Psychology of Guilt Flashcards
What is a soliloquy?
This is where characters speak their innermost thoughts to the audience, exploring psychology and the inner workings of the mind.
Give an example of soliloquy in Macbeth. ‘‘I d—- l— n—- o- t— t—- w—- s—–’’
'’I dreamt last night of the three weird sisters’’ This could be a sign of the overwhelming power of the supernatural. However, more interestingly, this could be Banquo’s mind fracturing due to his dealing with the supernatural and the consequences of his own ambition.
How do we see Macbeth’s mind fracturing?
When he sees a ‘‘dagger’’ which is only a ‘‘fatal vision’’ Macbeth goes against his better nature here, there’s a sense of morality that Shakespeare uses to show the consequences of going against what you know is good.
We are shown how we can become disconnected from ourselves and how we invent alternative realities to justify our actions, which is shown with the dagger allegedly pointing Macbeth which way to go.
What does Macbeth shift the blame of the regicide to?
The dagger, rather than himself. In doing so, hel oses his mind. He says he will ‘‘sleep no more’’, he imagines that a voice has said this to him, when actually it’s his own subconscious that is punishing him. This shows us the mental consequences of his horrific acts and we know he will no longer rest easy
Besides the dagger, where else do we see visions in Macbeth?
Through Banquo’s ghost. It acts a similar warning to the dagger, another supernatural apparition used an example to show the power of the supernatural.
However, the character of Macbeth is deliberately the only person who can see this ghost, suggesting it’s a product of his own mind. We can see his inner turmoil and what it produces.
How can we see Lady Macbeth’s fractured mind?
We see Lady Macbeth’s fractured mind in her sleepwalking in Act 5. Society has forced her into doing these terrible acts, the only way she can have power is to be filled with the ‘direst cruelty’ and manipulate Macbeth into also committing these acts.
There’s a juxtaposition of Lady Macbeth after she kills Duncan and in Act 5, she first says ‘A little water clears of us of this deed’, this is juxtaposed by ‘Here’s the smell of blood still’. Roles between her and Macbeth have swapped, with her taking on his guilt and psychology.
Why and how is Macduff used to show guilt?
Macduff’s mind is also haunted that he left his wife and children, ‘My wife and children’s ghosts will haunt me still’. He left as a warrior, an impulsive decision to go help in the war effort with Malcolm. This links to our theme of masculinity as if he had thought about his actions, he would’ve taken them with him, which his wife even says before she’s killed.
Henceforth, they come back to haunt him, Shakespeare is suggesting that any decisions we make that we know are wrong will inevitably come back to ‘haunt’ us. This links to his political message – implying that any wrong or tyrannical decisions James would make, any innocent Catholic lives he would take could come back to haunt him.
