Sh Act 1 Flashcards
fair is foul and foul is fair; hover through the fog and filthy air
- Witches
rhyming paradoxical couplets spoken in incomplete trochaic tetrameter
ritualistic chant- otherworldly and mysterious and not like other characters(supernatural)
equivocation- purposefully confusing, linking to deception.
witches revel in chaos and disarray, not fitting into established world of order
fog and filthy air- concealing true intentions, blocking light and hiding true intentions
[sword] smoked with bloody execution
- Captain
unphased attitude towards cold, cruel killing
- rewarded quality for a soldier
merciless and brutal nature
like Valour’s minion carved out his passage
- Captain
descendant of bravery itself, personifying admirable attribute
- emphasise how he’s viewed as a hero
fighting for your country warrants respect
O valiant cousin, worthy gentlemen
- King
king himself holds Macbeth in high regards
- leads audience to believe he is a loyal and good man
kings opinion is very important
unseamed him from the nave to th’chaps
- Captain
associated with violence and shows he has no qualms with killing
firm believe in justice
already a slither of darkness festering inside
so foul and fair a day I have not seen
- Macbeth
mirrors witches chant
shows witches have control over Macbeth and his surrounding
their reign of disorder is intertwined with his life
ability of manipulation
that looks not like th’inihabitants o’th’earth / And yet are on’t
-Banquo
witches are agents of disarray
contemporary Jacobean audience associate witches with death, darkness and evil
Thane of Cawdor / All Hail Macbeth / that shallt be King hereafter
- witches
witches appeal to Macbeth’s lust for power and greed by prophesising
Stay you imperfect speakers, tell me more
- Macbeth
imperative language- Macbeth is used to have a firm hold on power
witches ignore command - unable to be tamed, slippery forces of nature, answer to no one but themselves
foreshadows how they will ruin his power and strength
the instruments of darkness tell us truths… to betray’s / in deepest consequence
-Banquo
B sees M is blind due to his his aspirations
M is won over easily by the promise of power and glory whereas B is cautious
considers witches are evil, tempting them down a dark path
Stars, hide your fires / Let not light see my black and deep desires
personification of his evil thoughts yearning for the throne
wants his ambitions to be kept secret
Light - connotations of goodness and purity, perhaps god
black - connotations of evil
why do I yield to that suggestion… [that] makes my seated heart knock at my ribs / Against the use of nature?
- Macbeth
goes against Great Chain of Being
contemplating committing regicide - shows glimpses of sinister side
prospect horrifies him but witches have planted the seed of the idea
he has a tendency to be influences
If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me/ Without my stir?
- Macbeth
maintained a calm, rational and logical mind
still loyal to the monarch, choosing not to kill him
the eye wink at the hand. Yet let that be / Which the eye fears when it is done to see
- Macbeth
distancing himself from the deeds he wishes to act out
thy nature; / It is too full o’th milk of human kindness
- Lady Macbeth
milk is linked to womanhood which Jacobean audience saw as a weakness
fears Macbeth doesn’t have what is takes to kill Duncan
- mercilessness
I may pour my spirits in thine ear / And chastise with the valor of my tongue
- Lady Macbeth
metaphor
will try to convince M to kill D
harsh and commanding
spirits are seen as minions of the devil
she’s associating her words with evil to represent the substance of her ideas she wishes to pass onto M
feels superior and in control
come you spirits… unsex me here
- Lady Macbeth
unlawful and wrong
femininity impedes her from manly acts of violence and cruelty
women viewed as weak and fragile, but Lady Macbeth needs to be as cold, calculating and brutal as possible
topfull / Of direst cruelty
take my milk for gall
- Lady Macbeth
juxtaposes conventions of stereotypical role of woman at the time
milk has connotations of nurturing and kindness when she needs ruthlessness
look like th’innocent flower, But be the serpent under’t
-Lady Macbeth
deception, hiding sinister intentions
alluding to the biblical story
- serpent is the symbol of treachery
appearance vs reality
belie devious and murderous plans
come thick night
nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark
- Lady Macbeth
doesn’t want to be plagued by shame and self-reproach
knows what they will do is sinful and immoral
God cannot see, otherwise they will be punished
against his murderer shut the door, / Not bear the knife myself
- Macbeth
should prevent his death rather than orchestrate it
simultaneously aware of duplicity and imbalance of proposed murder
his mortality comes into play
conflicted rambling
trumpet-tongued, against / The deep damnation of his taking off
- Macbeth
Duncan is a good and virtuous king
- would be a martyr whereas Macbeth would be the villainous monster
doom-laden imagery reflects biblical day of judgement
alliteration stresses the emotional distress and self-doubt
blow the horrid deed in every eye / That tears shall drown the wind
- Macbeth
conveys his paranoid overwrought emotion
hyperbolic metaphor
exemplifies remorse he experiences even before the murder
fearful of retribution
Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself/ And falls on the other
- Macbeth
Macbeth’s hamartia
sole motivation which he’s aware may be his downfall
made up his mind to not have a hand in his own undoing
- tempts him to bite off more than he can chew
dashed his brains out, had I so sworn
- Lady Macbeth
shame and insults Macbeth
graphic statement to show her violence and ambition
emasculates Macbeth
the raven itself is hoarse / That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
- Lady Macbeth
raven is an ill omen of death
distances herself from the actions
When you durst do it, then you were a man
- Lady Macbeth
belittling him into shame for not being strong enough to commit regicide
manipulation
