Quote Analysis Macbeth

Question 1

In thunder lightning or in rain

Answer 1

Pathetic fallacy- ominous, chaos, reflects negative stigma of supernatural, immediately creates them as evil

Question 2

When the battles lost, and won

Answer 2

Caesura suggests that some strange food will come of the death
Foreboding
In the witches own interest
Bad things will come of it

Question 3

Set of sun

Answer 3

Metaphor- death of Duncan (dusk), Macbeth’s tyranny (night), Fleance and James (day)
Darker end is coming
Foreshadowing tragedy and danger

Question 4

Fair is foul and foul is fair

Answer 4

Recurring paradox
Sense of uncertainty- equivocation
Speaking their own language
Duncan death= foul to LM+M death=fair
Prophecy

Question 5

Swarm upon him

Answer 5

Enemy is described with insect imagery
Macbeth is left from this
Nothing can tarnish his image
Enemy is feeble compared to Macbeth

Question 6

Yes as sparrows eagles or the hare the lion

Answer 6

Are not afraid
Happy to die for their king- loyal
They have natural superiority to the enemy
Predatory- huge power

Question 7

Memorise another Golgotha

Answer 7

Christ’s crucifixion- huge sacrifice and blood
Loyalty to their King
Macbeth’s blood thirst foreshadows his tyranny

Question 8

Bloody man

Answer 8

Duncan opens with a joke
Contemporary audience would not laugh at King
Duncan doesn’t mind
Perfect king

Question 9

Valour’s minion

Answer 9

Follower of personified courage
Introduces Macbeth as pure and good
Sounds strong
Makes downfall harder for the audience

Question 10

Smoked with bloody execution

Answer 10

Violent graphic imagery
Warrior culture of 11th century
Humbleness- Macbeth doesn’t advertise himself
Patriotic

Question 11

Belladonnas bridegroom

Answer 11

Roman God of war- warrior incarnate
Foreshadows the future
Macbeth can do no wrong
Winning and losing are irrevocably tied

Question 12

If you look into the seeds of time

Answer 12

Banquo is suspicious of the supernatural
Foil to Macbeth- he is intrigued
Was the prophecy fate or free will
Macbeth was evil and murdered Duncan
Banquo was virtuous- waiting was good, but he could have issued a warning
Instead he analyses his position in a soliloquy

Question 13

If you look into the seeds of time

Answer 13

Banquo is suspicious of the supernatural
Foil to Macbeth- he is intrigued
Was the prophecy fate or free will
Macbeth was evil and murdered Duncan
Banquo was virtuous- waiting was good, but he could have issued a warning
Instead he analyses his position in a soliloquy

Question 14

The Earth hath bubbles as the water has

Answer 14

Create a sense of foreboding and the supernatural
These occurrences only happen around the witches
Earth doesn’t bubble- sense of the supernatural
Witches can manipulate the earth
Fearful reaction in audience

Question 15

So foul and fair a day I have not seen

Answer 15

Immediately links Macbeth to the witches
At best, he may have a vulnerability
At worst, he may have a natural affinity with them

Question 16

Would they have stay’d

Answer 16

Macbeth is bothered that the witches have gone at all
Wants to learn more about the prophecies- foreshadows his character downfall
More concerned about the content of the prophecies than if the witches are real- first sign of his ambition

Question 17

Why do you dress me in borrowed robes

Answer 17

Clothes are a motif throughout
Dramatic irony- we know, but it also foreshadows that he will be king as well- maybe undeserved
Realisation that he could be king
Beginning of downward spiral
Transition from virtuous to evil
Internal conflict- wait or act

Question 18

Why do you dress me in borrowed robes

Answer 18

Clothes are a motif throughout
Dramatic irony- we know, but it also foreshadows that he will be king as well- maybe undeserved
Realisation that he could be king
Beginning of downward spiral
Transition from virtuous to evil
Internal conflict- wait or act

Question 19

What! Can the devil speak true?

Answer 19

Witches are seen as truly evil by Banquo
Were thought to be incarnations of the devil
Burnt- semantic field of hell
Evil intentions, but truth is virtuous- another paradox

Question 20

Instruments of darkness

Answer 20

Paradox of beauty and evil
Suggests that they work for the devil
Ominous feeling about the witches
Instils fear
Foil of Banquo and Macbeth
Macbeth is tempted and becomes an instrument of their evil

Question 21

Nor must be known no less

Answer 21

Creates Banquo as a foil
Both start on an equal level- it is their actions that differ them

Question 22

Prince of Cumberland, that is a step on which I must fall down or else over leap

Answer 22

We fear for the prince
Introduces Macbeths ambition- Malcolm is in the way of the throne
Dramatic irony that creates tension

Question 23

Stars, hide your fires, let not light see my black and deep desires

Answer 23

Metaphor
Stars represent god or heaven
Fears judgement- still wants salvation
Black- connotations of evil
Macbeths desparateness to be king- betrayal against god, ambition above his station
Divine Right of Kings
Doesn’t want to see his own villainy

Question 24

The service and loyalty I owe, in doing it, pays itself

Answer 24

Flattering King Duncan
Trying to throw suspicion off of himself
Dramatic irony, reward is kingship
Macbeth is being sycophantic

Question 25

It is too full of the milk of human kindness

Answer 25

Macbeth is too loyal to kill Duncan
Milk, purity, white, weakness, femininity- gender role
LM first words are evil

