Themes Flashcards
How is the theme of unnatural behaviour shown through Macbeth?
He goes against the divine right of kings as it was thought that God appoints the next king; Macbeth decides to kill the current king to gain the throne therefore he doesn’t let the natural process take place..
He does not go to visit his dead wife
He has hallucinations of the ghost of Banquo
He is associated with the supernatural like the witches and he is then dehumanised by them
He experiences a lack of emotion towards the end of the play
What quotes show that Macbeth is unnatural?
"Never shake thy gory locks at me" "Devilish Macbeth" "Something wicked this way comes" "I have almost forgot the taste of fears" "Strange screams of death" "The night has been unruly"
How are the witches presented with the theme of unnatural behaviour?
They can cause storms and sink ships
They were thought to make people ill which suggests that they caused Macbeth’s and Lady Macbeth’s insanity
Their opinions also contradict those of a normal person’s like the audiences
They’re also very manipulative
Their speech resembles a chant or a nursery rhyme
They use unnatural ingredients
What quotes show the unnatural behaviour of the witches?
"Though his bark cannot be lost, Yet it shall be tempest toss'd" "Fair is foul and foul is fair" "Nose of Turk, and Tartar's lips, Finger of birth-strangl'd babe" "None of woman born Shall harm Macbeth"
How is unnatural behaviour shown through the character of Lady Macbeth?
She is a very commanding character which shows that she is the antithesis of a typical Jacobean woman who should be subservient to their husband.
She says that she would have killed her own child if she had sworn to.
She becomes insane towards the end of the play which is shown through her sleepwalking
She has a desire to acquire masculine attributes
She has the thought of killing King Duncan for her desire to be queen
Has links to the witches
Extremely manipulative and deceiving
What quotes show that Lady Macbeth has unnatural behaviour?
“Out damned spot! Out I say”
“That I may pour my spirits in thine ear”
“Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here
And fill me from the crown to the toe topfull
of direst cruelty;make thick my blood,
Stop up th’access and passage to remorse”
“Come to my woman’s breasts
And take my milk for gall”
“That my keen knife see not the wound it makes”
“Look like th’innocent flower
But be the serpent under’t”
“I would, while it was smiling in my face,
Have pluck’d my nipple from its boneless gums
And dash’d the brains out, had I so sworn”
“What, will these hands ne’er be clean?”
What are some examples of themes in the play?
Secrecy Violence Conflict Ambition Death Guilt Immorality Supernatural Insanity Fate Role Reversal Jealousy Power Extreme emotions Order/Disorder Fear Dreams/Visions/Nightmares Occult
What are Macbeth’s internal conflicts?
His conflict with his own conscience about the murder of Duncan. He could not decide whether he should murder him in order to get the crown,
“If chance will have me king, Why chance may crown me/ without my stir”, he is clearly vacillating with the thought of murder
His inner conflict is shown explicitly in Act 1 Scene 7 when he weighs not only the bad political consequences of the murder but also the moral values involved. Here, his inner conflict rises from Duncan’s trust of him.
When he has killed Duncan he is tortured by the thought of what he has done, he starts with every single noise. He wants to adopt hypocrisy, “False face must hide what the false heart doth know”. He is terribly conscientious that when the knocking commences, he says “Wake Duncan with thy knocking; I would thou could’st”
What quotes show the recurring theme of clothing?
“New honours come upon us like our strange garments”
“Why do you dress me in borrow’d robes?
