Act 1 Flashcards
‘smok’d with bloody execution’
smok’d - verb, macbeths sword is steaming with hot, freshly collected blood, shows the eagerness and how graphic his fighting is
bloody - adjective, literal
execution - noun, killing of someone on behalf of a man of higher standing (king), highlights his bravery at the start
VIOLENCE, HORROR, MACBETH, MASCULINITY? LOYALTY?
‘till he unseam’d him from the naves to the chaps”
unseam’d - clothing imagery, used as a motif/symbol during play to describe station, Macbeth disregarded this station and murdered him disrespectfully. foreshadowing that Macbeth does not care about people of higher standing
naves to the chaps - violent and graphic, slow painful death and done with intent to kill
VIOLENCE, HORROR, MACBETH, MASCULINITY?
‘stay you imperfect speakers tell me more’
stay, tell - imperative verbs, Macbeth is forceful and commanding, foreshadowing his dictatorship over scotland in the future
imperfect - adjective, witches are not to be trusted and are flawed, antithesis of god and are fundamentally evil
more - macbeths ambition is driving him to want more and more, he wants answers and is not satisfied with what he has, more knowledge, like adam and eve and fruit, this knowledge turns him away from god and he becomes controlled by his ambition
SUPERNATURAL, MACBETH, PROPHECIES? FATE?
‘whose horrid image doth unfix my hair and make my seated heart knock at my ribs’
thought of murder invokes guilt, creates an unnatural physical reaction
horrid - adjective, conveys the shock and and the distress caused by the act of murder
unfix my hair - hair is dishevelled, disarray, vivid verb and negative prefix, UNfix, implying a sort of undoing, Macbeth will eventually be undone. subconsciously knows that murder will cause chaos and negatively interact with the natural order
seated heart - his heart at normal pace
knock - verb, powerful and unsteady, unsettled him enough to cause a constant, physical sense of guilt, it dislodges
knock against my ribs - creates a sense that his heart is trying to escape from these guilty thoughts, or could be the adrenaline from the thought of killing creating anticipation
GUILT, HORROR, KINGSHIP, MACBETH, AMBITION
‘stars hide your fires, let not light see my black and deep desires’
stars - noun, a symbol for heaven, he is hiding from God and does not want him to know what he wants to do to Duncan. stars are also a symbol of hope and good, Macbeth is turning away from this, could also be a symbol of destiny and Macbeth knows it isnt his destiny to be king in this way.
hide - verb, macbeth is being corrupted, used to be a brave noble warrior and now lurks in shadows
black - adjective, acknowledges the darkness of his thoughts and evil they are
deep - adjective, shows how deeply embedded and innate his thoughts are
he is going against God and the natural fate he has, he wants to interrupt the great chain of being to become King
rhyming couplets at the end shows he is slowly being influenced by the supernatural witches
GUILT, AMBITION, MACBETH, KINGSHIP? FATE?
‘look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under’t’
look - false, appearance l, Macbeth is to appear to be innocent
like - simile
innocent flower - adjective and noun, emphasises how innocent and pure macbeth must appear
be - command, imperative, LM has the power over Macbeth, directing him, metaphor, shows the reality of the situation
serpent - noun, biblical reference to the snake devil thats persuaded adam and eve to turn away from God, foreshadowing sacrilegious act
APPEARANCE VS REALITY, LM AND M’S RELATIONSHIP, MACBETH, AMBITION
‘vaulting ambition that o’erleaps itself’
vaulting - adjective, describes how he is reaching and jumping the steps of natural order and the chain of natural being
ambition is his main driving force
o’erleaps itself - verb, shows it is more than he can handle, when a horse o’erleaps itself, it will be in pain and suffer despite making an accomplishment similar to Macbeths reign and story
AMBITION, MACBETH, GUILT/MORALITY?
‘He was a gentleman on whom I built absolute trust’
Dramatic Irony, Macbeth as thane of Cawdor also betrays Duncan
gentleman - noun, born of nobility and so Duncan trusted him, led to treason despite being of a higher class, shows Duncans naivety
built - verb, duncan has created and forged a relationship with the traitor, he has put effort into making an honest and loyal subject who betrayed him
absolute - adjective, completely and wholeheartedly and honestly, pure intentions
DUNCAN, LOYALTY, APPEARANCE VS REALITY?
