Act 5 Flashcards
Enter Lady Macbeth with a taper
“Taper” = candle, flickering and weak
Reflects vulnerable nature, metaphor for insecurity and weakness
Irony that she needs a light, previously called on think night, dunnest smoke of hell, now needs light constantly
Rise from her bed…while in a most fast sleep
Sleepwalking, not getting the nourishment of sleep from guilty conscience
In sleep can’t hide behind appearance, in public she is deceitful but in sleep she reveals her true self
Appearance vs reality, when she faints after the murder
Out, damned spot
“Spot” = imagining spots of blood on her hands, metaphorically showing guilt, has blood on her hands
Experience has scarred her and stained her mind, can’t forget it, having flashbacks
“Out” = imperative verb, determined to rid herself of the guilt
Experiences pain and emotional turmoil, complete transformation from practical character previously
The smell of blood still, all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten
“Perfume” is a feminine word, called on spirits to deny her femininity, ironic she now uses feminine words
Blood is metaphorically always there, “will all great Neptune’s oceans wash this blood clean from my hands”
What’s done cannot be undone
Reflects a complete transformation of Lady Macbeth’s mindset
Implies regret, guilt as if she needs to live with the effects of her actions forever
Directly juxtaposes quote, “what’s done is done” which is more dismissive, suggests they can just move on snd forget without feeling the effects
Lady Macbeth and mental illness
Indication she has been veering towards mental illness from the start:
- Indication of loss of child and violent language surrounding it, “dashed its brains out”
- After becoming queen wasn’t content, disillusioned, tells Macbeth to not think twice or it will “make us mad”
- Banquet and Banquo’s ghost, exhausted by it all
Like a giant’s robe upon a dwarfish thief
Clothing metaphor reflects how Macbeth doesn’t deserve to be king
Role doesn’t fit him as he hasn’t earned it, the robe was made for Duncan
“Giant” = Duncan’s giant heart and loving nature, kind and compassionate and could fuflil role as giver of the kingdom
“Dwarfish thief” = Macbeth, stolen the crown, “dwarfish” = gremlin-like creature, cruel nature, immorality and can’t provide for people
I cannot taint with fear
Macbeth feels he is invincible and fully trusts the witches prophecies with no doubt
All of his opposition are woman-born (or so he thinks) and none can harm him
Reflects gullible nature
That which should accompany old age…honour, love, obedience…I must not have
He questions the purpose of life
Is it better to be happy without power and have honour, love, friends or to have power as he has sought all along but to be unhappy with people who curse him, hate him, only tell him what he wants to hear
Audience feels sorrow for Macbeth despite all he has done as in the end he is a human and experiences normal desires for power and control, it is his vaulting ambition which has caused these terrible acts and deep down he is not a malicious person
The heart I bear shall never sag with doubt nor shake with fear
Macbeth’s hamartia driving the play is his hubris, this quote reveals his excessive confidence
The negative and absolute adverb, “never” reflects his certainty and confidence in his bravery
“Doubt” and “fear” juxtapose Macbeth’s character towards the end as he becomes reckless
It contrasts the doubt he had at the start when deciding to kill Duncan and the paranoia afterwards, now his hubris has escalated and taken over him
Alliteration of “sag” and “shake” adds soft sibilant sound, contrasting everything Macbeth doesn’t want to be
I have almost forgot the taste of fears
Reflects numbness and emptiness affecting his ability to feel, contrasts with beginning when he was full of and led by emotion
“Almost” = he has the capacity to feel
“Taste of fears” = what it is like to be scared, links to previous inability to say “amen”, lack of emotion causes a profound reaction
She should have died hereafter
Lady Macbeth’s death is not seen on stave = insult and disrespect by Shakespeare
Ignominious (humiliating) ending, punishment because she pushed/broke the boundaries and status quo
Shakespeare relied on patronage to produce plays and therefore needed to please these people in patriarchal society
“She” = pronoun has sense of depersonalization, he doesn’t seem to care about his wife, greed and power have overtaken him and almost dehumanised him
“Should” = modal verb, Macbeth is very calm and unemotional because she would have died at a later point anyway
Life’s but a walking shadow…a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury, signifying nothing
“Tale” = life is like a play, you play your part and then die
“Walking shadow” = metaphor, emptiness suggesting human life is meaningless and eventually disappears
“Sound” and “fury” = reflect violence, pride and ambitions that drive human actions and are what drove Macbeth, metaphor for emotion
“Signifying nothing” = presents life and human strife as futile and insignificant as humans, legacies and acomplishments are transient and fleeting.
Macbeth may be reflecting on the futility of his own ambition and power
Nihilism - context
By the end Macbeth presents traits of nihilism and is nihilistic
- Nothing matters or lasts
- ‘Life is a bleak comedy’, “tale told by an idiot”
- Reflects on what it means to be human, question meaning of life
- Shocks religious audience, Macbeth’s views are atheistic, they believe life is sacred as it was given by God
- Macbeth has fallen into existentialist despair, his vaulting ambition has led to bitterness, solitude, hard-heartedness and numbness
My soul is too much charged with the blood of thine already
Macbeth feels guilty because he has terribly wronged Macduff by killing his family
He has avoided him due to the witches’ prophecies, “Beware Macduff”
Proves that not all feeling has been lost
Moment is poignant, we see Macbeth’s conscience resurface from Acts 1-2
