Macbeth Remorse

Question 1

“the bell invites me”

“that summons thee to heaven or hell.”

Answer 1

“invites”

• reminds us he has a choice
• so he is still responsible
• alt. drawing him in
• personification
• makes it sound welcoming, acceptable
• treats it like an opportunity
• he is under the impression he will be rewarded
• temptation- becoming the “serpent”
• L.Macbeth has manipulated him.

“summons”

• removing himself as a factor in Duncan’s death
• sounds like he doesn’t have a choice
• juxtaposed with “invites”

“heaven or hell”

• belief in God
• awareness of morality and consequences
• so despite being aware he still kills Duncan
• the change between his morality and his choices shows how malevolent he has become
• blinded by ambition and ignoring “reason”

ALTERNATIVELY
“heaven or hell”
-suggesting that Duncan may not go to heaven
-justification of his actions
-he doesn’t want to see Duncan as an entirely good man
-also links to how Shakespeare wasn’t sycophantic or overly flattering to the king
-liked to be taboo
-allusion to James I being flawed and human -like Macbeth or Duncan

Question 2

“Had he not resembled my father as he slept”

Answer 2

Lady Macbeth Act 2 Scene 2 -the murder has happened

• ironic, links to “the babe that milks me”
• she suggested violently killing her own child if she had promised
• therefore her role is only to manipulate
• she is humane
• innate sense of guilt
• awareness of morality

Question 3

“These deeds must not be thought […] it will make us mad”

Answer 3

"deeds"
-euphemism of the murder
"these"
-distanced, removed thinking
-she isn't taking ownership or accountability for committing the murder
-also a plural
-foreshadows the next murders
-it is not the end of "these deeds"

“thought”

• advising Macbeth to repress his emotions and to become pragmatic
• ironic as she also went mad after following her own advice

Question 4

“Macbeth does murder sleep.”

Answer 4

“Macbeth”

• he is talking about himself in the third person
• distancing the murder from himself

“murder”

• since this is in third person, it shows that he believes others see him as a murderer
• he is also defining himself as a murderer
• he is sinful and evil
• his actions are not justified

“sleep”

• connotations of peace and safety
• suggesting he will always be haunted by guilt
• will no longer experience peace
• constant turmoil

Question 5

“and therefore Cawdor”

Answer 5

Act 2 Scene 2

• he has already committed the murder
• hasn’t claimed his title
• he feels to guilty to become king even though he has already done what he needed to do
• “what’s done is done”

Question 6

“the sleeping and the dead are but as pictures”

Answer 6

Lady Macbeth
simile
-Duncan's dead body is just an image
-image is fixed, it can't hurt you
-images are subjective, open to interpretation
-therefore it is not real
-easily distance yourself from an image

Question 7

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

Question 8

“Hell is murky”

Answer 8

“murky”
gloomy or dark

“hell”

• acknowledging her sins and the consequences of them
• having an epiphany whilst she is sleep-walking
• subconscious loss of peace even in her sleep
• due to repression of her emotions
• this is her authentic state
• earlier in the play she was duplicitous and put on a pragmatic facade
• innately she has femininity and remorse
• unable to maintain her act of power
• Shakespeare wants us to see her downfall
• dangers of transcending the Great Chain of Being

Question 9

“All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand”

Answer 9

“little”
-acknowledging her vulnerability and powerlessness

“sweeten”

• she wants to purify her self
• rid of her sins
• hyperbole
• nothing will eradicate her guilt
• this is juxtaposed with “wash this filthy witness”
• ironic that she is revealing her guilt
• also has parallels “will all great Neptune’s oceans”
• she has become what she was trying to eradicate in Macbeth

“perfumes”

• instead of wanting to get rid of her sins, she wants to disguise it
• reminds us she immoral

Question 10

“That my knife see not the wound it makes
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark”

Lady Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 5

Answer 10

“see” “it makes”

• knife is personified
• suggesting that the knife is responsible or has a conscience
• she is removing herself from the situation
• awareness and guilt
• she is only a human being with remorse that wants to be evil
• therefore she is innately not cruel
• links to “fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty”
• she originally isn’t “filled”

“heaven”

• awareness of morality
• hiding from God and his judgement

“peep”
-she can’t bear even a glimpse of her crime being exposed

“blanket of the dark”
-she wants complete darkness when Duncan is killed

Question 11

“the gracious Duncan have I murder’d”

Answer 11

“gracious”

• awareness that Duncan was a good King
• Shakespeare presenting James I in a good light
• virtuous man
• inciting guilt in those who were involved in the Gunpowder plot
• also shows Macbeth’s malevolence
• he is willing to eradicate anything good
• disturbing for the audience as he was once “full o’ the milk of human kindness”
• he fears goodness
• parallels with Lady Macbeth
• she fears virtue and morality
• “I fear thy nature”
• clearly becoming just like her
• easily influenced