macbeth essay Flashcards
overview
in the play macbeth was written to symbolise the greed and ambition that humans have. at the beginning of the play he is described by others as a hero so the audience regard him in a positive light. however, as the play continues the audience realises that he has always had the ambition to overthrow the king although he was driven by the prophecies given by the witches, lady macbeth and later on, fear drives him to become more evil
macbeth receives the prophecies (1)
- at the start he is deceived by D as a “worthy gentleman” which suggests how good M is and this is emphasised by D’s acknowledgment of him. more special as D is king
- after receiving the prophecies, M says “stay you imperfect speakers.” this suggests how he is intrigued by what they have to say and wants to know more.
- after M’s prophecy, B asks for a prophecy too although he “neither begs nor fears your favours nor your hate.” this suggests how he doesn’t care what they say to him and is unaffected by them. B is used as a foil to M to emphasise the change in M’s character. this also shows how the witches aren’t responsible for M’s change as B stayed the same and that’s because he has freewill and was never forced into believing them.
- the fact that immediately after he received the prophecies and then becomes toc makes him believe in the witches so that he is strongly influenced by them.
malcom is crowned as next heir to the throne (2)
- M’s ambition is beginning to grow as he calls Mal a “step” which he will either “fall down” or “overleap.” this suggests how M is already beginning to see Mal as a challenge because he is a threat to M’s throne as D has named him heir
Lady Macbeth has influence over Macbeth (3)
- M sends a letter to LM about the witches and his plan to kill D. the letter is treason and this is significant as it shows how M trusts LM to not tell others his plans
Macbeth debates killing Duncan (4)
- after a discussion with LM, M decides he shouldn’t kill D. This is for a number of reasons like how M is his “kinsman and subject”. This suggests how because M is his cousin he feels he owes D and therefore should be loyal to him. because he is weighing up right and wrong it shows he still has morals
Duncan’s death (5)
- M kills D off stage. During this scene, M is battling lots of guilt over murdering D however it is quickly replaced by fear. The fact that the murder is offstage makes M seem more human as the audience cannot see him brutally killing D
Macbeths soliloquy (6)
- M starts the soliloquy by saying his “fears in B stick deep”: this is because when M receives the prophecies B is also there. M thinks B is suspicious of him and is now driven by his fear of B. the metaphor of “fears sticking deep” remind the audience of being stabbed with a dagger which suggests how the fear hurts M.
- he ends his soliloquy by saying he will fight fate. this suggests how he wants to change his fate which is ironic because he previously used fate so he could become king. This suggests his arrogance as he thinks he has the power to change fate.
Macbeth receives the last set of prophecies (7)
- M receives 3 prophecies that make him overconfident. One is that he won’t be defeated until Birnam wood comes to his castle and in response M says “that will never be”. This suggests how confident M is that he’s safe as woods can’t move and also suggests how he trusts the witches blindly.
- He resolves that “the very firstlings of my heart shall be the firstlings of my hand.” This suggests how he plans to be more impulsive as anything he feels he will act upon. He does this by killing MF’s family who are presented as innocent which emphasises how evil M is.
Macbeth is a tyrant (8)
M is planning for battle when he says “I cannot taint with fear” which means he is not afraid.” This suggests how he is fully reliant on the prophecies now as he believes he is fully protected because he can’t be harmed of anyone born of women. However, this is ironic because he was previously driven by fear and only wanted to be safe on his throne. This loss of emotion helps to dehumanise him as he has lost a key emotion which is fear
