Macbeth Flashcards
Fair is foul and foul is fair - Three witches
Act 1, Scene 1
Theme: Supernatural, Appearance and reality
Antithesis.
Indicates the supernatural is going to be a recurring theme through the play
Shakespeare purposely wrote this line to stand out and linger in the minds of the audience.
Witches themselves are very deceptive and so is Macbeth
Macbeth also says “so foul and fair a day I have not seen” foreshadows his involvement with the witches.
Stars, hide your fires, Let not light see my black and deep desires - Macbeth
Act 1, Scene 4
Themes: Ambition and Guilt
Reveals depth of his ambition and aware that his thoughts are wrong.
Wants to hide his thoughts from God who is represented by the light because he is about to kill the divinely appointed king
Macbeth is conflicted and the plosive alliteration emphasises Macbeth the evil in him - he is changing to the dark side
Literary devices (alliteration and juxtaposition) emphasises the dilemma he has between the path of morality or uncontrolled ambition
Fires symbolic of hell
Yet do I fear thy nature. It is too full o’th’ milk of human kindness - Lady Macbeth
Act 1, Scene 5
Themes: Masculinity and Cruelty, Ambition and Guilt
Macbeth not a murderer by nature despite being a soldier implying that Macbeth may be a kind and empathetic person at heart however his hamartia which is hubris may be his downfall.
Subtle dig at his masculinity by associating his qualities with breast-feeding.
Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty. - Lady Macbeth
Act 1, Scene 5
Themes: Masculinity and Cruelty, Ambition, The Supernatural and Appearance vs Reality
Alliterative words give impression of an invocation or ritual
For her to achieve power she must be stripped of her feminine character traits and needs to embody traits associated with masculinity such as ruthlessness and cruelty
Behaviour is unnatural so has to call on the supernatural and foreshadows her inability to cope with the consequences of her unnatural deeds.
Femininity and Cruelty don’t go hand in hand
Is this a dagger which I see before me? - Macbeth
Act 2, Scene 1
Themes: Supernatural, Appearance vs reality, Guilt, Fate and free-will
On his way to kill King Duncan reveals hesitation and inner-conflict right up to the point of the murder.
The vision of a bloody dagger brings up the theme of fate and free will because it is not clear whether it is supernatural or a hallucination
Foreshadows the future hallucinations that will haunt him and his wife
Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done’t - Lady Macbeth
Act 2, Scene 2
Themes: Guilt, Masculinity and Cruelty, Appearance vs Reality
Exposes her softer, more human side and makes us wonder whether she would actually “bash her babies brains out”.
May be an excuse to hide her inability to kill
Trying to force her nature into an unnatural masculine form she suffers a complete mental breakdown at the end of the play which seems like a punishment for challenging gender roles and supports the old fashioned view that women are the weaker sex.
Sleep no more, Macbeth does murder sleep - Macbeth
Act 2, Scene 2
Themes: Guilt and Supernatural
He knows he has condemned his soul by committing regicide.
Allows audience to empahise towards Macbeth
Sleep used as a symbol of innocence and it is personified implying Macbeth has destroyed the innocence of his wife and himself.
Foreshadowing the insomnia they will experience for the rest of the play
Tis unnatural, even like the deed that is done - Nameless old man
Act 2, Scene 4
Theme: Supernatural
The murder of the divinely appointed king has upset the natural order of things and nature reacting violently as a result.
Rumours of earthquakes and the kings horses eating eachother
The old man has not seen anything like this in his whole life
Foreshadows the failure of Macbeth’s reign
Macbeth has committed a heignous sin.
Naught’s had, all’s spent, where our desires is got without content - Lady Macbeth
Act 3, Scene 2
Theme: Ambition, Guilt and Appearance vs Reality
She is suffering from remorse showing she and Macbeth cannot deal with the consequences of their actions
All their success is meaningless and hollow because they cannot enjoy it without constantly living in fear of the repercussions (The Hollow Crown)
Out, damned spot; out I say…
Here’s the smell of the blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. - Lady Macbeth
Act 5, Scene 1
Theme: Guilt, Supernatural, Masculinity and cruelty, Appearance vs Reality
Symbolises her mental decline
Symbols of blood and lack of sleep have been forefront throughout the play as representations of guilt
Hallucination of blood in direct contradiction to after Macbeth killed Duncan where she says “A little water clears us of this deed”
Out, out, brief candle.
Life’s but a walking shadow… It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. - Macbeth
Act 5, Scene 5
Theme: Guilt, Ambition, Fate vs free will
After hearing of his wifes death Macbeth reflects on the pointlessness of life using the metaphors of candles and shadows
Cold reaction in contrast to when Macduff reacted to his families death
Consequences of going against God to serve his own ambition is being worn down mentally and finding no joy in life
This dead butcher and his fiend-like queen - Malcom
Act 5, Scene 9
Theme: Ambition
General hatred towards Macbeth - no sadness or respect
Referring to Macbeth as a ruthless and remorseless killer
Lady Macbeth called fiend-like dehumanises her
Not accurate depictions since we know Macbeth and lady Macbeth are far more complex
The instruments of darkness tell us truths, win us with honest trifles to betray us in deeprest consequence
Banquo says this to respond to macbeth who asks “do you not hope your children shall be kings”
Foreshadows Macbeth’s fate
Banquo distrustful because he is wise enough to suspect that aligning yourself with dark, supernatural forces are bound to end in tragedy. He would rather preserve his upright moral character than chase power and ambition.
He is tempted later in the play “a heavy summons lies upon me” showing he is not immune and he may have been capable of committing regicide.
Not in the legions of horrid hell can come a devil more damned in evils than Macbeth. O Scotland Scotland… when shalt thou see thy wholesome days again
- Macduff
Associate Macbeth with dark supernatural forces and by opposing him he is placing himself in the place of righteous and holy avenger.
Also passionately devout to his nation - motives stem from patriotism and desire for justice which is contrasting to Macbeth’s selfishness and ambition.
All my pretty ones? Did you say all? O hell-kite! All?
I shall do so, but i must feel it like a man
“Dispute it as man” understandably emotional however this emotion ironically provides Macduff with the motivation to fight alongside Malcom’s army.
Calls Macbeth hell-hound, monster and tyrant
