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Feedback on Macbeth themes

Hi, I would like some feedback on these paragraphs I did on how Shakespeare presents the themes of ambition and the supernatural. Any tips on how to improve would be greatly appreciated. (P.S I haven't written a full essay of about 3 paragraphs a theme, it's just a practice)

Ambition:

In Act 1, Shakespeare highlights that ambition is a key theme in the play. When we see the desire to become king spark within Macbeth, straight away it makes him greedy and selfish by making him think thoughts he never would have previously. After receiving the prophecies and being told he is Thane of Cawdor, he says "Two truths are told as happy prologues to the swelling act of imperial theme". Shakespeare may have included this to illustrate to his audience that being ambitious is a sin, making you think about committing regicide to achieve power. Later, Macbeth is aggravated by Malcolm being deemed as the rightful heir to Duncan, saying "That is a step on which I must fall down, or else o'erleap" which shows he sees Malcolm as nothing but an obstacle on his path to the throne. Becoming desperate to change fate, he says "Stars hide your fires, let not light see my black and deep desires". Here, Shakespeare uses a rhyming couplet to mimic the witches. This highlights the importance of this line as it could be said this phrase is the beginning of Macbeth's hamartia which eventually leads to his overpowering ambition causing his downfall.

Supernatural:

Throughout Macbeth, the supernatural remains a prominent theme. Straight away, it is presented through the use of the witches, who say " fair is foul and foul is fair." This also presents the theme of deceit by using the juxtaposition of the nouns 'foul' and 'fair' to warn the audience to never trust appearances. In Act 1 Scene 3, Macbeth says "So foul and fair a day I have not seen". This quote automatically links him to the witches and could be potential foreshadowing of Macbeth's deceitful nature that is revealed later on in the play. Because the protagonist is involved with the supernatural, it highlights the significance on the rest of the play.

The supernatural is also presented as dangerous through the witches' omniscience they present with their prophecies that predict the fate of the characters. For example, Macbeth is said to be 'Thane of Cawdor' and 'shalt be king hereafter'. When Macbeth is later given the title of Thane of Cawdor, he says "Two truths are told as happy prologues to the swelling act of imperial theme" which shows to us as an audience that thoughts that he deems as 'horrid' at the time are beginning to invade his conscience. Banquo, however, does not fall for the witches' tricks. He says "instruments of darkness tell us truths" in which he wisely catches on that the witches are telling him true things to gain the trust in order to eventually make them commit sins. The fact that the supernatural makes Macbeth think of horrific thoughts, which cause his ambition to overwhelm him and commit regicide highlights the danger it poses as falling for the too-good-to-be-true prophecies may lead to their downfall.
(edited 1 year ago)
Very good

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