* AccidentalInnuendo:
** From Macduff in Act IV, Scene 1: "Thy royal father/Was a most sainted king. The queen that bore thee,/Oftener upon her knees than on her feet,/Died every day she lived."
* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: As usual with Shakespeare, there are an absurd number of ways everyone can be portrayed, and which comes across most strongly depends in large part upon the production or the reader.
** Macduff appears to be the valiant hero of the play, and yet he leaves the country to find Malcolm when he must know that by doing so he not only leaves his family more vulnerable, but gives Macbeth the suspicion of himself that causes him to murder them in the first place.
** The Complete Pelican Shakespeare includes a fascinating essay before each play, and the one for Macbeth paints a convincing portrait of a noted alternate interpretation of Duncan, which is that he plays the saint but is in actuality a cunning bastard who killed and cheated his way to the top and is merely feigning a belief in the divinity of his family's kingship. The essay specifically compares him to Edmond from ''Theatre/KingLear'' in a scenario where Edmond survived to an older age.
** Creator/RomanPolanski's film interpretation has a rather cynical interpretation of the characters Ross and Donalbain. Ross is given AdaptationalVillainy so that he helps participate in the murder of Banquo and Macduff's family (as well as [[DeathByAdaptation killing the first set of murderers]] for failing to get Fleance too) - but then switches sides so that he fights for Macduff's side. Is he just a hired sword doing what he's told? Is he just siding with the more likely winner? Did he not anticipate the horror of what would happen to Lady Macduff and her children, and joined Macduff to make amends? Donalbain meanwhile visits the witches' hovel at the end - implying he'll either go down the same path that Macbeth did, or else he'll punish the witches for setting forth the events in the first place. The historical basis for Donalbain seized the throne after his brother's death ahead of their children.
** How about just throwing out the play's depiction of the witches as crones and interpreting them as standard [[TheHecateSisters Hecate Sisters]]? After all, their name is mentioned several times in the dialogue.
** Was Duncan a good king or was he just a tyrant and everyone else who were loyal to him just loyalists?
** According to WebVideo/SassyGayFriend, Lady Macbeth doesn't particularly want to be ''queen''... she's just sick of being a {{Housewife}}.
--->'''Sassy Gay Friend:''' Lady, you need a hobby or [[YouNeedToGetLaid an orgasm]], ''stat''.\\
'''Lady Macbeth:''' ''(breaking down in tears)'' I really... I really just need a ''job''!
** Some critics view Lady Macbeth as a case of LoveMakesYouEvil, whose motive is purely that she thinks her husband deserves the crown. After all, she never does express any personal desire to be queen, only for Macbeth to be king.
** The Witches - are they orchestrating all the events to bring discord and chaos to the kingdom (as Creator/OrsonWelles's film suggests)? Or are they slaves to their own prophecies who ''have'' to give Macbeth this information because this is how it's supposed to happen?
*** Why do the [[GirlsWithMoustaches witches have beards]]? Is it a mutagenic side effect of their connection to the supernatural? The ''source'' of said connection? Is it just Shakespeare yet again [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall poking fun at the fact that all characters were played by men in his day]]?
** The 2015 film suggests that Macbeth is suffering from PTSD due to the horrors of war he had experienced, while Lady Macbeth is also grieving for their dead child.
** Malcolm's speech to Macduff has been read as a SarcasticConfession by some.
* AlternateShowInterpretation:
** One BBC television adaptation, which also happened to include Patrick Stewart in the title role in a setting based on Communist Russia during the time of Joseph Stalin.
** The 2013 Broadway production starring Alan Cumming. Set in a psychiatric ward, Cumming plays a deeply disturbed man who impersonates almost every character in the show, occasionally leaving clues as to who the patient is, why he is recounting this story, and what has led him to become so tortured. There are only two other actors, who portray doctors commenting on his madness.
* AluminumChristmasTrees: There actually was a historical King Macbeth in Scotland, but he killed King Duncan in honorable combat (At the time the inheritance of the throne was decided by claimants debating who was most fit rather than a hereditary system, and these debates rarely ended civilly) and ruled Scotland peacefully, generously, and successfully for 17 years before [[YouKilledMyFather getting killed himself by Duncan's Son]].
* {{Applicability}}: Macbeth's "tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" soliloquy is given when he is past the DespairEventHorizon and has become a nihilist. Nowadays, in an era when any schmuck can post their work to the Internet no matter how bad, it's common to quote the final line[[note]]"It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."[[/note]] to make fun of bad writing.
* BaseBreakingCharacter: Hecate based on the belief that Shakespeare didn't include her. Some find her scene unnecessary and choose to cut it, feeling the rhymes are forced and awkward. Others think she's a OneSceneWonder and enjoy the incantations.
