Macbeth

Question 1

valours minion

Answer 1

could foreshadow his susceptibility to manipulation and how he will soon be a marionette of the witches

Question 2

disdaining fortune… smok’d with bloody execution

Answer 2

smok’d could connote to heat and hell, foreshadowing his evil - committing deadly sins - disdaining fortune shows a disregard for his fate and his attempt to manipulate natural order

Question 3

“So foul …

Answer 3

and fair a day i have not seen”
a mouthpiece for witches. vessel for their misconduct

Question 4

“Doth unfix my hair and make my seated heart knock at my ribs”

Answer 4

shows both externally and viscerally how the witches have rattled him

Question 5

“why do you dress me in borrowed robes”

Answer 5

suggests he has been given a title that is not his, subtle motif of clothes radiating power, deception and identity. hierarchical ranking, futile like clothes

Question 6

‘face’ is a “book where men may read strange matters”

Answer 6

mocks the candidness( honesty and sincere) of his expression
manipulation as macbeth is portrayed as weak and vulnerable- qualities shunned in a patriarchal era

Question 7

“worthy cawdor”

Answer 7

flattery, hailing him, echoing the witches - harvested two relationships with supernatural entities and governed by them

Question 8

was the hope drunk/wherein you dressed yourself?

Answer 8

allows him to think about his actions, exploiting his emotions of embarrassment and shame

Question 9

coward

Answer 9

threatens his entire sense of being a soldier, questioning his masculinity and livelihood

Question 10

dashed the brains out

Answer 10

merciless act of rejecting maternal inclinations, characteristics last macbeth as violent and determined

Question 11

i think not of them

Answer 11

banquos honesty amplifies macbeths dishonesty and deception

Question 12

stars hide your fires

Answer 12

motif of stars exposes macbeth and banquo as diametrically opposed in their aspirations

Question 13

is this a dagger i see before me the handle towards my hand? come let me clutch thee.

Answer 13

shows internal conflict and confusion

Question 14

handle towards my hand

Answer 14

suggests he is ridding himself of responsibility over the murder as if it was being offered or was forced upon him

Question 15

fatal vision

Answer 15

-ambiguous phrase
adjectives fatal alludes to the fatalities that will come as a result of the tragedy and the idea that his actions are decreed by fate

Question 16

the dagger an “instrument”

Answer 16

alludes to instruments of darkness , dark musicality has entranced him into regicide

Question 17

god bless us , amen

Answer 17

highlights how macbeth has deviated so far from god and religion

Question 18

i heard a voice cry. sleep no more:/macbeth does murder sleep

Answer 18

lose on innocence and has become an imprisoned state of restlessness