Ambition Flashcards
‘Vaulting ambition which o’erleaps…th’other’
Macbeth-A1S7
he is even admitting his own downfall (hamartia), ambition-only reason why wants to kill Duncan
shows how it is mistake as may fall
‘o’erleaps’, horse-riding metaphor (mentioned in A1S4 so link)
‘We have scorched the snake, not kill’d it’
Macbeth-A3S2
Scorched=scored Snake=Duncan
Made situation worse, not as happy as thought would be
‘too full o’th’milk of human kindness’
Lady Macbeth-A1S5
commenting on Macbeth
‘milk’,nurturing/caring, white (purity/innocence)
‘milk’, metaphorical, associated with women
‘The Prince of Cumberland:that is a step…it lies’
Macbeth-A1S4
Malcolm in Macbeth’s way–negative thoughts
Taking fate into own hands (humanist approach-irreligious) ‘step’
‘Let not light see my black and deep desires’
Macbeth-A1S4
Macbeth wants darkness to conceal his ambitious desires (his hamartia)
Darkness and night-time can hide one’s crimes
No more purity (as does not want ‘light’ to see)
‘illness that should attend it’
Lady Macbeth-A1S5
commenting on Macbeth
Admitting that he does have ambition but does not have the ruthlessness to achieve it
‘illness’-refers to evil
‘O never/Shall sun that morrow see’
Lady Macbeth-A1S5
saying that Duncan is never leaving their castle—determination
‘sun’ linked to witches—can control nature
‘Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be/What thou art promis’d’
(Lady Macbeth-A1S5)
commenting on Macbeth
immediately makes decision that her husband will be King of Scotland no matter what it takes
shows how much cares as she would not get anything from him being King (as Qu een would still not hold any power)
‘unsex me here’
Lady Macbeth-A1S5
calling supernatural to take away feminine qualities eg. kindness and nurture
she wants more masculine qualities
‘To be thus…safely thus’
Macbeth-A3S1
no point being King, unless you can keep it in the family (Macbeth has no heirs)
Macbeth sees Banquo as a threat as Banquo has royal blood.
‘Art thou afeard/To be the same in thine own act and valour’
Lady Macbeth-A1S7
emasculating him
adjective ‘afeard’ illustrates that she is insulting him by saying that he is afraid in hope that she can covnince him to commit regicide (succeeds but later on at banquet she does not)
