Macbeth Act 5 Flashcards
1
Q
- Nature imagery
- Sleep is natural, sleepwalking is unnatural - mark of the devil?
- Disruption of the natural order
A
“A great perturbation in nature.”
2
Q
- Light and dark imagery
- LM is afraid of the dark - bad things happen in the dark
A
“She has light by her con-/tinually, ‘tis her command.”
3
Q
- Shakespeare’s stage craft
- LM must be rubbing hands together
A
“Look how she rubs her hands.”
4
Q
LM knows she’s going to hell
A
“Hell is murky”
5
Q
- Contrasts to earlier LM - mental decline
- Shakespeare’s comments on the human condition - guilt and conscience will torture you
- Rhetoric
A
“What, will these hands ne’er be clean?”
6
Q
- Feminity
- Contrasts to her earlier characterisation
- LM weakness - gaining feminine attributes through guilt - spirits didn’t do their jobs therefore did they exist?
A
“All the per-/fumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.”
7
Q
- Hell’s gate - remember the porter scene
- Going to Hell
A
“Knocking at the gate.”
8
Q
- Big idea of play - Shakespeare’s key message
- Was saying it before in strength and is now saying it in weakness
A
“what’s done/cannot be undone.”
9
Q
- Situational irony
- God will not forgive Macbeth’s and is punishing them
A
“God, God forgive us all.”
10
Q
- Macbeth is overly confident
- Still believes witchcraft
A
“Till Birnam Wood remove to Dunsinane,/I cannot taint with fear.”
11
Q
Calling servant a coward when servant is only trying to help him - change in character therefore characterisation
A
“Thou lily-livered boy.”
12
Q
- Knows he will either be very successful or die
- Victory or death
A
“Will cheer me ever or disseat me now.”
13
Q
- Blood imagery
- Glimpse of former soldier
A
“I’ll fight till from my bones my flesh be hacked.”
14
Q
- Refers to LM as a patient not wife
- Brutal, mean character
- Fall from grace
A
“How does your patient, doctor?”
15
Q
- Rhyming couplet
- False confidence
A
“I will not be afraid of death and bane,/Till Birnam Forest come to Dunsinane.”
16
Q
- Macbeth is commanding
- No cure for their crimes
- Lack of emotion from Macbeth
A
“Cure her of that”
17
Q
- No-one is loyal to Macbeth as he is a bad king
- Bird imagery
A
“The thanes fly from me”
18
Q
Characterisation of Macbeth
ct
A
“confident tyrant”
19
Q
- Macbeth is on his own, the soldiers he has are only there to do the right thing
- metaphor
A
“And none serve with him but the constrainèd things/Whose hearts are absent too.”
20
Q
- Strong, united army fighting with a cause
- Birnam wood coming to Dunsinane
A
“Let every soldier her him down a bough,/And bear’t before him”
21
Q
- Death of LM
- Shakespeare’s stage directions
A
“a cry within of women”
22
Q
- Changed, emotionless
- Lost all feeling and sensibility
- characterisation
A
“I have almost forgot the taste of fears”
23
Q
- Does not care about his wife dying
- No convenient time for death
A
“She should have died hereafter”
24
Q
- Light and dark imagery
- Talking about life
A
“Out, out, brief candle”
25
- Existential crisis
- Life is meaningless - knows he might die
"Signifying nothing."
26
- Macbeth's monologue
- Alliteration
- Not a good Christian - a Jacobean audience will dislike Macbeth after this monologue - Macbeth is saying that life is meaningless but Christians believed you live to serve God
"And all our yesterdays have lighted fools/the way to dusty death."
27
- Glimpse of former soldier
- Rhyming couplet
- Will fight to the end, won't give up
"Ring the alarum bell! Blow wind, come wrack;/At least we'll die with harness on our back."
28
- Blood imagery
- Trumpet blasts - sound imagery
"Those clamorous harbingers of blood and death."
29
- Nature imagery
- Knows he is likely to lose the battle
- Determination
"I cannot fly,/But bear-like I must fight the course."
30
- Macbeth's name is cursed
- Macbeth is the devil
"The devil himself could not pronounce a title/More hateful to mine ear."
31
- Characterisation of Macbeth
- Describing Macbeth
"Abhorrèd tyrant"
32
- Macbeth has new confidence
- Nothing can defeat him - believes he is invincible
"But swords I smile at, weapons laugh to scorn"
33
- Macduff is avenging his family and saving Scotland
- Macduff is very honourable
"My wife and children's ghost will haunt me still"
34
- Won't commit suicide
- Suicide is giving up?
- Believes he can win and fight this out
"Why should I play the Roman fool and die/on mine own sword?"
35
- Taunting Macduff with the death of his family
- Blood imagery
- Don’t want to shed anymore Macduff blood
"My soul is too much charged/ with blood of thine already."
36
- Metaphor
- Macduff is fighting for his family and for Scotland
- Actions speak louder than words
"My voice is in my sword."
37
- Macbeth is arrogant and overconfident
- No-one can harm him - believes witches
"I bear a charmèd life which must not yield/ to one of woman born"
38
- Harsh language and tone
- Revelation that Macduff was not born of woman
- line stands alone, increased impact
"Untimely ripped."
39
- Witches influence
- Echo of witches
"double sense"
40
- Macduff is not giving in
- Wants a fight
"Then yield thee coward"
41
- Everyone will know who you truly are
- You will meet your end
- beginning of play - thane of cawdor defeated
"Here may you see the tyrant."
42
- Neither one will give in
- Both strong soldiers
"And damned be him that first cries, 'Hold, enough!' "
43
- Shakespeare's stage directions
- Macbeth is dead
"Macbeth slain"
44
- Sound imagery
- Knave is dead, it's over
"And so his knell is knolled."
45
- Gory sign of the times
- Shakespeare's stage directions
"Enter Macduff, with Macbeth's head"
46
Spoken together - however contrasts to witches - spoken strongly and as a united force
"Hail, King of Scotland."
47
Macbeth's head - just like previous Thane of Cawdor
"Th'usurper's cursèd head."
48
- Characterisation of the Macbeth's
Killed so many innocent people
"Of this dead butcher and his fiend-like queen."
49
- LM committed suicide
Shakespeare's comment on human condition - LM too weak to handle guilt? effects of treason
"By self and violent hands/took off her life."
50
- Hope for Scotland, order restored
- Part of 2 rhyming couplets that will tie everything together and bring play to a close
"That calls upon us, by the grace of Grace/We will perform in measure, time, and place."
