Macbeth's paranoia

Question 1

Act 3, Scene 1

Answer 1

‘To be thus is nothing/But to be safely thus. –Our fears in Banquo stick deep’
‘They hail’d him father to a line of kings/Upon my head they placed A FRUITLESS CROWN/And put a BARREN SCEPTRE in my gripe’
–> kingship imagery

Question 2

Act 3, Scene 2

Answer 2

‘We have SCOTCH’D THE SNAKE, not killed it’
–> problem is not fully resolved
‘O, FULL OF SCORPIONS IN MY MIND, dear wife!’
–> bestial imagery

Question 3

Act 3, Scene 4

Answer 3

‘It will have blood; they say, BLOOD WILL HAVE BLOOD’
–>’It’ being the murder of Banquo or perhaps Banquo himself
–> lead to more bloodshed and further consequences for both himself and others
‘now I am CABIN’D, CRIBB’D, CONFINED, bound in/To saucy doubts and fears’
–> feel strapped by his own internal conflict
‘There the GROWN SERPENT LIES; the worm that’s fled/Hath nature that in time will venom breed’
–> Fleance escaping troubles him

Question 4

What does Macbeths decision to murder Banquo show?

Answer 4

Murdering Banquo, someone who meant a great deal to him, shows how overwhelmed he is by paranoia

Question 5

What does Macbeth keep doing as a result of his paranoia?

Answer 5

Murdering people
e.g. Banquo, Fleance attempt, Macduff’s family

Question 6

What is Macbeth’s paranoia about?

Answer 6

That his misdeeds will be uncovered