Macbeth - Guilt, Innocence & Paranoia

Question 1

‘We’d jump the life to come,’

Answer 1

Act 1, Scene 7, Macbeth:
* guilt comes from religion
* afterlife - granted to those who honoured god
* maccy knows murdering = no afterlife & heaven, hes forever mortal
* enough of threat to make maccy reconsider = power of religion at the time
* conscience & faith > his wife = moral & religious consequences

Question 2

‘What’s done, is done,’
+
‘What’s done, cannot be undone’

Answer 2

Act 3, Scene 2, Lady M + Act 5, Scene 1, Lady M:
* guilt & regret cant be escaped
* can’t change their fate = need to live w/ consequences
* greed & ambition can’t predict guilt
* repeats later = convincing herself to let go of guilt & face reality
* ‘is done’ –> ‘cannot be undone’ - guilt & desperation increased

Question 3

‘Is this a dagger which I see before me,’

Answer 3

Act 2, Scene 1, maccy:
* guilt shown to him via bloody hallucinations
* premonition of violence
* guilt taken hold - can’t tell diff between what is reality & imagined
* intense psychological torture - reality broke down

Question 4

‘restless ecstasy’

Answer 4

Act 3, Scene 2, Lady M:
* sleep = peace, comfort from the world & is an escape
* sleep - expresses the subconcious & conscience
* no sleep for macbeths, nightmares instead
* nightmares = reliving their crimes

Question 5

‘Macbeth shall sleep no more’

Answer 5

Act 2, Scene 2, Macbeth:
* sacrifices serenity & well-being = he’s damned himself = villain
* torments himself
* ppl who have sins = self-destruction
* ‘no more’ - symbol of his active, haunted conscience