These are taken from the

syllabus.
Focus Possible interrelated topics
Provide opportunities for
students to:
• personal ambition • analyse the ways ideas, attitudes
Representations of • legitimate/illegitimate use of power and values underpin the play and
power • consequences of choices (on individuals, influence audiences
society and nature) • evaluate representations of
concepts, identities, times and
Representations of • versions of femininity and masculinity places in the play
gender • assumptions about gender and • evaluate aesthetic features and
attitudes towards men and women their effects in the play.
• relationships and interactions
between characters

Representations of Power questions

1. Macbeth has murdered a king, the legitimate ruler, to become king himself. He
then continues to ruthlessly murder to maintain his illegitimate hold on power.
Analyse how Shakespeare, represents the concepts of legitimate and illegitimate
power through the character of Macbeth and two others from the play.

2. Lady Macbeth is initially characterised as a dominant and powerful figure in the

play, however, by the end she is deeply troubled, delusional, and ultimately
suicidal. Evaluate how Shakespeare uses this character to demonstrate the
consequences of choices that individuals make in their lives.

3. Analyse, through a careful evaluation of the action and the dialogue (and
soliloquies) if Macbeth is a character doomed by the interferences of outside
forces, or doomed as a consequence of his own ‘vaulting ambition’?

4. One of the consequences of Macbeth’s reign as king is to reduce Scotland to a

“sickly weal” (sick country) (5.2.32). Lennox, a Thane who has fled from Macbeth,
says he, and those who now oppose Macbeth, will pour their medicine (give their
power to the cause) to defeat the tyrant. Their help will “dew the sovereign flower
and drown the weeds,” (5.2.36) that is, help Malcolm, the medicinal herb that will
heal Scotland, and drown the weed that is Macbeth. Analyse how the metaphors
of medicine, (nature) and clothing are used to represent legitimate and
illegitimate power in the play.

5. “From beginning to end, the witches are the most powerful characters in the
play. They are the catalyst for all of Macbeth’s crimes and for his demise.”
Evaluate the accuracy of this statement with reference to their impact on
Macbeth’s actions.
6. Analyse how Duncan, Malcolm, and Macduff symbolise legitimate
representations of power and how Macbeth represents illegitimate power? Refer
specifically to the figurative references in the play.

7. “Macbeth’s tragedy is that he understands the evil nature of his actions, but
proceeds with them anyway.” Analyse how his actions exhibit the power of
personal ambition over loyalty.

8. As a consequence of their quest for power, Macbeth’s and Lady Macbeth’s

imaginations are haunted by guilt. Evaluate how their mental decline is
documented in the text. Analyse how aesthetic features are used to illustrate this
decline.

9. “Macbeth shows that people best serve their state by being humble and
generous, rather than ambitious and competitive.” Evaluate the accuracy of this
statement in relation to representations of legitimate and illegitimate power in
Macbeth.

10. Analyse the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. If the main theme
of Macbeth is ambition, whose ambition is the driving force of the play—
Macbeth’s, Lady Macbeth’s, or both?

11. One of the important themes in Macbeth is the idea of political legitimacy, of the
moral authority that some kings possess and others lack. Define some of the
characteristics that grant or invalidate the moral legitimacy of absolute power.
Analyse what makes Duncan a good king and what makes Macbeth a tyrant?

12. “Blood will have blood.” Analyse the role that blood plays in demonstrating the
consequences of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s actions.

Gender questions

1. Lady Macbeth is initially characterised as a dominant and powerful figure in the

play, however, by the end she is deeply troubled, delusional, and ultimately
suicidal. Evaluate how Shakespeare uses this character to demonstrate the
consequences of choices that individuals make in their lives.

2. Lady Macbeth is initially characterised as a dominant and powerful figure in her

relationship with Macbeth. She is the planner, the schemer and the driving force.
By the end of the play however she is deeply troubled, delusional, and ultimately
suicidal. Evaluate how Shakespeare uses this character to challenge and then
confirm accepted versions of femininity and masculinity.
3. Analyse how Macbeth, firstly undermines, and then upholds, stereotypical
representations of men and women in the course of the play.

4. In Act 1, Scene V, Lady Macbeth makes a direct reference to her gender. She calls
on spirits to “Unsex me here.” This speech presents a representation of a woman
that challenges the “accepted” role of women in the time and place in which the
play is set. Analyse how her status in her relationship with Macbeth changes in the
course of the play.

5. Women in Macbeth have more than a subsidiary role to play as they are pivotal
to the whole action of the play. Refer to several textual references. Using only
the play as evidence, analyse what assumptions about gender can be drawn?

6. An important theme in Macbeth is the relationship between gender and power,

particularly Shakespeare’s exploration of the values that make up the idea of
masculinity. What are these values, and how do various characters embody them?
How does Shakespeare subvert his characters’ perception of gender roles?

Other??
The play’s use of textual elements, namely figurative language relating to darkness
and blood, works to represent significant elements in the lives of Macbeth and Lady
Macbeth. Analyse the symbolic use of darkness and blood in the play.

The imagery in Macbeth adds to the dramatic impact of its themes. Evaluate how the
recurring images of darkness, blood, and clothing, are used to represent power,
ambition

How is the image of darkness used and developed throughout the play?
Many events in Macbeth are considered, “’Gainst nature still.” (2.4.11) Identify which
characters play a role in upsetting the natural order of nature. Evaluate the extent of
their contributions.