Sh Act 1

Question 1

fair is foul and foul is fair; hover through the fog and filthy air

• Witches

Answer 1

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

Question 2

[sword] smoked with bloody execution

• Captain

Answer 2

unphased attitude towards cold, cruel killing
- rewarded quality for a soldier

merciless and brutal nature

Question 3

like Valour’s minion carved out his passage

• Captain

Answer 3

descendant of bravery itself, personifying admirable attribute
- emphasise how he’s viewed as a hero

fighting for your country warrants respect

Question 4

O valiant cousin, worthy gentlemen

• King

Answer 4

king himself holds Macbeth in high regards
- leads audience to believe he is a loyal and good man

kings opinion is very important

Question 5

unseamed him from the nave to th’chaps

• Captain

Answer 5

associated with violence and shows he has no qualms with killing

firm believe in justice

already a slither of darkness festering inside

Question 6

so foul and fair a day I have not seen

• Macbeth

Answer 6

mirrors witches chant

shows witches have control over Macbeth and his surrounding

their reign of disorder is intertwined with his life

ability of manipulation

Question 7

that looks not like th’inihabitants o’th’earth / And yet are on’t

-Banquo

Answer 7

witches are agents of disarray

contemporary Jacobean audience associate witches with death, darkness and evil

Question 8

Thane of Cawdor / All Hail Macbeth / that shallt be King hereafter

• witches

Answer 8

witches appeal to Macbeth’s lust for power and greed by prophesising

Question 9

Stay you imperfect speakers, tell me more

• Macbeth

Answer 9

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

Question 10

the instruments of darkness tell us truths… to betray’s / in deepest consequence

-Banquo

Answer 10

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

Question 11

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

Answer 11

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

Question 12

why do I yield to that suggestion… [that] makes my seated heart knock at my ribs / Against the use of nature?

• Macbeth

Answer 12

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

Question 13

If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me/ Without my stir?

• Macbeth

Answer 13

maintained a calm, rational and logical mind

still loyal to the monarch, choosing not to kill him

Question 14

the eye wink at the hand. Yet let that be / Which the eye fears when it is done to see

• Macbeth

Answer 14

distancing himself from the deeds he wishes to act out

Question 15

thy nature; / It is too full o’th milk of human kindness

• Lady Macbeth

Answer 15

milk is linked to womanhood which Jacobean audience saw as a weakness

fears Macbeth doesn’t have what is takes to kill Duncan
- mercilessness

Question 16

I may pour my spirits in thine ear / And chastise with the valor of my tongue

• Lady Macbeth

Answer 16

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

Question 17

come you spirits… unsex me here

• Lady Macbeth

Answer 17

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

Question 18

topfull / Of direst cruelty

take my milk for gall

• Lady Macbeth

Answer 18

juxtaposes conventions of stereotypical role of woman at the time

milk has connotations of nurturing and kindness when she needs ruthlessness

Question 19

look like th’innocent flower, But be the serpent under’t

-Lady Macbeth

Answer 19

deception, hiding sinister intentions

alluding to the biblical story
- serpent is the symbol of treachery

appearance vs reality

belie devious and murderous plans

Question 20

come thick night

nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark

• Lady Macbeth

Answer 20

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

Question 21

against his murderer shut the door, / Not bear the knife myself

• Macbeth

Answer 21

should prevent his death rather than orchestrate it

simultaneously aware of duplicity and imbalance of proposed murder

his mortality comes into play

conflicted rambling

Question 22

trumpet-tongued, against / The deep damnation of his taking off

• Macbeth

Answer 22

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

Question 23

blow the horrid deed in every eye / That tears shall drown the wind

• Macbeth

Answer 23

conveys his paranoid overwrought emotion

hyperbolic metaphor

exemplifies remorse he experiences even before the murder

fearful of retribution

Question 24

Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself/ And falls on the other

• Macbeth

Answer 24

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

Question 25

dashed his brains out, had I so sworn

• Lady Macbeth

Answer 25

shame and insults Macbeth

graphic statement to show her violence and ambition

emasculates Macbeth

Question 26

the raven itself is hoarse / That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan

• Lady Macbeth

Answer 26

raven is an ill omen of death

distances herself from the actions

Question 27

When you durst do it, then you were a man

• Lady Macbeth

Answer 27

belittling him into shame for not being strong enough to commit regicide

manipulation