Themes and context

Question 1

Quotes about the Natural Order (Macbeth)

Answer 1

Witches- “I would say you were women but your beards forbid me to interpret so” = Banquo observes this of the witches when he sees them, makes them seem to break the borders of gender

Lay Macbeth- “Unsex me here” = asks to have all gender roles removed from her, so that she wouldn’t feel bad when having her husband murder Duncan

Question 2

quotes about masculinity (Macbeth)

Answer 2

Macbeth- “when you durst to do it, then you were a man” = Macbeth spends quite a lot of the play trying to prove that he’s a man, his wife challenges him by claiming that he’s not a real man unless he kills Duncan

Macduff- “Feel it as a man” = after finding out that his wife and child have been murdered, Malcolm tells him to “dispute it like a man.” Malcolm is both encouraging Macduff to join him in his battle against Macbeth, and he is reminding him that it is his male duty to avenge himself.

Question 3

Quotes about social class (An Inspector Calls)

Answer 3

Mr. Birling- “Perhaps I ought to warn you that the inspector is an old friend of mine, and that I see him fairly frequently” = He tries to intimidate the inspector by using his relationships with other upper class men
- he sees Eva as just one of “several hundred young women” who work at his factory, he says “I don’t know they keep changing” highlighting the vulnerability of the working class in those times, something that was sociably accepted
Mrs. Birling- refers to Eva saying “Girls of that class”, the determiner “that” highlights how she sees the working class as being fundamentally different to her
Sheila- Birling like a lot of the upper class, simply use Eva as cheap labour, Sheila argues against this recognising that there is more to Eva than just her class, “but they’re not cheap labour, they’re people”

Question 4

quotes about guilt (Macbeth)

Answer 4

Macbeth- “i had most need of blessing, and ‘Amen’ stuck in my throat” = Macbeth must have said a prayer but cannot say Amen which suggests that God cannot bless him as what they believed was that God picks whos king.
- “methought I heard a voice cry ‘sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep!’, the innocent sleep” = not being able to sleep is a common result of feeling guilty. ‘sleep no more…sleep’ in connotations and “heard a voice cry” both suggest that its the witches who are doing this to Macbeth, as they did the same to a sailor in the beginning. So is Macbeth feeling guilty or is he being forces to feel guilty because of the witches magic?
Lady Macbeth- “out, damned spot! Out I say!” = here she is sleepwalking and trying to wash the blood from her hands. Most common argument is that she cannot escape what shes done

Question 5

Quotes about ambition (Macbeth)

Answer 5

Macbeth- “Black and deep desires” = shows his evil ambition, his hopes for the future, are evil
- “tow truths are told” = realizes that the prophies are coming true, starts wondering about the last prophecy
Lady Macbeth- “look like th’innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t” = shows how she wants Macbeth to play the perfect host as not to give away his evil intentions
- “but in them natures copys not eterne” = she tells her husband that life doesnt last forever and to get over Duncans death