Ambition, Morality, Fate

Bring a sheet with quotes - include Act, scene, line #
Purpose of an essay: "Looking at the text as a work of art, demonstrating clear critical judgment and explaining to the reader of your essay how the enjoyment of the text is assisted by literary devices, linguistic effects and psychological insights; showing how the text relates to the time when it was written and how it relates to our world today."

Make sure you are discussing what The Scottish Play shows us about human nature and the topic of the essay.

Writing Improvements, class notes

Ambition
- Is it a good quality?
- Self-awareness is key
- Thane has excessive ambition
- He takes it too far ["art not without ambition, but without the illness to attend it" (I v 16-18)]
- If morals are not being followed - maybe ambition is too much
- Lady impacts the Thane's ambition
- Does ambition influence our society's structure
- Witches controlling Thane's ambition? Using the prophecies.
- Can ambition overpower destiny?
- At the beginning the Lady says her husband has ambition, but he's not ruthless
- Why doesn't Banquo fixate on his prophecy - decides not to cross the moral line [doesn't say this in the prophecy - it's muted because it's his sons that will benefit, not himself]
- Who's more ambitious? The Lady pushes her ambition onto the Thane [but women have no recourse for their actions]
- He stops telling her about his plans - at the beginning the Lady is more ambitious, at the end it's her husband
- The Thane keeps going - too far in "I am too stepped in blood" (III iv)
- I iv 50-55 "stars hide your fires/let not light see my deep and dark desires"
- "I have almost forgot the taste of fears" (V iii) [shows where ambition has led him]
- Each time someone does a bad thing, it becomes much easier each successive time
- Why does the Thane continue to kill - first to gain the power, then to be able to keep it
- [why does the Thane kill Banquo?]
- [how does ambition tie in with fate?]
- Is Macduff ambitious? - he restores order to Scotland
- [common good vs. self-interest]
- Ambition can be used for good - Macduff IS the Thane's nemesis, but also character foil
- Killing Duncan = ambition too much [think of I vii soliloquy and his list of reasons not to kill the king]
- How else could the Thane become king?
- The Thane becomes ruthless because of the Lady questioning his manhood [also could be the reason he kills Banquo]
- Does the Thane's ambition cost him his life?
- [what does this play tell us about ambition in our world? Generally?]
- Does the Thane have "deep desires" before the prophesy [we all do] - he very quickly succumbs to the idea of becoming king - we all think about the next step - "my thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical/ Shakes so my single state of man…"(I iii 140)
- Greed and ambition are closely relate

Morality

- What is the shift in the Thane's morals - he goes from moral to immoral
- At the beginning - we can see his morals in his soliloquy I vii - 12 reasons not to kill the king - we can see his priorities
- "hereafter" - at some point - the witches do not give a time limit - why does the Thane immediately think of killing the king [don't we all have bad thoughts? Isn't morality not giving into temptation?]
- [do we all have a moral code - is everyone's different? Can we not agree on the common good?]
- When he hears he's going to become king he says, "whose horrid image doth unfix my hair" (I iii 135)
- Lady is complicit in the murder - but not fully culpable - he thinks about it ahead of time
- The Thane is related to Duncan [he is surprised that Malcolm is named Prince of Cumberland - somehow it's not completely a given that Malcolm be the prince, or possibly the king]
- What would have happened if the Lady killed the king? [interesting question - the guilt may not have overwhelmed him - killing has an effect on a person - "I am in blood stepped in so far, that, should I wade no more. Returning were as tedious as go over." (III iv 136-138)
- Wants to die "with a harness on his back" he could have died "on his sword" - this is part of his moral code
- Does the Lady have good morals? [has to call on the dark spirits - then can't even kill the king - later can't get the smell of blood out of her hands - sleep walking]
- Why do they switch?
- [so many references to men and women - "unsex me here" "bring forth men children only/ For thy undaunted mettle should compose/ Nothing but males" (I vii 72)
- In III iv when the Lady attacks his masculinity, he talks about the fact that he is a man, and "a bold one"
- The dagger and the ghost of Banquo - symbolize Mac's guilt
- The Thane sending murderers - weak? Morality disintegrating. [the court system is harsher for premeditated murder, and "organized crime]
- Witches represent our inner demons - it can grow or be squelched
- "instruments of darkness" - Banquo says this I iii
- PRIDE
- [what factors relate to morality]

Fate

- Does the Thane kill because of the prophecies?
His fate would probably have been different if he didn't hear them - [the journ