Macbeth

Question 1

,

‘Fair is foul and foul is fair’

The witches, 1.1.12

Answer 1

1. Alliteration
2. Repetition
3. Oxymoron-two words contradicting each other
4. Macbeth repeats this later(GCOB)
5. Points to the decieving nature of the witches and they are not what they seem
6. Suggests morality is distorted
7. Predicts inner conflict to be a main theme
8. It is a warning to the audience to not take everything at face value-dramatic irony.
9. The line could feel like blasphemy with the good being mocked and evil being supported - Christian values of good vs evil

Question 2

‘Unseam’d him from the nave to the chaps’
‘Smoked with bloody execution’

Captain, 1.2.22, 1.2.18

Answer 2

1. Put his sword in and pulled up
2. Brutal
3. Foreshadows his character arc, where he unseams his own conscience
4. Nave and chaps symbolise the divide between the physical and moral, foreshadowing eventual mental degradation
5. Contrasts later killings as this is driven by honor instead of ambition
6. Ironic as these brutal tendencies lead to his downfall
7. Flaming swords mentioned in the bible, marking the point of Macbeth’s moral descent
8. Killed lots of people
9. Brutal description
10. Smoked suggests it was moved with such speed
11. Execution could be foreshadowing to later in the play
12. Connotations of blood starting with honor then going to guilt and tyrancy
    7.

Question 3

‘Brave’
‘noble
‘worthy’
‘valiant’

Captain/Duncan, 1.2.16, 1.2.67, 1.2.10, 1.2.24

Answer 3

1. Praise at the start of the play
2. Starts off as a high status character ready for a large downfall
3. Duncan being too trusting

Question 4

‘So foul and fair a day I have not seen’

Macbeth 1.3.36

Answer 4

1. Bad and good
2. Opposite to the witches on the GCOB but similar in what he chooses to say
3. Alliteration
4. Macbeth’s first line in the play - foreshadows his direct link to the witches and that he is already under the influence of them
5. Underlines the cost of ambition from the beginning - the foul is the killing and the fair is the win of the battle
6. Presents Macbeths inner conflict where he is not fully heroic but is also subject to the witches confusion
7. He is observing it by saying how things are but the witches are changing it by twisting what things are

Question 5

‘Stars hide your fires, let not light see my black and deep desires’
‘I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, only vaulting ambition’

Macbeth 1.4.50, 1.7.26

Answer 5

1. Light/Darkness theme
2. People believed in astrology so it would be topical
3. He knows his ideas are bad
4. Asking the stars to not show light so people can’t see what he is doing and so God cannot see what he is doing
5. Asks his experiences to be hidden as they go against divine right of kings and GCOB
6. He is aware of the guilt to come but his ambition overides it
7. Ambition vs morality - he knows killing the king is wrong but is already planning to go down this dark path
8. This darkness reveals his moral blindness and him having a growing corruption
9. He is justifying why he should kill the king
10. No external reason apart from his ambition
11. Vaulting because it is topical in that sentance because of the horse words like spur and prick the sides
12. He knows it is wrong but still goes ahead
13. The vaulting part shows it is an impulsive and reckless action that could lead to a dangerous outcome
14. Also reveals that he has reached a height at which he will eventually fall
15. Moral disintergration where he no longer relies on ethical reasoning but only his ambition
16. Ironic as he is willing to go through with this even though there is no real moral reason he should

Question 6

‘Come you spirits…unsex me here’
‘Pour my spirits in thine ear’

Lady Macbeth, 1.5.39-40, 1.5.23

Answer 6

1. Commanding word
2. Talking to opposites on the GCOB, she is summoning them
3. Asking for her femininity to be taken from her
4. She sees her caring feminine traits to be an obstacle in the way of killing Duncan
5. Commanding word, forceful and intense, she is looking to flood his mind
6. Asking Macbeth and trying to convince him
7. The spirits could be inner will, supernatural influence and mental strength
8. Through the ear is aiming to reach his brain, implanting her own ideas into his mind
9. Poison poured by Hamlet’s stepfather into the ear of his his sleeping brother who was king emphasising the damage of these spirits Lady Macbeth is on about

Question 7

‘Look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under’t’

Lady Macbeth, 1.5.64

Answer 7

1. Simile
2. Act like nothing is wrong appearance vs reality
3. Adam and Eve snake convincing them to eat the apple from the tree
4. She is initially the one to teach him to be deceptive, and similar to with the witches he abides
5. Foreshadows how he will be haunted by his conscience
6. Shows early signs of his moral decay when he immediately obeys Lady Macbeth

