‘Macbeth’, a tragedy in five acts by William Shakespeare, is considered to be written sometime in 1606–1607. The play is the shortest of Shakespeare’s tragedies, without diversions or subplots. It chronicles Macbeth’s seizing of power and subsequent destruction, both his rise and his fall the result of blind ambition.
As a tragedy, ‘Macbeth’ is a dramatization of the psychological repercussions of unbridled ambition. The play’s main themes—loyalty, guilt, innocence, and fate—all deal with the central idea of ambition and its consequences. Similarly, Shakespeare uses imagery and symbolism to illustrate the concepts of innocence and guilt.
