Guilt Flashcards
‘Wake Duncan with thy knocking I would thou coulds’t’
L: structurally it is significant that the murder scene ends with MB’s words of regret - shows that MB feels deep guilt and remorse for killing a morally good innocent king. The tragedy is that he cannot resurrect him or undo his actions.
C: He’s committed an act against a God-appointed king
‘They rise again… and push us from our stools’
L: stools symbolise the throne - MB ordered B’s murder to protect his throne but B still threatens it from beyond the grave. B’s ghost is a projection of MB’s guilty conscience that increased his paranoia.
‘Gove to the edge of the sword his wife, his babes…’
L: Emotive language of ‘babes’ shows that MB no longer feels guilt at ordering murders; he is no killing even innocent infants
R: audience despises MB as infants cannot defends themselves; he is no longer seen as noble
‘Will these hands ne’er be clean?’
L: rhetorical questions is an ironic contrast to LMB’s claim ‘a little water clears us of this deed’ after D’s murder
C: sleepwalking believed in Jacobean era to be a sigh of possession by evil spirits; modern audience know it is her guilty conscience playing on her mind
‘I am in blood stepped so far, returning were as so tedious as to go o’er’
L: the imagery of the river of blood emphasises that MB feels it is pointless to feel guilt; he has been responsible for so many murders - they cannot undone so it is pointless to feel guilty, he may as well continue to murder anyone who threatens him
R: audience feel pity for him as he cannot redeem himself
‘Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood from my hand’
L: hyperbolic imagery emphasises the magnitude of his crime; even the good of the sea cannot wash the blood away
D: blood can be washed from his hands but it will continue to stain his conscience for eternity