Question 8

‘Macbeth has murdered sleep’
‘Amen stuck in my throat’
‘Would all great Neptunes ocean wash this blood clean from my hands’

Macbeth 2.2.39, 2.2.55, 2.2.35, 2.2.63

Answer 8

1. Sleep symbolising peace and tranquility
2. He will never be peaceful again and will always be guilty and he is now spiritually and psychologically disturbed
3. Macbeth symolised with violence and murder
4. How guilt will now forever haunt Macbeth
5. This line also foreshadow’s Lady Macbeths downfall as he also murdered sleep for her
6. Macbeth can’t say amen because he feels guilty
7. Going against Divine Right of Kings and by God chooding the King and it causing distruption if he is untimely murdered - he feels a disconnect form god
8. Signalls the start of his mental unravelling
9. Sharp contrast to Lady Macbeth’s dismissal of guilt
10. Crossed the threshold, where the divine right of kings has been broken so now it will only be distruption from now on

1.He has enough blood on his hands to turn the whole sea red
2.Neptune was Roman god of water and the sea so it shows the extent of the murder where the whole ocean would not clean it
3.Shows his guilt is inescapable
4.Shows the murder is irreversible and the blood shows he is now tainted with guilt
5.He feels the full moral weight of his actions
6.Shows he cannot accept the guilt as he wants someone else to do the washing but he must get rid of the guilt himself

Question 9

‘A little water clears us of this deed’

Lady Macbeth 2.2.70

Answer 9

1. Denying the guilt
2. Imasculating Macbeth saying he is worrying
3. Opposite to Maceths veiw of the whole ocean not being able to
4. The little amount contrasts the henious crimes they completed, saying that they were not that bad and only need a little water
5. She is unfazed but he is worrying, highlighting her dominance over him
6. Shows how niave Lady Macbeth is, which could foreshadow other decisions by her being wrong and foreshadow her downfall
7. No amount of water would be able to rid them of the guilt that murder carries with it
8. The guilt eventually leads to both characters deterioration
9. She is trying to convince herself as well as she is not completely composed at this time
10. Direct contrast to at the end of the play where the guilt consumes her

Question 10

‘Some say the Earth was feverous and did shake’

Lennox, 2.3.55

Answer 10

1. Personifying the earth making it ill, showing the earth has been thrown out of cycle emphasising the extent of his crimes
2. Showing that the storm outside Macbeth’s castle represents his feelings and conflict and the feelings of Scotland, where they are thrown into turmoil with no King
3. Divine right of Kings so that killing the King causes destruction
4. Powerlessness of humans, where as Macbeth did one thing, he cannot control the earth, and the shaking is fate reacting to his decisions
5. Some say emphasises his decisions have impacted everyone
6. Some say also makes it more chaotic where he is not referencing an exact event

Question 11

‘Tis the eye of childhood that fears a painted devil’

Lady Macbeth, 2.2.57

Answer 11

1. Saying that Macbeth is like a child having nightmares, also shows his vulnerability
2. Saying it is just a painting and there is nothing to be scared of and the source of fear is fabricated
3. Could also represent his mental torment where he thinks of these things
4. Yet again shows how easily manipulated he is into thinking things

Question 12

‘To be thus is nothing but to be safely thus’
‘O full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife’

Macbeth, 3.1.49, 3.2.37

Answer 12

1. There is no point being King if you can’t keep it - foreshadowing he won’t keep it
2. He needs to kill anyone who challenges his position foreshadowing Banquo’s death
3. He is no longer obsessed with just power but keeping his position
4. Ironic as he only became more unsafe after getting that position
5. Scorpions are poisionous so his thoughts are consuming
6. Dear wife, respecting emphasising growing tension where he cannot go to her for help
7. O means emotion
8. Regret and guilt
9. Metaphor
10. Can’t think straight so could foreshadow further violence to come

Question 13

‘I am in blood stepped in so far’
‘Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, until thou applaud the deed’

Macbeth, 3.4.136, 3.2.45

Answer 13

1. Saying he should go all the way
2. He is in a puddle of blood of all the people he has killed and he cannot turn back
3. Can’t wade anymore because the blood is blocking him
4. Has become desensitised to violence
5. He has taken steps and is taking responsibility but now he cannot control his actions as it is the blood that does
6. Fate vs free will
7. Asking her to be innocent of the evil and he is trying to protect her
8. He doesn’t want to drag his wife down
9. Wants recognition for killing Banquo on his own
10. Shift in their relationship
11. Chuck shows they care about echother
12. Signifys their relationship breaking down as they were once partners in crime but now work alone.

