Motifs Theme In Macbeth

William Shakespeare is considered as one of the best play writers in history. One of his most well known plays is Macbeth where a Scottish general named Macbeth has a strong desire to be king which leads him to betray and murder his king, Duncan. He also kills the nobles who have been loyal to him in order to maintain his title as king. Throughout this play, Shakespeare uses the motif of ambition, guilt, and fate to characterize the characters, show the different themes present within the play, and how the motifs are still relevant today.
One of the most important motifs is ambition. The motif ambition shows the characterization of greed, and the theme conveyed is the want for power takes full control of the mind and that is the push force

The motif guilt shows characterization of remorse, and the theme conveyed is guilt stays within a person forever and not confessing leads to misery. After Macbeth murders Duncan, he begins to go insane and claim that he can no longer sleep. “Methought I heard a voice cry, ‘Sleep no more! / Macbeth does murder sleep’ . . . ‘Macbeth shall sleep no more’” (2.2.33-41). The motif of guilt is present because Macbeth is haunted by his murdering Duncan. He feels remorseful for committing such a crime and he tells himself that he will not be able to sleep anymore because of his guilt. This conveys the theme because with Macbeth not confessing to his crime, the guilt stays and leads to his downfall. When Macbeth hosts a dinner party at his castle, he sees Banquo’s ghost and he starts to talk to it. “Avaunt, and quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee. / Thy bones are marrowless; thy blood is cold; / Thou hast no speculation in those eyes / Which thou dost glare with” (3.4.93-96). Macbeth hallucinates and claims that he sees Banquo’s ghost. This demonstrates his guilt of ordering the murder of Banquo. This displays the theme because Macbeth has not confessed to the crime of murdering Banquo, the terror and remorse is bottled up inside of him and is slowly creeping out to haunt him. The presence of the ghost is driving Macbeth insane and he is trying to reassure himself that Banquo’s ghost cannot not doing anything to harm him since it

Fate shows the characterization of disillusionment, and conveys the theme do not let fate decide a person’s future, take action and alter it to make it come true. After Macbeth comes back from fighting, witches appear and tell him his prophecy. “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis / All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor / All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter” (1.3.51-53). After hearing the witches’ prophecy, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth only focus on the last part of it which was Macbeth becoming king. This relates to the theme because Macbeth decides to take action and kill Duncan in order to make sure he is king. This also shows his disillusionment as he is doing anything for his fate to be proven true. Macbeth feels threatened by Fleance after the witches told Banquo his prophecy, which was that he will have a line of kings. “Fleance, his son, that keeps him company, / Whose absence is no less material to me / Than is his father’s, must embrace the fate / Of that dark hour” (3.2.134-138). Macbeth wants to kill Fleance as he is a threat to Macbeth’s title. This relates to the theme because Macbeth decides to take action in order for the prophecy to be proven wrong, so he sends the murders out to kill Banquo and Fleance. Macbeth’s disillusionment is present as he gets caught up in the prophecy and does anything just to alter it. His disillusionment is also present at the end of the play