* BrokenBase: The choice made by some productions, and [[Film/Macbeth2015 the 2015 film]], to portray Macbeth and his Lady has having [[OutlivingOnesOffspring lost a child]] and implying that their grief partly motivates their turn to villainy. To some people, it's an emotionally powerful choice, and all the more appalling and tragic when they later inflict the same loss on Macduff. To others, it's completely unnecessary [[note]] Lady Macbeth's talk of having nursed a child despite having none by Macbeth has a simple historical explanation – Macbeth was her second husband and she had a son by her first. [[/note]], and arguably sexist to use the loss of a child to explain Lady Macbeth's "unwomanly" villainy and ultimate madness.
* BestKnownForTheFanservice: Roman Polanski's film is remembered for the ScrubbingOffTheTrauma scene happening while Lady Macbeth is sleepwalking naked.
* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The Porter scene, to the point where many versions cut it.
* CommonKnowledge:
** The idea that the play is cursed (that was made up as a joke by a 19th century critic) and that the Witches' song begins "Hubble, bubble toil and trouble" (it's "Double, double, toil and trouble")
*** Relating to the supposed curse, the idea that invoking the word/name "Macbeth" at all is bad luck. The actual superstition refers to the act of naming the play (i.e. the bad luck only comes when you're specifically saying "Macbeth" to mean the ''title of the play'' rather than just [[IamnotShazam referring to the character]]) out loud and only when actually inside a theatre.
** Due to a general lack of knowledge about how the name is supposed to be spelled, many spell "Macbeth" as "[=MacBeth=]", treating it like a surname rather than a given name.
* CryForTheDevil:
** Macbeth. He truly didn't want to kill his king, and many believe if the witches hadn't told him his prophecy he would've stayed a loyal soldier. He ultimately becomes a ruthless tyrant, but it's still easy to feel for the man who was essentially manipulated into becoming this villain. Adding to this his guilt never goes away, which makes his already unstable mental condition become even worse, which in turn causes him to commit even more atrocities.
** Lady Macbeth was all too happy to convince her husband to commit a fatal betrayal, but actions start to weigh on her heavily, and she's reduced to a pathetically mad queen desperately lamenting the blood on her hands. She becomes even more pitiable in versions which show or heavily imply her death was a suicide.
* EnsembleDarkhorse:
** Lady Macbeth. While by no means a minor character, she just kind of disappeared after convincing Macbeth to go through with the murder and only pops in and out throughout the play to show how much guilt has destroyed her. And yet, she is THE most famous female character created by Shakespeare, on par with [[Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet Juliet]], and the most sought out roles for actresses who want to break into acting, with hundreds of articles analyzing her unusually pro-active role. Not to mention her famous line (see Memetic Mutation below). Really, it's more easy to find promo materials featured her than her own husband. ''She's that popular''. No wonder later productions tend to give her a few more scenes than the original. Hell, the famous painting of Ellen Terry in the role is ''the image for the play's Tropes page.''
** Despite only appearing in about four scenes, the Witches are some of the most remembered characters. Orson Welles's version even expanded their roles to make it look like they were {{The Chessmaster}}s. Their lines are usually the most quoted.
* EvilIsCool:
** Probably the reason why Lady Macbeth is such a EnsembleDarkhorse.
** Her husband is no slouch either. The first we hear of him is someone speaking in awe about his [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe brutal crushing]] of some rebels.
* EvilerThanThou: Lady Macbeth is a tough talker who chides her husband into committing regicide by questioning his manhood and even resorts to an Infanticide metaphor to get her point across ("I have given suck, and know/How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me/I would, while it was smiling in my face/Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums/And dash'd the the brains out, had I so sworn as you"). But, as the play progresses, it becomes clear that she's out of her league, as her husband embarks on a killing spree almost immediately after assuming the throne and doesn't even ask for her input about it. This eventually goads her into complete madness over the monster she's created.
** While some adaptations of the play depict Lady Macbeth's fainting after Macbeth reveals that he has killed the guards following the discovery of Duncan's dead body as a calculated ploy to take attention away from her husband, there are just as many that portray her fainting as due to genuine and mortified shock over his actions, such as in the 1971 Roman Polanski version.
* FanonDiscontinuity: In a mild example, many productions choose to omit the character of Hecate completely, partly because of the theory that her scene was actually written by Thomas Middleton.
* FauxSymbolism: Macbeth's personal servant in Act 5 is called Seyton. Guess how it's pronounced. If you guessed like the way one of the Devil's names is then you are wrong. It is actually pronounced See-tin, in contrast to Say-tin, but many are likely to pronounce the name incorrectly.
* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments: In about the middle of [[https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Macbeth_(1918)_Yale/Text/Act_II Act II,]] the Porter hears a knock at the door. Before answering it--which is his job--he imagines, at some length, what it must be like for the porter of Hell, and "welcomes" a series of sinners through its gates. This scene comes [[MoodWhiplash directly after]] Macbeth kills Duncan and Lady Macbeth frames his guards for the murder.
