Supernatural Flashcards
‘Fair is foul and foul is fair’
Language= paradox/chiasmus. The witches predict MB will be king which is good but lead him to commit murder which is evil, in order to achieve his ambition to be king. Shows equivocation of witches
‘instruments of darkness’
Language = metaphor. Banquo realises the witches could be evil agents of the devil and tempt MB to commit sin.
Context = reflects James 1’s belief in witches as evil agents, described in his book ‘Daemonologie’. Shakespeare flatters his patron the king by including a subject in which he was interested.
‘thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold’
Deeper meaning = the ghost is not just supernatural, it
is a projection of his guilty conscience after murdering Banquo.
Reader response = ghost terrifies audience; also a warning of how murderers will be punished – dead will come back to haunt them.
Context = Gunpowder Plot.
‘by the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes’
Language = rhyming couplet. The know MB has become as evil as they are.
Context = It was believed witches could sense the approach of evil.
‘artificial sprites… shall draw him on in his confusion’
The witches decide to deceive Macbeth about his future to punish him.
Reader response/ interpretations:
Audience may feel MB deserves punishment for his evil or feel sympathy as he shouldn’t have trusted the witches
‘juggling fiends’
Language = metaphor. MB realises he has been deceived by the witches as agents for the devil and that he has damned his soul to Hell for murdering a king.
Context = Divine Right of Kings. Punishment from God.
Topic sentence 1 about hamartia
The witches are the catalysts for the action, and they exploit Macbeth’s hamartia – his ambition.
Topic sentence 2 about Banquo and trust
Banquo is less trusting of the witches and cautions Macbeth that they might have evil intentions.
Topic sentence 3 about ghosts
The supernatural also occurs in the appearance of Banquo’s ghost.
Topic sentence 4 about deception
Later in the play, the witches recognise Macbeth’s evil, and seek to deceive him.
Topic sentence 5 about souls
At the end of the play, Macbeth realises he has been deceived, and the witches have led him to damn his soul.
