Macbeth Flashcards
What motivates Macbeth to commit terrible deeds?
Ambition
How does Macbeth show that ambition can make people ruthless and selfish?
Once Macbeth starts killing, he has to kill more people to get what he wants and to try and make his position secure.
Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth eventually destroyed by their ambition, what is this trying to tell the reader?
The play can be read as a warning against ambition, that isn’t balanced by reason or morals.
Ambition is Macbeth’s what?
Fatal flaw
What foreshadows Macbeth’s own tragic downfall?
-by the end of the play, Macbeth‘s lost everything, and he dies an “abhorrèd tyrant”.
He knows that ambition, often, “o’erleaps itself/and falls”, -It can lead a person to aim too high so that they fail and lose everything.
Who doesn’t act on the predictions from the witches in the violent way that Macbeth does?
Banquo is ambitious for his sons – he hopes that “there come truth“ from the witches prophecy.
Macbeth says that, if killing Duncan had no earthly consequences, he would _________
“ jump the life to come”- he would accept damnation in the afterlife in order to become king. this would have made his ambition even more immoral to Elizabethan audiences.
How has Banquo shown loyalty through his actions?
Banquo is loyal to his own sense of honour – he says that he will keep his “allegiance clear”. He won’t let ambition or the witches prophecies affect him.
How have the thanes been loyal to Duncan?
The thanes are loyal to Duncan, because he’s been a “great” king.
Macbeth gives Duncan “service and loyalty” by fighting for him in act 1.
Macbeth is initially loyal to Duncan as “his Kingsman and his subject”.What does this show?
This makes it even more shocking when Macbeth puts his own desires ahead of his loyalty to the king.
What words are used to describe Duncan as an example of an ideal King?
“Gracious“ and “most sainted king“
What words are used to describe Macbeth as a bad rulers?
“Tyrant“ and “Devilish”.