* GeniusBonus: In many mythologies being born by caesarean section was believed to make the baby 'superhuman', and particularly in Scandinavian folklore it granted one powers that could be used to fight evil and lay it to rest. While it's uncertain if this was believed in England at this point, Macduff declaring it could be a sign to the contemporary audience not just that he's thwarted the witches' prophecy but that he's the true hero, come to defeat the villain.
* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: The 1948 film was met with apathy in Britain and America, but it was a huge hit elsewhere. In France especially it was regarded as a masterpiece.
* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments: Ross's words of comfort to Seward following the death of his son: "Your cause of sorrow must not be measured by his worth, for then it hath no end."
* MagnificentBastard: TheWeirdSisters, a trio of witches, use their [[{{Seers}} prophetic visions]] to manipulate the events of the work. Informing Macbeth of his destiny to succeed the throne of Scotland, the witches [[AgentProvocateur inspire him]] to murder King Duncan and his own friend Banquo, [[ProtagonistJourneyToVillain becoming a tyrant]]. Lulling Macbeth into a false sense of security, via [[NoManOfWomanBorn prophecies]] that rely on ExactWords, the witches inspire the war between Macbeth and Prince Malcolm for the throne, ending victorious with their prophecies fulfilled as Malcolm takes the throne.
* MemeticMutation:
** The entire "Double double, toil and trouble" chant.
** "Out, Damned Spot! Out, I say!"
** "What, you egg! [He stabs him.]" somehow received a surge in online popularity at the end of 2019, likely by being another of those silly one-liners that randomly became viral.
* MoralEventHorizon:
** Lady Macbeth crosses by manipulating Macbeth into murdering Duncan in his sleep, thus causing Macbeth's StartOfDarkness and, indirectly, all the murders to come.
** If Macbeth hadn't already crossed with the murder of Banquo, he fair waltzes over it by ordering the deaths of [=MacDuff's=] family.
* {{Narm}}: Rather infamously, the death of Macduff's son loses some of its dramatic impact due to the murderer's [[LameComeback bizarre insult “What, you egg!”]], as well as the son’s blunt declaration after being stabbed: “[[CaptainObvious He has killed me, mother]].”
* NarmCharm: It's sometimes hard to take a dark, violent play about ambition, treason and murder with a HeroAntagonist called "Macduff" seriously. However, between the characterization, the emotion, and Shakespeare's signature dialogue, it works.
* OneSceneWonder:
** [[NoNameGiven The Sergeant]] only appears in one scene in the entire play, but his speech to Duncan--where he recounts Macbeth and Banquo's victory on the battlefield--is considered one of the play's most memorable monologues.
** The Porter, appearing out of nowhere with a [[MoodWhiplash horrifyingly timed]] comic disquisition on drunkenness, is another.
* PanderingToTheBase: The most likely reason for the inclusion of the witches- or the writing of the play, for that matter- is because the theatre company Shakespeare worked at the time was funded by King James I, who was notoriously fascinated by witchcraft. James was also descended from Duncan which explains Duncan's HistoricalHeroUpgrade versus Macbeth's [[HistoricalVillainUpgrade villainous upgrade]].
* {{Squick}}: Lady Macbeth's remark about smashing an infant's skull after ripping it from her breast.
* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Middleton's additions to the play, finding one too many painful rhymes in the script.
* ValuesDissonance:
** The "liver of blaspheming Jew" line in the witches' recipe is often left out.
** The 1971 film features MaleFrontalNudity from Macduff's son - whose actor was only eleven at the time. This was controversial at the time too, but would be seen as completely unacceptable nowadays.
* ValuesResonance:
** What with all the talk in Act V of death on the battlefield being highly prized, it's a welcome when earlier, upon hearing his wife and children were all murdered "at one fell swoop," Macduff insists that he "feel it as a man," that is, try and process his grief and sorrow instead of thinking only of revenge.
* VindicatedByHistory:
** Orson Welles's film was trashed by critics for removing some lines, swapping some scenes around and adding other stuff - which are considered par the course for adaptation these days. American audiences scoffed at the cast actually speaking with Scottish accents, and they had to record a second audio track with American ones. These days the film is considered one of Orson Welles's best, and it has a score of 88% on Rotten Tomatoes.
** Roman Polanski's 1971 film was dismissed at the time as well, being seen as a lot of senseless violence that evoked the Manson Family murders and cheap nudity for the sake of {{Fanservice}}. Francesca Annis too was seen as a horrendous miscasting as Lady Macbeth, being thought too young and "a better fit for ''Series/MelrosePlace''". Over time the film has been seen in a better light, and Francesca Annis's performance too is seen as a refreshing take on Lady Macbeth's more ObviouslyEvil image - opting for a BitchInSheepsClothing, LightIsNotGood take.
* TheWoobie: First Duncan, then Macduff.
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