Macbeth

Question 1

1. “smoked with bloody execution, Like valour’s minion carved out his passage.” a1 s2

Answer 1

1. Gruesome, yet justified death, foreshadows his fall
2. Acting brave because of a sense of duty or allegiance
3. Deliberate and forceful progession
4. Getting through obstacles with force, foreshadows later on

Question 2

2. “stars hide your fires let not light see my black and deep desires.” a1 s4

Answer 2

1. Symbolising a desire to hide his intentions from the universe or God
2. Awareness of his moral darkness
3. Sinister nature of his desires
4. Struggle between light and dark
5. Inner turmoil.

Question 3

3. Is this a dagger which I see before me? A2 S1

Answer 3

1. His mental state, succumbing to the pressure of his ambition and wife
2. Wavering resolve to commit regicide
3. Foreshadows his descent into moral decay
4. The lines between appearance and reality.

Question 4

4. “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?” A2 S2

Answer 4

1. Allusion to Neptune, enormity of his guilt but also him moving away from Christianity
2. Weight of guilt and desperate desire for absolution
3. Grappling with the consequences of his actions
4. Guilt and unchecked ambition and repercussions of actions are inescapable.

Question 5

5. “the fiend of Scotland.” said by Malcolm A4 S3

Answer 5

1. Is demonised the emphasis the extent of his tyranny
2. A malevolent force
3. His rule is marked by brutality
4. Could be a strategic move to rally support for Malcolm’s cause
5. Damning epithet, his tyranny will lead to his ultimate demise

Question 6

6. “Life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

Answer 6

1. Life is chaotic and nonsensical, no meaning to be found
2. Symbolises the turmoil of the human experience
3. Nilihism and anagnorisis, despair and disillusionment and the futility of his actions