Shakespeare's "Macbeth" creates appeal through the universal themes portrayed in the play. Shakespeare explores universal themes in Macbeth through the constant struggle between power corruption, ambition and gender roles. Shakespeare's constant use of imagery, motifs and other language techniques also helps to generate appeal within the play. Shakespeare utilises the themes and features to make the audiences recognise the faults of human nature.
In " Macbeth" , ambition is presented as a dangerous quality. It causes the downfall of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and triggers a series of deaths in Macbeth . Ambition is therefore the driving force of the play. In act one Macbeth encounters the weird sisters and the sisters predicts that Macbeth will become king, Macbeth then said to himself, " My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,/Shakes so my single state of man that function/Is smother'd in surmise, and nothing is/But what is not." (I.iii). After the weird sisters prediction, Macbeth's thoughts turned to murder. This is because his ambition to strive towards achievement, this is also the same with Lady Macbeth. Also in act one Macbeth sends a letter back to Lady Macbeth about the weird sisters and their prophesy that he will become king of Scotland, the letter reads, "Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be/What thou art promised: yet do I fear thy nature;/It is too full o' th milk of human kindness/ To catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great;/Art thou not ambition, but without/The illness should attend it:" (I.v). After reading this letter Lady Macbeth's also turned to murder, in her mind, Macbeth must take action if he was to become king. Macbeth, she says is not without ambition but he is too kind to do whatever necessary to achieve greatness. This...
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Sarah Siddons in the Sleepwalking Scene