Macbeth Flashcards
How is Macbeth initially presented as brave and heroic
‘brave macbeth’
‘valours minion’ → implies he serves honour justice and is a servant to truth
‘disdaining fortune’→ fighting against fate, holds no regard to the fortune of his enemy
Act 1 scene 1
How is macbeth initially presented as ruthless and brutal
‘carved out a passage’ → carved, presentes him as a butcher, perhaps he sees his enemies as animals
‘bloody execution’ → execution suggests finality and aggresion
‘unseamed him from the nave to the chaps’ → slicing through the whole body
‘unseamed’ suggests he is killing in an uncaring casual way
Act 1 scene
Fixed his head upon the battlements
How does Macbeth act after killing Duncan
Act 2 scene 2 :
‘Will all great neptunes ocean wash this blood clean from my hand’
The blood represents macbeths crime.
He bekieves he is unable to wash away his sin, and his guilt
He is turning to a pagan god as he believes his god will not listen to him
How does macbeth begin to stop listening to his wife
‘Be innocent of the knowledge dearest chuck’
‘Be innocent’ suggests his thoughts and ideas are dark
‘dearest chuck’ → shows that although he seems power hungry, he still has love and affection for his wife (not all positive attributes have been lost
Act 3 scene 2
How do we see Macbeth’s hubris when talking to the witches a second time
He believes he has power over these non earthly beings
‘Answer me to to what i ask you’
‘I conjure you’
‘Tell me thou unknown power’
Act 4 scene 1
Contrasts to act 1 scene 3 when he asks
‘speak if ye can’
Act 1 scene 3 macbeths ambition
‘horrid images doth unfix my hair and make my heart knock at my ribs’
His ambition scares him
Sound of guilt for what he is going to do
(Jacobeans believed that the heart was the seat of conscience)
Act 2 scene 1 The dagger soliloquy
‘Fatal vision’
‘Heat-oppresed brain’ → metaphor for macbeths intense frenzied ambition, preventing him from seeing clearly
Links to fear of killing duncan
‘oppressed’ could also suggest that he is being forced into this or that he is a slave to ambition
Ideas of stress, fear.
‘fatal’ implies finality and damage
‘Dudgeon gouts of blood’
→ deep rooted gushing blood, represents macbeth starting to feel guilt
Act 3 scene 1 macbeth
‘To be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus’ → being king is not important if he isnt safe
‘they placed a fruitless crown and put a barren scepter in my gripe’
‘fruitless crown’ → symbolise Macbeths anger that none of his descendents shall be kings (ambition for future generations)
Baren scepter continues this, with barren suggesting empty and unforgiving
Act 4 scene 1 macbeth
‘the very firstlings of my heart shall be the firstlings of my hand’
→ will act without thinking and without consequences
His ambition has made him ruthless and violent
‘give to the edge of the sword […] Thoes that trace him in his line’
→ violent imagery shows Macbeth corruption, brutal acts
Act 5 scene 5 macbeth
Out, out brief candle, Life’s but a walking shadow’
→ ambition has corrupted him and he has lost all hope
Links to Shakespeare’s ideas that death comes eventually
What does macbeth say trying to hide his actions from others
‘Stars hide your fires let not light see black and deep desires’
Act 1 scene 4
Macbeth knows what he is doing is wrong
Personifying the stars, suggesting god (hiding truth from god)
Light and dark imagery to represent duncan and macbeth, suggesting duncan is pure
How is macbeth overconfidence shown in the final act 5 scene 8
In the final act macbeth fights mcduff and believes due to the witches prophecy ‘none of women born shall harm macbeth’
Describes himself as ‘intrenchant as the air itself’, suggesting that the witches charm (prophecy) prevents him from harm
