Macbeth

Question 1

‘Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No (…) the green one red’ (A2 S2)

Answer 1

• Hyperbolic rhetorical question
• Hypophora - shows his tacit acknowledgement of his culpability
• Links to Christian idea of cleansing sins, baptism
• Mythical reference to Roman sea god, powerless against supernatural, guilt relating to divine right of kings
• Pronoun ‘my’ - emphasis on himself not LM, realisation guilt hasn’t hit her yet
• ‘hand’ - key motif, mentally separate his decisions from the body part that has carried them out, increases paranoia
• ‘incardine’ - symbolises blood, hyperbolic point that his hands are so bloody they could die the entire ocean
• Juxtaposition of the polysyllabic and monosyllabic lines, reveals his mental instability and the need to cover up his ignoble action with elaborate language, to distract the audience

Question 2

‘O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife’ (A3 S2)

Answer 2

• Breaks iambic pentameter with spondee, unnatural mindsets
• Zoomorphic metaphor of mental anguish he’s began to feel
• Ground dwelling animals, similar to how Satan appeared in bible, maybe how the witches manipulated him
• Earlier LM wanted to ‘pour’ spirits in his ear, maybe spirits became scorpions as they corrupted him
• Suggests he is being attacked as though he was made to commit regicide, passing the blame
• Foreshadows his insanity and him being possessed by his ambition
• ‘Dear wife’ - patriarchal language, his possession, instead of using name, she is expected to be subservient to him, maybe him trying to regain control after her manipulation
• ‘Dear’ - synonym meaning expensive, starting to blame her
• Audience want him to be punished, his own conscience punished him before god and fate

Question 3

‘Stars hide your fires; let not light see my black and deep desires: The eye wink at the hand’ (A1 S4)

Answer 3

• Appearance vs reality
• Structural device ‘aside’ - not influenced by LM, contradicts common belief she led him to murder
• Actively tries to suppress thoughts
• Duality between light and dark symbiosis internal conflict of his conscience and ambition
• Contrasts ‘I am in blood stepped in so far’
• ‘Stars’ - may be gods, doesn’t want them to see his sins, hoping to still have salvation, fears judgement as he’s upset the chain of being
• Links to fate - wishes witches prophecies won’t happen, contrasts later
• He appeals to positive forces (god) contrasts LM appealing to spirits
• May want to still be seen by ‘golden opinions’ as the epitome of courage/bravery, common mythology for hero’s to be immortalised in stars
• ‘Black’ - May be reference to black magic, warning against supernatural
• ‘Deep’ - fully absorbed, suggests they’ve been there before
• Or difficult to understand, at the time it may be hard to understand why you’d want to upset the chain of being
• ‘Eye…’ - synecdoche, the eye represents his consciousness/mind and the hand represents his actions/reality
• Tension and tragedy, it’s impossible to be unaware of own actions but he’s torn apart in his attempts

Question 4

‘I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition’ (A1 S7)

Answer 4

• He has no reason to kill other than ambition, Duncan is a virtuous king and has given him honours recently
• Visual metaphor of horse riding, Duncan is the obstacle
• Ambition is out of control, his hamartia
• Change from collective voice, ‘we’d, we’ maybe suggesting that ‘we’ (the audience) aren’t exempt from these dangerous musings if in the same position of temptation
• To singular active voice, the only use of ‘I’ in the soliloquy are when he makes his most innocent statements ‘I am his kingsman’
• When he mentions ambition for the first time it is personified, suggests it’s out of his control, has an agency of it’s own
• ‘Vaulting’ - pun of faulting, the ambition is sinful
• ‘Falls’ - foreshadows it ending with his fall, biblical language, Adam and Eve original fall

Question 5

‘Brave Macbeth (…) Disdaining fortune (…) his brandished steel, which smoked with bloody execution’ (A1 S2)

Answer 5

• His id, he worships the power he has over another human being, first shows his hamartia if ambition
• Warrior archetype
• ‘Brave’ - patriarchy meant men were judged purely on bravery not on morality or honesty
• Dashes emphasise the captains respect as he pauses
• ‘Disdaining’ - ignoring fortune (wealth) to be loyal to Duncan instead of rebels who paid him, maybe takes his fate into his own hands, foreshadows
• ‘Fortune’ - references Roman goddess Fortuna who was regarded as highly unreliable, foreshadow
• ‘His’ - pronoun, he’s responsible, contrasts later points when he pushes guilt away
• ‘Execution’ - at this point he’s working for justice by executing those who are against king, classic hero for Jacobean men

Question 6

‘Our fears in Banquo stick deep (…) they placed a fruitless crown (…) barren sceptre’ (A3 S1)

Answer 6

• ‘Our’ - similar to royal ‘we’ when monarchs talk ab the crown as a collective, ironic as it goes against what is right for Scotland and LM isn’t included in plans anymore
• Metaphor of knife, uncomfortable, shows phycological conflict, the deeper it is the more dangerous, depth suggests it’s a core part of him and he can’t be relieved of the fear
• Plosive ‘stick deep’ conjure images of violence
• Metonymy, his lineage won’t continue, recent loss of child gives psychological reason for committing murder, futile

Question 7

‘She should’ve died hereafter (…) signifying nothing’

Answer 7

• Nihilistic, life is ultimately pointless
• Temporal imagery
• ‘Hereafter’ - can mean life after death, he is already seeking an alternative domain
• He is too obsessed with his own predicament, seems he believes that grieving over her death is also pointless
• Represents men dismissing feelings or opinions of women as he doesn’t even question why she’s committed suicide or the role played in it, happened offstage
• Begins in the natural iambic pentameter, transitions to trochaic rhythm, despite his clear defeat he’s unwilling to back down
• Paradox of nihilism and also wanting to make his mark in history, adds to the pathos we feel towards him, links into Shakespearean tragedy (pity and fear)