What is the most important theme of Macbeth?

Justice will be served to those who deserve it. Or so people in Elizabethan

England believed. Shakespeare incorporated many of societies beliefs and
values into his plays, and in Macbeth he incorporated the concept of
justice. Not only did he give the characters a sense of justice, but the
consequences of being unjust were also explored. This makes justice the
most important theme in the play. Not only is it relevant to Elizabethan
England, but the whole plot is basically a mans downfall, measured by his
care for upholding justice.
Firstly, Justice is a main concern for Macbeth, and is vital to his character
arc. Throughout the play, Macbeth deals with an inner conflict between
ambition and justice, and his perspective changes as the plot progresses.
In the beginning of the play, Macbeth holds the values of justice very
highly. And so even though the witchs prophecy intrigues his ambition, he
will not disregard equity to achieve his desires. In act 1 scene 5 after
reading Macbeths letter, lady Macbeth states: Thou wouldst not play
false, and yet wouldst wrongly win She uses a Juxtaposition to present
Macbeths inner conflict, and suggest that justice is holding him back from
achieving his ambitions. The line also introduces lady Macbeths
perception of justice, and how at the start of the play she values her
ambition more than justice. She believes that to wrongly win one would
have to first play false. At the beginning of the play Macbeth and his
wife have almost polar views on justice and wether they should fear it.
Throughout the play, Macbeth never forgets what is just and what is not.
However,
his perception of wether he should uphold justice changes. And so
throughout the play the symbol of blood is used to represent the injustices
of characters. The amount of bloodshed and mentions of it increase
throughout the play, representing the increasing amount of injustices delt
by Macbeth. During Macbeths soliloquy before killing Duncan, he speaks
about a dagger he is imagining. I see thee still, and on thy blade and
dudgeon gouts of blood, which was not so before. The metaphor of gouts
of blood (blobs) is used to explain that what Macbeth is about to do is not
a just thing to do. And by including an afterthought at the end of the line,
it implies that Macbeth has never been as unjust before. The image of the
knife is in fact a metaphor for Macbeth, as he reflects on his actions. The
gouts of blood are taints on his reputation and sense of justice.
Also, the choice of using thick words such as gout to describe the blood
suggests that Macbeth is becoming impure and unjust. In Elizabethan
England, it was thought that thick blood was a sign of no remorse and
poisoning. Macbeth has been poisoned by his own ambition to a point
where he no longer regards justice. Another character that uses blood to
describe her injustices is Lady Macbeth. In Act 1 scene 5 line 43 she
states: make thick my blood; stop the access and passage to remorse.
By having a similar statement to what the metaphor is implying, it

enforces the metaphors meaning. In this case, lady Macbeth is asking to

let go of her sense of justice, so there is nothing to stop her blind
ambition.
At the end of the play, despite still know what is just and what isnt,
Macbeth does not care weather justice will be served. This is because he
knows that it is inevitable. But this actually means that justice becomes
even more important. The play cannot end until justice has been served.
And so Shakespeare has used the denouement to cast aside themes such
as ambition, and prove that justice is always served. In the final
paragraph, Malcom states: Producing forth the cruel ministers of this
dead butcher and his fiendlike queen. The choice of words such as
cruel and butcher creates the image that Macbeth was a bad person
and needed to be stopped. Also, the metaphor dead butcher serves as a
confirmation that justice has been served, as by killing the butcher you
are preventing anyone else being killed. In the denouement, justice is the
only theme remaining, making it the most important.
To conclude, Justice is the most important theme in Macbeth. Through
figurative language, symbolism and imagery, justice serves as a measure
of Macbeths downfall. At the start of the play Macbeth is cautious in
upholding justice, but by the end he gives up due to its inevitability.
Justice was also relevant to societies values in Elizabethan England, and
so it was amplified in Macbeth. Justice will be served to those who deserve
it, and Macbeth was no different.