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  • Q - Using Act 1 Scene 7 As An Extract, How Does Shakespeare Present Morality in The Extract and Throughout The Play

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    Mohamed Abubaker
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    The document analyzes how Shakespeare presents morality in Macbeth. It argues that Shakespeare depicts morality as coinciding with self-control and obedience to social norms and religious values. Macbeth's unchecked ambition and interaction with the supernatural cause his morality to decline, as seen in his unjustified murder of Duncan. In contrast, Banquo maintains skepticism of the witches' prophecies, demonstrating his stronger moral integrity. Lady Macbeth also displays immorality by desiring to subvert traditional gender roles and nurturing aspects of womanhood. Ultimately, the document claims that Shakespeare shows morality requires controlling desires and ambitions, and respecting the natural social order, which Macbeth fails to do.

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    Q_ Using Act 1 Scene 7 as an extract, how does Shakespeare present morality in the extract and throughout the play

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    The document analyzes how Shakespeare presents morality in Macbeth. It argues that Shakespeare depicts morality as coinciding with self-control and obedience to social norms and religious values. Macbeth's unchecked ambition and interaction with the supernatural cause his morality to decline, as seen in his unjustified murder of Duncan. In contrast, Banquo maintains skepticism of the witches' prophecies, demonstrating his stronger moral integrity. Lady Macbeth also displays immorality by desiring to subvert traditional gender roles and nurturing aspects of womanhood. Ultimately, the document claims that Shakespeare shows morality requires controlling desires and ambitions, and respecting the natural social order, which Macbeth fails to do.

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    3K views2 pages

    Q - Using Act 1 Scene 7 As An Extract, How Does Shakespeare Present Morality in The Extract and Throughout The Play

    Uploaded by

    Mohamed Abubaker
    The document analyzes how Shakespeare presents morality in Macbeth. It argues that Shakespeare depicts morality as coinciding with self-control and obedience to social norms and religious values. Macbeth's unchecked ambition and interaction with the supernatural cause his morality to decline, as seen in his unjustified murder of Duncan. In contrast, Banquo maintains skepticism of the witches' prophecies, demonstrating his stronger moral integrity. Lady Macbeth also displays immorality by desiring to subvert traditional gender roles and nurturing aspects of womanhood. Ultimately, the document claims that Shakespeare shows morality requires controlling desires and ambitions, and respecting the natural social order, which Macbeth fails to do.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    Q: Using Act 1 Scene 7 as an extract, how does Shakespeare present morality in the

    extract and throughout the play?

    In ‘Macbeth’, interaction with the supernatural and ambition are presented as causes for the
    depletion of morality seen in the arc of the tragic hero. Macbeth’s immorality is used by
    Shakespeare to make a broader point of kingship: a good king is a king with morality. The
    heavily religious Jacobean society would interpret morality as coinciding with Christian values
    such as respecting the social order bestowed upon by God- Macbeth’s failure to do so which
    lead to his downfall could reveal Shakespeare’s belief that moral virtue is necessary for leaders.

    Firstly, Shakespeare depicts the link between morality and rationality as symbolised by the
    attempt to justify the murder of King Duncan. While Macbeth was wary of the reasons to not kill
    the king, the only justification for committing the heinous deed was his “vaulting ambition”. The
    personification is used by Shakespeare to portray Macbeth’s ambition akin to a wild steed -
    untamed and intense. The magnitude of Macbeth’s ambition is further emboldened by the
    metaphorical horse “which o’erleaps itself/ and falls on the other (side)”. This phrase suggests
    an inexperienced rider who “vaults” too vigorously serving as a metaphor for Macbeth’s inability
    to tame his unchecked ambition. The verb “falls” could be seen as foreshadowing the fall of
    Macbeth’s kingdom however it could also be seen to represent the fall of Macbeth’s morality.
    By displaying ambition’s impact on one’s ability to rationalise and make moral decisions,
    Shakespeare is establishing the correlation between having unchecked ambition and doing
    immoral deeds.

    From a religious point of view, Shakespeare presents the difference between Macbeth and
    Banquo’s responses to the supernatural as an indicator of their morality. During the first
    encounter with The Witches in Act 1 Scene 3, Macbeth urges The Witches to “stay you
    imperfect speakers, tell me more”. The imperative phrase “tell me more” alludes to a desire to
    garner more information as if Macbeth believes the words of the spirits demonstrating the seeds
    of ambition that have been sown in his mind thus marking the beginning of his moral decline. On
    the other hand, Banquo is skeptical: “have we eaten on the insane root that takes the reason
    prisoner?”. The question mark is used by Shakespeare to showcase the doubt that Banquo has
    over whether or not The Witches speak the truth creating a disconnect between Banquo and
    The Witches therefore demonstrating how Banquo maintained his moral integrity. The contrast
    created by the two responses to the supernatural is used by Shakespeare to provide a
    connection between interaction with the supernatural and maintaining a moral conscience. It
    could be argued that Shakespeare believes an integral part of morality relies on self control and
    resistance to evil temptations.

    Finally, Shakespeare presents a lack of morality through the desire to transcend the natural
    order. Lady Macbeth yearns for the “milk” of her “woman’s breasts” to be replaced with “gall”. A
    semantic field of feminity is created as the lexical choices of “milk” and “breasts” are symbolic of
    nurture. The contrast between “milk”, usually associated with purity and birth with “gall” a vile
    poison is used by the playwright to suggest that the womanhood of Lady Macbeth is preventing
    her from acting upon her carnal desires. Her lust for them to be removed however means she
    desires to subvert the rigid gender roles put in place. As a result, the Jacobean audience would
    be appalled by Lady Macbeth’s unorthodox behaviour and would cast her as immoral. By
    assigning a corrupt woman masculine traits, one could infer that Shakespeare associates those
    who subvert social norms as indecent and dishonest.

    Ultimately, Shakespeare presents morality as a manifestation of one’s ability to control their


    desires - as seen with the interaction of the supernatural; one’s ability to obey the social norms
    and one’s ability to keep their ambition in check. The eponymous character’s failure to do so led
    to his sinful decline into his wicked fate.

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