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
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
