Act 1 Scene 7 Flashcards
overview of act I scene vii
macbeth leaves the state dinner, suddenly worried by what he is planning to do. but lady macbeth stirs up his spirits once again.
what does scene vii open with?
macbeth’s soliloquy - he is trying to decide whether to kill duncan and gives a list of reasons why he shouldn’t
finish the quote: ‘twere well..
..it were done quickly’
finish the quote: ‘trammel up..
…the consequence’
‘twere well it were done quickly’
‘trammel up the consequence’
- doesn’t want to have time to second guess himself
- considering it
- get caught up in the consequence of it
‘but, in these cases…
…we still have judgement here’
‘but, in these cases, we still have judgement here’
- ‘but’ - insecurity
- ‘judgement’ - risk peace after death
finish the quote: ‘return..
..to plague the inventor’
‘return to plague the inventor’
- he knows that murder can ‘return/ to plague the inventor’, so if he kills duncan, he is likely to end up being killed himself
finish the quote: ‘he’s here…
…in double trust’
finish the quote: ‘I am his..
..kinsman and his subject’
finish the quote: ‘then, as his…
…host, Who should against his murderer shut the door’
‘double trust’
‘kinsman and his subject’
‘then, as his host / Who should against his murderer shut the door’
- as duncan’s ‘kinsman’, ‘subject’ and ‘host’ he has a duty to protect him
finish the quote: ‘clear in his..
…great office’
finish the quote: ‘hath bourne..
..his faculties so meek’
finish the quote: ‘deep…
..damnation’
finish the quote: ‘his virtues will plead..
…like angels’
finish the quote: ‘trumpet..
….-tongu’d’
‘hath bourne his faculties so meek’
‘clear in his great office’
‘deep damnation’
‘his virtues will plead like angels’
‘trumpet-tongu’d’
- duncan is a good king
- killing him will lead to ‘deep damnation’
- innocent and honest
- duncan used his authority as king with such genuine humility
- heaven will plead against crime and macbeth won’t be accepted into heaven
finish the quote: ‘shall spread..
…the horrid deed in every eye’
finish the quote: ‘that tears..
..shall drown the wind’
‘shall spread the horrid deed in every eye’
‘that tears shall drown the wind’
- everybody shall cry so much - loved
macbeth’s second biggest soliloquy
- provides opportunity for him to reveal what he really feels
finish the quote: ‘we shall proceed no…
…further in this business’
‘we shall proceed no further in this business’
- iambic pentameter - decisive
- doesn’t take him long to make him retreat
finish the quote: ‘golden..
..opinions’
finish the quote: ‘not cast…
..aside so soon’
‘golden opinions’
‘not cast aside so soon’
- in his soliloquy, he contemplates over moral reasons
- however, to lady macbeth, he gives the excuse of his reputation
- doesn’t want to be ridiculed by his wife/emasculated
finish the quote: ‘was the hope…
…drunk wherein you dressed yourself?’
finish the quote: ‘such i account…
…thy love’
finish the quote: ‘and live a coward…
..in thine own esteem’
finish the quote: ‘like the poor..
…cat i’th’adage’
‘was the hope drunk wherein you dressed yourself?’
‘such i account thy love’
‘and live a coward in thine own esteem’
‘like the poor cat’i’th’adage’
- lady macbeth constantly questions
- looks down upon him and is condescending
- macbeth is like someone waking up with a hangover (‘green’ ‘pale’) who forgets what he had decided to do when drunk
- LM uses two v powerful unfair weapons here
- manipulative - brings ‘love’ into this and calls him a coward and emasculates him
- ‘like the poor cat’i’th’adage’ - the cat in the proverb who would like to catch fish but isn’t prepared to get her feet wet - the ridiculousness of the comparison between macbeth and the cat seems to affect him deeply - asks her to be quiet
finish the quote: ‘what beast was’t then….
…that made you break this enterprise to me’
‘what beast was’t then that made you break this enterprise to me?’
- victimises herself and their love - he “broke” the promise he made to her
finish the quote: ‘to be more than what you were…
..you would be so much more the man’
‘to be more than what you were you would be so much more the man’
- LM tells macbeth that he would be even more brave and manly if he made himself king
- LM implies that macbeth isn’t manly enough to her currently as thane
finish the quote: ‘I would…
..while it was smiling in my face’
finish the quote: ‘pluck’d my nipple from his…
…boneless gums’
finish the quote: ‘and dash’d…
…the brains out’
‘I would while it was smiling in my face, pluck’d my nipple from his boneless gums and dash’d the brains out’
- LM has seen the effects of her taunts on her husband and now comes out with the most outraging and shocking statement of all
- ‘smiling in my face’ - LM’s ability to feel no guilt is highlighted by the fact she believes she could kill her child even if it were ‘smiling’ in her face - willingness to destroy something so innocent
- ruthless nature accentuated by the speed at which she is willing to act - ‘pluck’d’ and ‘dash’d’ -> suggests swift, clinical movements
- ‘dash’d the brains out’ - foreshadows horrors acted upon children later in the play - again rejecting her traditional womanly role as a mother
- producing and caring for children was a main role for women - LM states she would cruelly reject, even destroy her child in the pursuit for power
finish the quote: ‘if we should…
…fail?’
‘if we should fail?’
- macbeth is feeble
finish the quote: ‘we…
…fail!’
finish the quote: ‘their drenched..
…natures’
‘drenched’
- ‘drench’ is animal medicine, so perhaps this hints at the way LM views these puppets in her dreadful game - as animals?
finish the quote: ‘and bend..
..up’
‘bend up’
- militaristic
- like a man preparing a crossbow for firing
finish the quote: ‘away, and mock the time with the fairest show..
..false face must hide what the false heart doth know’
‘away, and …..show / False face must hide what the false heart doth know’
- duplicity
- echo of the witches - he is consumed by the prophecy
- rhyme - shakespeare uses to highlight the plot moving on/getting more interesting
- although now settled, macbeth remains fully aware of the deceit and wickedness involved, whereas, at times, his wife seems to be able to delude herself that there is glory in the deed - ‘great quell’
- macbeth calls it a ‘deep damnation’ and a ‘terrible feat’
how is lady macbeth portrayed in this scene?
- as forceful
- she bullies and persuades macbeth to go through with the murder by questioning his masculinity
- she says that by killing duncan, macbeth will be ‘so much more the man’
- this has a double meaning, he will be more of a man, and he’ll also be king’
lady macbeth and her feminity
- she rejects her femininity by telling macbeth that she’d kill her own child
- she is trying to prove how remorseless and evil she is
how does act one end?
with anticipation - the murder has been planned but it hasn’t happened -> builds suspense for the audience
alchemy language/imagery
- lady macbeth uses language connected with alchemy (the process of turning cheap metal into gold
- ‘a limebeck’ and ‘receipt’ are the apparatus used and ‘fume’ refers to the gases produced
- alchemists never succeeded in turning cheap metal into gold - shakespeare is hinting that macbeth will never be a good king
