Quote Analysis Macbeth Flashcards
In thunder lightning or in rain
Pathetic fallacy- ominous, chaos, reflects negative stigma of supernatural, immediately creates them as evil
When the battles lost, and won
Caesura suggests that some strange food will come of the death
Foreboding
In the witches own interest
Bad things will come of it
Set of sun
Metaphor- death of Duncan (dusk), Macbeth’s tyranny (night), Fleance and James (day)
Darker end is coming
Foreshadowing tragedy and danger
Fair is foul and foul is fair
Recurring paradox
Sense of uncertainty- equivocation
Speaking their own language
Duncan death= foul to LM+M death=fair
Prophecy
Swarm upon him
Enemy is described with insect imagery
Macbeth is left from this
Nothing can tarnish his image
Enemy is feeble compared to Macbeth
Yes as sparrows eagles or the hare the lion
Are not afraid
Happy to die for their king- loyal
They have natural superiority to the enemy
Predatory- huge power
Memorise another Golgotha
Christ’s crucifixion- huge sacrifice and blood
Loyalty to their King
Macbeth’s blood thirst foreshadows his tyranny
Bloody man
Duncan opens with a joke
Contemporary audience would not laugh at King
Duncan doesn’t mind
Perfect king
Valour’s minion
Follower of personified courage
Introduces Macbeth as pure and good
Sounds strong
Makes downfall harder for the audience
Smoked with bloody execution
Violent graphic imagery
Warrior culture of 11th century
Humbleness- Macbeth doesn’t advertise himself
Patriotic
Belladonnas bridegroom
Roman God of war- warrior incarnate
Foreshadows the future
Macbeth can do no wrong
Winning and losing are irrevocably tied
If you look into the seeds of time
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
If you look into the seeds of time
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
The Earth hath bubbles as the water has
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
So foul and fair a day I have not seen
Immediately links Macbeth to the witches
At best, he may have a vulnerability
At worst, he may have a natural affinity with them
Would they have stay’d
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
Why do you dress me in borrowed robes
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
Why do you dress me in borrowed robes
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
What! Can the devil speak true?
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
Instruments of darkness
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
Nor must be known no less
Creates Banquo as a foil
Both start on an equal level- it is their actions that differ them
Prince of Cumberland, that is a step on which I must fall down or else over leap
We fear for the prince
Introduces Macbeths ambition- Malcolm is in the way of the throne
Dramatic irony that creates tension
Stars, hide your fires, let not light see my black and deep desires
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
The service and loyalty I owe, in doing it, pays itself
Flattering King Duncan
Trying to throw suspicion off of himself
Dramatic irony, reward is kingship
Macbeth is being sycophantic
It is too full of the milk of human kindness
Macbeth is too loyal to kill Duncan
Milk, purity, white, weakness, femininity- gender role
LM first words are evil
Art not without ambition, but without the illness
Ambition was looked down upon
He is not noble
Macbeth doesn’t have the necessary evil
LM does- she is already plotting
That I may pour my spirits in thine ear
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
The raven himself is hoarse
Compares attendant to bird of ill omen
Found on battlefield eating carrion
The castle is the next battlefield- where Duncan will die
Unsex me here… and take my milk for gall
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
Leave all the rest to me
LM takes responsibility for planning the murder
Subverts stereotypes
M is presented as feminine- rational
LM as masculine- emotional
My dearest partner of greatness
M sees LM as an equal
Subvert stereotypes
LM is not subservient
Odd way of referring to wife to contemporary audience
His great love, sharp as his spur
Love is as sharp as his knife
Dramatic irony
LM is obsessed with gain of power
Ambition
We’d jump the life to come
Macbeth realises he is going too far
Metaphor for someone trying to jump a large river
Use of royal plural
Ambition, power
Bloody instructions… return to plague the inventor
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
Tears shall drown the wind
Demonstrates Duncan’s greatness
Hyperbole for public pain
People will truly miss Duncan- he is a good king, no reason for him to die
Vaulting ambition
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
Was the hope drunk, wherein you dressed yourself
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
Bring forth men children only
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
Their candles are all out
Links to ‘stars hide your fires’
Dark setting- evil will begin
Foreshadows something dark
M desires with be fulfilled
I think not of them
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
Is this a dagger which I see before me
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
Tarquins ravishing strides
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
It was the owl that shrieked, the fatal bellman
Ill omen
Motif of birds and animals
Ms are no longer human, beastial imagery
Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I’d have done it
LM now conforms to stereotypes
LM is dependant on M
She is emotional
Her power + bravery is decreasing
I could not say amen
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
Sleep no more, Macbeth does murder sleep
Words from the witches- enjoying his torment
Punishment for sailor was lack of sleep- torturous
M has ruined innocence and safety
Broken xenia
My hands are of your colour, but I shame to wear a heart so white
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
If a man were porter of hell gate, he would have old turning the key
Comedic respite
M porter
Opens the door to hell for M
D is dead
Lots of evil in the castle
A falcon towering in her pride of place, was by a mousing owl hawked and killed
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
But hush, no more
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
In his royalty of nature reigns that which would be feared
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
