Macbeth Flashcards
(Act 1 scene 4) “Stars hide your fires,let not light see my my black and deep desires”
He is embarrassed and ashamed of having ambitions of being more powerful which can be shown with the personification “hide”
Juxtaposition of light and black shows that at this stage he is not corrupt and it is just ambition.
Themes- ambition as he is starting to increase in ambition and what it is like to be king. Supernatural as the witches give him the ambition.
Context- Divine rights of kings.
(Act 1 Scene 7) “Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself/and fall on the other”
Stuck between to minds in which if he should kill the king to show his wife his ambition and how manly he is or stay loyal to the king as he may not think he has the qualities to be the king.
Hyperbole “vaulting” shows he doesn’t think he will be able to be king
Theme- ambition realises his ambition may be to big. Supernatural as it was the witches that give him the ambition
Context- Divine right of kings
(Act 2 Scene 1) “Art thou but a dagger of the mind, a false creation”
Hallucinating a dagger with blood on it which foreshadows the murder of King Duncan. Maybe sees it as an escape.
Metaphor “dagger of the mind” shows how stressed Macbeth is about what he is about to do
Noun “ dagger” shows how violent Macbeth will be to fulfil his ambition of being king.
Themes- Supernatural as he is hallucinating
Context - corrupting influence of Withces
(Act 3 Scene 4) “Thou canst say I did it: never shake thy glory locks at me”
Starts to become more cowardly compared to the beginning of the play when he was brave and valiant. This is because he is refusing to say he did anything wrong when seeing the ghost of Banquo. Uses an imperative sentence to cover his actions.
Themes- guilt as he is guilty of killing Banquo. Supernatural as he is seeing things and hallucinating
Context- punishment from God.
(Act 4 Scene 1)” Secret ,black and midnight hags”
Complete change in Macbeths character as when he first saw the witches he was petrified but now he wasn’t to have all power and kill any threat to him.
Rule of three show that Macbeth is bold
Themes-ambition as they become so great he wants to control the future. Supernatural as he is taking to witches
Context- King James the first distrusted the witches.
