[Music] at first glance macbeth can be a very daunting play to study as it is not immediately easy to understand the language used or the context in which it was written however shakespeare's works have remained relevant for such a long time largely due to the timelessness of the themes such as ambition and guilt they are absolutely essential to understanding the play as a whole because themes in literature help the author to convey a message to the audience and give meaning to the character's actions in this video we will be looking at three major themes in macbeth which are closely linked the supernatural fate vs free will and appearance versus reality [Music] since the witches have the opening lines of the play when shall we three meet again in thunder lightning or in rain it is clear that the supernatural will have great significance in this story at the time this play was written the general public had a fascination with witches ghosts and all things mystical and magical even the reigning king at the time james the first had a keen interest in supernatural beings and wrote a book on it so by incorporating this theme into macbeth shakespeare is referencing popular culture and also providing an element of mystery and fear for his audience who would have believed in the existence of the paranormal in their everyday lives despite these beliefs the supernatural is not presented as absolute fact in this play but with enough room for skepticism that it is up to us to determine the extent of their reality banquo displays this doubt from the start when he and macbeth meet the witches in act 1 scene 3 asking are ye fantastical or that indeed which outwardly show he does not trust their prophecies and even warns his companions not to be deceived by their riddles and half-truths as it is likely to end badly macbeth is aware of this danger and he says to himself this supernatural soliciting cannot be ill cannot be good he is no fool and knows it is not wise to fraternize with dark supernatural forces but he goes against his better judgment to serve his ambition in act 4 scene 1 the witches open with a long ritualistic chant that involves them combining a large number of horrific ingredients mostly body parts to make their brew it also includes the very famous lines double double toil and trouble fire burn and cauldron bubble they are indicating that macbeth's troubles are going to be doubly worse from here on out and reinforcing the audience's disgust towards their stereotypically witchy behavior additionally we can see how desperate macbeth must be at this point to purposely seek out these evil women for advice and reassurance because he has blinded himself to their deceitful nature he ignores the warning signs given to him at every point and clings on to their prophecies until the last this choice costs him everything including his life through the witches and macbeth's interactions with them shakespeare is warning the audience not to let a fascination for evil supernatural powers overrule your sense of reason like her husband lady macbeth has an attraction to the dark side and almost immediately invokes their help in her mission to kill duncan come you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts come to my woman's breasts and take my milk for gali murdering ministers come thick knight and paul thee in the dennis smoke of hell she is taking it a step further than her husband by actually asking these spirits to possess her and make her a cold-blooded killer which would have been both terrifying and shocking to the audience at the time her later descent into madness therefore could potentially be attributed to the influence of dark spirits although it is more likely due to her repressed guilt and paranoia for a more in-depth study of lady macbeth check out this character analysis video it is important to remember however that there are not only dark supernatural forces referenced in this play and duncan as a divinely appointed king is often mentioned in association with god in heaven macbeth says that murdering duncan would essentially condemn his soul because his virtues will plead like angels trumpet-tongued against the deep damnation of his taking off later macduff as the avenger of the king's death seeks help from god to destroy macbeth gentle heavens cut short all intermission front to front bring thou this fiend of scotland and myself within my sword's length set him shakespeare is using the supernatural to define the main character's morals because even today regardless of personal beliefs we have an ingrained habit of associating heaven with good and hell with bad while shakespeare may have written macbeth to indulge his audience's fascination with the supernatural it also encourages them not to discard logic and reason and to stay within society's moral boundaries the theme of fate versus free will is closely linked to the supernatural particularly the witch's prophecies and raises the question of whether our lives are governed by fate or whether we are able to create our own destiny at first glance it may seem the macbeth is fated to kill king duncan and later to die at the hands of macduff but there are many instances in this play where he seems to willingly take matters into his own hands in order to achieve his goals at the beginning of the play when king duncan is receiving news of the battle the messenger says but all's too weak for brave macbeth well he deserves that name disdaining fortune with his brandished steel which smoked with bloody execution from this description it seems that macbeth was fated to lose the battle but his determination and bravery changed the outcome and won the day he is a man who has turned the tide of battle despite the odds being stacked against him and has made a good name for himself as a result however when he encounters the witches they hail him as thane of cawdor macbeth that shalt be king hereafter and he becomes fixated on the idea of becoming king especially once he receives word of his promotion to thane of cordor although the thought has crossed his mind he does not immediately decide to murder king duncan and remains conflicted saying if chance will have me king why chance may crown me without my stir he is hoping that fate will give him the throne of scotland without him having to take any drastic actions to get it unfortunately this does not happen and malcolm is named as the heir to the scottish throne prompting macbeth to go through with a murder after all as he prepares for this he sees a vision of a bloody dagger that supposedly points towards