Macbeth - Example questions - CCEA

The controlled assessment theme for Unit 3: The Study of Shakespeare changes every year. Current themes can be found on the CCEA website. Recent examples of themes for study have included forgiveness, ambition, and power – the topic will be general enough to apply to a wide range of Shakespeare plays.

The choice of play and the specific wording of the question you will answer is up to your class teacher.

Questions can be left fairly open regarding the theme, such as:

• Examine the way Shakespeare presents the theme of deceit in Macbeth.

Alternatively, the theme may be explored through a more specific focus, for example:

• Who is more ambitious: Macbeth or Lady Macbeth?

The following essay questions are examples that not only touch on relevant themes/ potential controlled assessment topics, but also try to frame the focus in a way that makes for an interesting argument in your essay.

Consider how you might answer the following theme-based questions about Macbeth:

• Is deceit always a destructive force in Macbeth?
• How does Shakespeare use the natural world to comment on events in Macbeth?
• Examine how Shakespeare presents family relationships in Macbeth.
• In what ways do appearances differ from reality in Macbeth, and what are the consequences of these differences?
• To what extent can Macbeth be considered a victim of the witches’ cruelty?
• Analyse how Shakespeare presents masculinity in Macbeth with reference to the characters of Macbeth, Macduff and Malcolm.

For further information about the controlled assessment unit itself, look at The study of Shakespeare, controlled assessment guidance.

Here are the opening paragraphs of an example essay written in answer to the question: Who is more ambitious – Macbeth or Lady Macbeth?.

Read carefully and note how the writer of the piece:

• Demonstrates their knowledge of the overall play
• Incorporates small amounts of relevant context
• Proposes an answer to the question – Lady Macbeth – which they then consistently support throughout the essay with relevant points and evidence

Be aware that there is no ‘correct’ answer to the question – the writer’s argument here is based on the evidence they have analysed, and would be judged on how well they seem to have argued their point and weighed up their conclusions.

Q: Who is more ambitious – Macbeth or Lady Macbeth?

A: Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth revolves around the fatal flaw of the protagonist Macbeth: his ambition. It drives him to commit regicide and many other murders, plunging the country he leads into a dark and fearful state of suffering before he is finally killed and replaced by the rightful heir to the throne, Malcolm. But Macbeth does not act alone; he is supported, advised and even manipulated into acting on his ambition by his wife, the formidable Lady Macbeth. There is no doubt that ambition is a trait shared by both characters, but examination of the motives and conduct of each support the idea that Lady Macbeth is, in fact, the more ambitious of the two. She is the catalyst for Macbeth’s actions; without her driving him on, it is doubtful whether he would have acted on his ambition to be king.

We hear about Macbeth before we see him on stage. He is described by his fellow noblemen as “brave” and by the King himself as “worthy” and “valiant” because of his great strength and bravery in battle as he fought to defend the King’s interests. In Act 1, Scene 5 Lady Macbeth herself says of her husband “Thou wouldst be great, / Art not without ambition, but without / The illness should attend it.” – she understands that Macbeth would dearly love to be the King but lacks the necessary grit and willingness to ‘get his hands dirty’. Macbeth prizes his honour and enjoys being the subject of “golden opinions from all sorts of people”; Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, sees her husband’s noble side as a weakness. She uses the metaphor “too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness” to liken his humane and honourable traits to the mildest of liquids – bland, weak, a food for infants. This shows her contempt for kindness and compassion and suggests that, unlike Macbeth, she values ambition and power above all other traits without question.

In both Shakespeare’s time and the 12th century Scottish setting of Macbeth, traditional gender roles were strongly in place meaning women’s primary purposes in life were supposedly to marry, provide children, tend the house and submit to their husband’s will, but Lady Macbeth conforms to none of these standards. Macbeth calls her his “dearest partner of greatness”, suggesting they are more like equals in the marriage; she is also childless and has provided him with no heirs as a noblewoman was supposed to. Her scornful reference to the “milk of human kindness” links to her soliloquy in Act 1, Scene 5 when she calls upon evil spirits to make her cold and cruel enough to carry out the murder and achieve her ambitions; she bids the spirits to “Come to my woman’s breasts / And take my milk for gall”. She is demonstrating that she has no purpose for milk that would nourish children and make her into a nurturing maternal figure; she even uses the horrifying imagery later in the play to say she would willingly have plucked a nursing baby from her breast and “dashed the brains out”. Her use of milk as a symbol of her scorn for maternal tenderness is the flipside of her driving ambition. She wants spirits to “unsex” her and make her more like a man in order to satisfy the urge to achieve ambitions that a woman wasn’t supposed to feel. She refuses to be a conventional woman of the time and this added impediment to her gaining power seems to make her ambition even stronger than Macbeth’s.

This essay could then go on to:

• Analyse Lady Macbeth’s skill in manipulation and persuasion to convince Macbeth to go after his ambition, looking closely at her speech in Act 1, Scene 7.
• Contrast Macbeth’s reticence to murder Duncan with Lady Macbeth’s insistence.
• Examine Lady Macbeth’s evident lack of awareness about how badly guilt would affect her, and use this as a sign that she was so consumed by ambition she would not consider any downsides, suggesting she is the more ambitious character.
• Look at a possible counterargument – for example, that Macbeth is the more ambitious as he is the one who actually commits the murder, which takes strength and determination – and think of ways to argue against it, such as considering how used to violence and killing Macbeth actually is and how another brutal act shouldn’t be too hard for him.