you think the men, and later the other thanes, talk about their country in this way?
    • Lady Macbeth suffers greatly in Act 5 and is tended to by her waiting-woman and a doctor. The doctor tells Macbeth that there is no medicine that can help her. Look at Macbeth’s response in Act 5 Scene 3. What is his attitude to medicine? Consider where medicine and cures are mentioned at other points.

  • Analysing the Themes

    As with all Shakespeare’s plays, there are lots of themes that appear in Macbeth. It’s a great idea to keep a list of key quotes and examples of these themes in each act as you go through the play, looking at where they come up.

    Here are three themes to look out for:

    Theme of Ambition

    • Macbeth is set in a hierarchical world in which loyalty and service to the king is rewarded with titles and land. When Macbeth is successful in battle, King Duncan rewards him with the title ‘Thane of Cawdor’ because he is ‘worthy’. All of the characters have hopes for their own futures and the future of Scotland; however, ambition that oversteps the moral boundaries is condemned and punished. In the opening scene, we hear about ‘merciless’ rebels who have attempted to seize power and are overthrown and executed.
    • Consider each character’s ambition for the future of their family, country and self. Are there any characters without ambition? Look at how characters talk about ambition in Act 1. What do you think the rules are surrounding ambition? When does it become an evil act to pursue your ambition?

    Theme of Supernatural

    • The very first thing we learn at the opening of the play is that there is a supernatural force, which is first seen in the form of the three witches. They appear in ‘thunder and lightning’ and plot to meet with Macbeth, before calling to their supernatural familiars and casting a strange spell. Both Macbeth and Banquo believe in the witches' magic and power. This is a world where magic is a real presence, although it is associated with the devil. In Act 1 Lady Macbeth calls on ‘spirits’ and ‘murd’ring ministers’ to help her achieve her aims; in Act 2 Macbeth sees a ghostly dagger on his way to murder Duncan; and in Act 3 he sees a terrifying apparition of his murdered friend Banquo. After Macbeth’s last visit to the witches in Act 4 Scene 1, the supernatural presences disappear, although their influence remains.
    • Think about why the characters in this play are so ready to believe in spells, witchcraft and ghosts. Look at the language they use when they talk about the supernatural. How does it compare to how they talk about religion in the play? Compare this with how Macduff speaks about magic. Why do you think he views the supernatural in a different way?

    Theme of Fate

    • The witches make several prophecies and they all appear to come true. In Act 1, the first prophecy is realised almost immediately when Macbeth is made Thane of Cawdor; this is proof for both men of the witches’ power and Banquo remarks ‘What, can the devil speak true?’ (Banquo, 1:3). However, as soon as Lady Macbeth hears of the prophecy, she wants to speed up what has been ‘promised’. When Macbeth commits murder to achieve the crown, it becomes ambiguous whether his fate is predestined or if he has been influenced to make choices out of his own free will. Macbeth also tries to cheat fate by sending murderers after Banquo and Fleance in order to avoid the witches’ prophecy about them coming true.
    • Look at the prophecies that the three witches make and the moments when they come true. Do you believe in their magic, or could there be another explanation? Are there any that you cannot explain? Do you think the prophecies would have come true without Macbeth’s intervention? Do you think the prophecy about Banquo's sons will come true?

    Lady Macbeth
    Was the hope drunk
    Wherein you dressed yourself? Hath it slept since?
    And wakes it now, to look so green, and pale,
    At what it did so freely? From this time,
    Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard
    To be the same in thine own act and valour
    As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that
    Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life,
    And live a coward in thine own esteem,
    Letting ‘I dare not’ wait upon ‘I would,’
    Like the poor cat i’th’ adage?
    Macbeth
    Prithee, peace:
    I dare do all that may become a man,
    Who dares do more is none.
    Lady Macbeth
    What beast was't, then,
    That made you break this enterprise to me?
    When you durst do it, then you were a man;
    And, to be more than what you were, you would
    Be so much more the man. Nor time nor place
    Did then adhere, and yet you would make both:
    They have made themselves, and that their fitness now
    Does unmake you. I have given suck, and know
    How tender ’tis to love 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.
    Macbeth
    If we should fail?
    Lady Macbeth
    We fail?
    But screw your courage to the sticking-place,
    And we'll not fail. When Duncan is asleep,
    Whereto the rather shall his day’s hard journey
    Soundly invite him, his two chamberlains
    Will I with wine and wassail so convince
    That memory, the warder of the brain,
    Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason
    A limbeck only; when in swinish sleep
    Their drenched natures lie as in a death,
    What cannot you and I perform upon
    Th’unguarded Duncan? What not put upon
    His spongy officers who shall bear the guilt
    Of our great quell?

    Thinking about Act 1 Scene 7, we’ve started to look at what the language in the scene tells us about the theme of ambition. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth both have strong opinions about how they should respond to the witches’ prophecy and whether killing Duncan is the right act.

    Read Act 1 Scene 7 looking for any references to Lady Macbeth and Macbeth's ambition. See if you can complete the grid and finish four points which explain what this language shows about ambition at this point in the play.

    Point

    Macbeth decides that his ambition is corrupting his values.

    Evidence

    ‘I have no spur / To prick the sides of my intent, but only / Vaulting ambition which overlaps itself / And falls on th’other -‘

    Explanation

    After debating the morality of his decision to kill Duncan, Macbeth decides that he cannot go through with the act. He uses the metaphor of a horse and rider, describing how he has no ‘spur’ on the heel of his boot to urge his horse onwards, to explain how he has no proper reason to go through with the deed. His only motivation of ‘vaulting ambition’ would cause the horse to overleap the jump and fall upon landing. He compares himself to that rider; if he acts on his ambition, he predicts that it will be his downfall.

    Point

    Lady Macbeth taunts Macbeth by questioning his courage, manliness and ambition.

    Evidence Select an option

    Explanation Click text to edit

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    Point

    Macbeth is impressed by his wife’s determination to achieve the crown and is convinced to murder Duncan.

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    What else can I do to explore the theme of ambition?

    • Look at the section on Lady Macbeth’s language, which explores the ‘unsex me here’ soliloquy where Lady Macbeth asks the spirits to rid her of her female qualities and achieve her ambitions. Does she use language that is similar to the men’s? How do you think she defines ambition and courage?
    • Compare this scene with Act 4 Scene 3 in which Macduff and Malcolm talk about their ambitions for Scotland’s future. Consider how they talk about the country as a whole, whereas the Macbeths talk solely about their individual hopes for success.

Teacher Notes

The following sheet provides further information on themes in the text.

Macbeth Themes

You can also print the PEE grids from each of the sections on this page to help students explore the language of central characters and some of the imagery used in more detail.