the king's bedchamber thou martialist me the way that i was going we could interpret this in two ways it could be that a supernatural power is guiding him towards his destiny and giving him the final push that he needs to carry out the deed alternatively the dagger could be a manifestation of the anxiety and guilt he must have felt at that moment he would be rebelling against the natural order by committing vegicide and perhaps the dagger is a convenient excuse that his brain is concocted in order to persuade himself that he is being controlled by fate if you found this video helpful so far hit the like button below it really helps out the channel in act 3 scene 1 as macbeth decides whether or not he should kill his friend banquo fate is mentioned again he says for banquo's issue have i filed my mind for them the gracious duncan have i murdered to make them kings the seed of banquo kings rather than so come fate into the list and champion me to the utterance rather strangely he wants fate to champion him or fight for him in his mission but if he truly believed in the witch's prophecies banquo's descendants were meant to one day sit on the throne so he would actually be fighting against fate with this action banquo is murdered but his son freyance is able to escape the assassins sent by macbeth this seems to prove that the witches hold some power in controlling destiny however we never find out if fleonce or any of banquo's descendants ever actually take the throne so it is very possible that it is simply banquo's sacrifice and a bit of luck that saves his son rather than any supernatural intervention one of the biggest arguments in favor of fate are the three apparitions shown to macbeth by the witches in act 4 scene 1. they tell him first to be where mcduff second that no man born of a woman can kill him and third that he cannot be defeated until burnham wood marches against his castle in dunsinane macbeth ignores the first warning and interprets the other two prophecies to mean that he is safe as it is seemingly impossible for either of these events to occur he is duped by their half-truth and is stunned when both of the prophecies come true in a rather anticlimactic fashion burnham wood marches against dunsinane but it is not an epic lord of the rings style march of the ants but merely malcolm and his men holding tree branches in front of them to hide the number of men in their army mcduff who was from his mother's womb untimely ripped defeats macbeth but he is not some superhuman being just a man who was born through a c-section if fate really had a hand in how the prophecies played out it would seem that macbeth is a victim of a cruel cosmic joke alternatively however it is possible that rather than controlling his destiny the witches have simply manipulated macbeth into doing what they wanted under the disguise of it being his fate he may have even succeeded in turning the tide of battle like he did in king duncan's army had he not taken the witch's words as absolute truth when mcduff reveals his birth story macbeth admits it is cowed my better part of man so although he puts up a fight in his heart he feels he has already been defeated it is up to the audience to decide whether they believe that macbeth's story was brought about by fate or free will but looking at the author's life it is possible that he may have favored the idea of free will shakespeare was not born into nobility or university educated but through the strength of his intelligence and hard work managed to become a leading playwright with a patronage from the king himself from this perspective it is likely that shakespeare is trying to convey to his audience that every man is responsible for his own actions and the consequences which follow right at the start of the play the witch's chant fares foul and foul is fair which gives us an early warning that everything is not always as it appears soon afterwards macbeth says something very similarly worded so foul and fair a day i have not seen and this deja vu moment suggests that he will be connected to the witches and their deceptions throughout the story macbeth and his wife must often put on a front around other people in order to hide their true thoughts and intentions while plotting to kill king duncan she tells macbeth your face my thing is a book bear welcome in your eye your hand your tongue look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under it he is not naturally disposed to hiding his emotions but must now put on a show of loyalty to avoid suspicion the king is among those that are fooled by this facade as when he arrives at macbeth's castle he says it has a pleasant seat and calls lady macbeth fair and noble hostess there's a lot of dramatic irony here as the audience knows that she and her husband had planned to murder him that very night the performance continues even after king duncan's body is discovered by macduff and lady macbeth even faints in order to divert attention away from her husband however the stress of hiding their true faces is too great for either of them to handle and may explain some of the hallucinations and apparitions that trouble them both macbeth is the first to see one of these visions as he is preparing to murder king duncan it appears to be a bloody dagger pointing towards the king's bedroom and macbeth is unable to tell whether it is real or not are 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 it is unclear whether this is a supernatural symbol or a manifestation of macbeth's nervous mental state but it is not the only vision he sees banquo's ghost also haunts him on the night of his banquet which hugely distresses him and triggers a breakdown in front of all of his guests however he is the only one who can see this apparition so it is again doubtful whether this is really banquo's spirit risen from the grave or a manifestation of macbeth's guilt lady macbeth scolds him for his fear saying oh proper stuff this is the very painting of your fear this is the air-drawn dagger which you said led you to duncan but ironically at the end of the play she is the one plagued by hallucinations of blood on her hands that can never be washed clean both macbeth and lady macbeth hide the reality of their intentions behind the false persona they want others to see but this outward show eventually affects their mental state as the lines between appearance and reality are gradually blurred leading to their shared demise thanks for watching guys hit the like button below and subscribe to my channel for more content see you next time [Music] you