Question 26

Art not without ambition, but without the illness

Answer 26

Ambition was looked down upon
He is not noble
Macbeth doesn’t have the necessary evil
LM does- she is already plotting

Question 27

That I may pour my spirits in thine ear

Answer 27

Direct parallel between LM and the witches
Connotations of evil
Manipulation
Audience immediately know her intentions
Verbal power of women, no physical- she cannot commit the act

Question 28

The raven himself is hoarse

Answer 28

Compares attendant to bird of ill omen
Found on battlefield eating carrion
The castle is the next battlefield- where Duncan will die

Question 29

Unsex me here… and take my milk for gall

Answer 29

Links to stereotypes of Jacobean era
Manhood is murder
Theme of masculinity
Relationship between masculinity and violence- warrior culture
Milk is purity and femininity
Her womanhood- normally symbols of nurture, stops her from being violent- a masculine trait

Question 30

Leave all the rest to me

Answer 30

LM takes responsibility for planning the murder
Subverts stereotypes
M is presented as feminine- rational
LM as masculine- emotional

Question 31

My dearest partner of greatness

Answer 31

M sees LM as an equal
Subvert stereotypes
LM is not subservient
Odd way of referring to wife to contemporary audience

Question 32

His great love, sharp as his spur

Answer 32

Love is as sharp as his knife
Dramatic irony
LM is obsessed with gain of power
Ambition

Question 33

We’d jump the life to come

Answer 33

Macbeth realises he is going too far
Metaphor for someone trying to jump a large river
Use of royal plural
Ambition, power

Question 34

Bloody instructions… return to plague the inventor

Answer 34

Aware of how murder would open door to a sinful world
Dark imagery
Eye for an eye
M is afraid
Foreshadows his haunting and death

Question 35

Tears shall drown the wind

Answer 35

Demonstrates Duncan’s greatness
Hyperbole for public pain
People will truly miss Duncan- he is a good king, no reason for him to die

Question 36

Vaulting ambition

Answer 36

M harmitia
Typical convention of Greek tragedy
Understands his ambition has gone too far
Back to jump the life to come
His downfall- unchecked ambition- context of Gunpowder
Insufficient justification

Question 37

Was the hope drunk, wherein you dressed yourself

Answer 37

Mocking M, questioning faithfulness and if he is trustworthy
Gave the appearance he would go through with this plan
Implying he is a coward
Regrets his ambition- hangover, boastfulness is drunkenness
Dressed- clothes motif, how you present yourself to the world

Question 38

Bring forth men children only

Answer 38

LM is so full of determination and violence
Must be expressed through male child- she cannot show it
Inappropriate for her to act that way
M is aware of her power and subverting stereotypes

Question 39

Their candles are all out

Answer 39

Links to ‘stars hide your fires’
Dark setting- evil will begin
Foreshadows something dark
M desires with be fulfilled

Question 40

I think not of them

Answer 40

M lies to B
Hide ambition and supernatural connection
B is honest, but dismisses his ambition, making him a foil to M
Please king + audience

Question 41

Is this a dagger which I see before me

Answer 41

Ambiguous - is this a torment by the witches
Supernatural signs of guilt
Reminder to kill D
M stress and fear
Subconscious telling him to commit deed?
W create fear in audience
Fate vs free will
Women + supernatural have power over a high ranking male, fear in audience

Question 42

Tarquins ravishing strides

Answer 42

M is comparing himself to a Roman tyrant that operated in darkness
Parallels between two villains
M knows the magnitude of his deeds + that they are evil

Question 43

It was the owl that shrieked, the fatal bellman

Answer 43

Ill omen
Motif of birds and animals
Ms are no longer human, beastial imagery

Question 44

Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I’d have done it

Answer 44

LM now conforms to stereotypes
LM is dependant on M
She is emotional
Her power + bravery is decreasing

Question 45

I could not say amen

Answer 45

M is a devout Christian
Breaks Great Chain of Being
No longer good and undeserving of heaven
Regretful of his actions
Cannot be forgiven by God

Question 46

Sleep no more, Macbeth does murder sleep

Answer 46

Words from the witches- enjoying his torment
Punishment for sailor was lack of sleep- torturous
M has ruined innocence and safety
Broken xenia

Question 47

My hands are of your colour, but I shame to wear a heart so white

Answer 47

LM is as guilty as M, but doesn’t feel it
Bloodless, innocent, immature
Wishes she had committed the deed
M should be ashamed of himself

Question 48

If a man were porter of hell gate, he would have old turning the key

Answer 48

Comedic respite
M porter
Opens the door to hell for M
D is dead
Lots of evil in the castle

Question 49

A falcon towering in her pride of place, was by a mousing owl hawked and killed

Answer 49

Motif of birds
Falcon = D- great king
Imagery of death
M= owl, metaphor
Lower in food chain, unnatural death
Microcosmic affects of regicide
God has lashed out from GCOB
Shakespeare is dissuading the audience from ambition- unforgiven by God

Question 50

But hush, no more

Answer 50

B as a foil to M
Discards thoughts of disloyalty and acting in the witches interests
Please J
No ambition
Fate or free will
No action- future is foretold
M had to irk for nobility- B fate and M free will

Question 51

In his royalty of nature reigns that which would be feared

Answer 51

B has an overpowering natural nobility
Appease J
Foil to M
Loyalty is nobility
M feels unsafe and threatened by B
Knows that B deserves the crown