Question 14

‘Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow’
‘Life is a tale told by an idiot signifying nothing’

Macbeth, 5.5.18, 5.5.25

Answer 14

1. Life goes on for everyone else after death
2. Lots of ideas about the pointlessness and futility of life and the fact going to tomorrow is just a pointless step to death
3. Part of a soliloquy
4. Triple repetition draws reader into the monotony of time
5. Each tomorrow sounds heavier than the last signifying a sense of endless decay
6. Rhythm is slow like a drumbeat of despair
7. He is grieving for his wifes death and it shows how every day blurs into one
8. It sounds beautiful with the alliteration sounding like a lullaby but hollow as beneath the beauty it is empty
9. Life is pointless and our short time on earth will be useless in the grand scheme of things
10. Life is performative but not in an exciting way but a monotonous and meaningless way
11. The idiot is us as we live our lives like there is a large meaning but he thinks all our lives are meaningless
12. All of the suffering adds up to mean nothing, all of the pleasure adds up to mean nothing

Question 15

‘The Thane of Fife had a wife’
‘Hell is murky’
‘Out, damn spot’
‘All the perfues of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand’

Lady Macbeth, 5.1.38, 5.1.32, 5.1.31, 5.1.44

Answer 15

1. Talking about the Murder of Macduff’s wife
2. She is in heaven compared to her in hell
3. She doesn’t know where she is going in hell, her mental state is deteriorating
4. Commanding
5. Damn is related to the devil and related to hell a line earlier
6. Similar to all of Neptunes ocean
7. LM and M switch roles
8. Hyperbole

Question 16

‘I will try the last’

Macbeth, 5.8.32

Answer 16

1. He will not give up but is expecting of the inevatible
2. He will die fighting
3. Noble way of death
4. He is embracing the end of his reign and collapse of moral integrity
5. Ironic as his fate came due to his previous crimes so there is no point in trying now

Question 17

‘This dead butcher and his fiend-like queen’

Malcom, 5.9.35

Answer 17

1. Macbeth hacking up the body, unseamed
2. She killed herself
3. She was evil and was associated with the dark arts throughout the play
4. Macbeth as a butcher shows his downfall in society from a noble king to just a seller as well as other connotations of butcher
   5.Emphasises his cold-blooded killing of Duncan, Banquo and others
   6.This line being said by Malcom ends their tyrannical reign and is a contrast to the natural order that will be restored in Malcom’s reign

Question 18

‘Instruments of darkness’
‘Restrain in me the cursed thoughts’
‘Our fears in Banquo stick deep’

Banquo, act 1 scene 3, act 2 scene 1

Answer 18

1. The tools of evil
2. They themselves are not evil but are being controlled by a deeper force
3. Dehumanises them saying they’re used to carrying out evil
4. Appearance vs reality - evil doesn’t always appear evil
5. They are being used to make something sound different
6. Restrain suggests internal struggle but shows his strength as he does not do anything to satisfy it
7. In me shows he is internally struggling and shows his opposition to Macbeth who blames it on external influences
8. The thoughts are unwelcomed and it is recurring
9. His thoughts are cursed but actions are not
10. Our shows using moral we to suggest he is king
11. Fears is not fear of Banquo but what he represents - integrity
12. In shows the danger is in his thoughts not his actions
13. It is lodged painfully, stick could be dagger foreshadowing killing

Question 19

‘O, horror, horror, horror’
‘I must also feel it as a man’
‘I have no words, my mouth is in my sword’
‘Bleed, bleed poor country’

Macduff, act 2 scene 3, act 4 scene 3

Answer 19

1. Uncontrollable emotion
2. A chanting rhythm
3. Macduff is struggling to put it into words
4. Something spiritually disturbing
5. Collapse of honour
6. Shock and sincerity of shock unlike Macbeth
7. Grief is normal
8. He is not a shallow man but owns his emotions
9. Also implies balance and foreshadowing of killing Macbeth
10. Redefines masculinity and expands the defenition to include love and sorrow
11. Humanises the plays violence making Macbeth’s killings seem worse
12. His rage is beyond him he is done speaking
13. Shift from feeling to action
14. His morality is now turned to action which shows killing Macbeth was the right thing to do
15. The moment of stillness before violence
16. Ongoing suffering
17. It is a painful death and caused by the dagger of Macbeth
18. Reflects Macduffs love for Scotland and he is motivated by patriotism