guilt Flashcards
2.2 “had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done it”
-exposes her guilty conscience coming to the surface
-exposing her inner cowardice + ingrained fear of patricide
-manipulative: operates with a liminal gender taking advantage of alleged female weakness when it favours her yet brutally rejects it if it represses her
-anticipates intense guilt she experiences later (e.g. A5S1)
2.2 “Macbeth does murder sleep - the innocent sleep”
-MB is so perturbed by guilt that he is imprisoned within a state of restlessness
-motif of “sleep” with sleep being synonymous with innocence
-his lack so sleep explores his complete loss of innocence
3.2 “O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife”
-“scorpions” are poisonous - represents MB’s ambition has poisoned his mind
-he is consequently plagued by guilt + remorse
-“full” highlights he has been completely engulfed with guilt + mercy
-metaphor of creature festering in his mind shows his tyrannical nature has been so omnipotent, he resembles more a savage creature than a moral human
-jung’s concept of the shadow explains MB’s guilt, as his repressed desires and darker impulses emerge after his violent actions. his guilt stems from the conflict between his conscious self and these hidden aspects, which ultimately consume him
3.4 “The gory locks at me”
-“gory” is suggestive that BQ’s ghost is a physical manifestation of his violence
-structurally, the murderers enter banquet before MB, exacerbating how his kingship is unnatural as he’s disrupted the divine right of kings
-MB’s inability to stay composed shows how deeply guilt is tormenting him
4.2 “Where to do harm is laudable, to do good… dangerous folly”
-reflects moral corruption caused by MB’s guilt
-his crimes have inverted morality, making harm praiseworthy
-LMD’s unjust death highlights destructive consequences of his guilt on both individuals + society
5.1 “Out, damned spot! Out I say”
-“spot” is emblematic of scar the murder has created on her mind
-may be interpreted in another sense by shakespeare’s contemporaries
-madness often perceived as sign of being possessed by demons
-believed demons + witches had a “spot” on their bodies which identified them as evil
-reinforced by “damned” which has connotations of hell
