Deceit Flashcards
TS1
TS1: From the beginning of the play, the witches deceive Macbeth.
TS2
TS2: Macbeth hides his ambition to become king after hearing the witches’ prophecies but LMB encourages him to be a deceitful murderer.
TS3
TS3: At the end of the play, Macbeth realises that he has been deceived by the witches and they have led him to damn his soul.
‘Fair is foul, and foul is fair’. (Witches)
L = paradox. That which is good can be evil and vice-versa. The prediction that MB will become king seems to be good but leads him to commit evil.
‘Stars hide your fires. Let not light see my black and deep desires.’ (Macbeth)
L= rhyming couplet. Light symbolizes heaven. Adjectives ‘black’ represents evil; ‘deep’ how deep his ambition is BUT knows killing King is morally wrong. C= DRK. Killing a king = act against God.
‘Look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under it.’ (Lady Macbeth)
L = metaphors. Serpent represents sin and evil. D = LMB like Eve in Genesis tempting MB to commit sin. C = James I had a medal struck bearing a flower and snake to commemorate discovery of Gunpowder plot. R = Jacobean audience would recognise this. Shows murderers like MB will be discovered & punished.
‘There’s daggers in men’s smiles’. (Donalbain)
L = metaphor. Malcolm and Donalbain realise another Thane murdered their father. They cannot trust anyone and must flee to safety.
‘I have a strange infirmity’ (Macbeth)
LMB and MB lie and claim MB seeing a ghost is because he suffers from fits and has done since childhood. They are trying to conceal the murder of Banquo.
R = audience despise MB for lying and for murdering an innocent friend.
‘Juggling fiends’ (Macbeth)
L = adj – knows the witches have tricked him and he can be defeated; noun – shows he knows they are evil and have led him to commit evil. C = warns of dangers of witchcraft; James I wrote ‘Daemonologie’ on the subject.
