Verse 1 - Early Act I Flashcards
‘Brave’
ca1sf3 - F
Character/s
Captain
Act, Scene
1,2
AO1 - Full Quote
‘Brave Macbeth - he deserves that name’
AO2 - Simple
Adjective to emphasise Macbeth’s courage
AO2 - Full
The use of this adjective to describe Macbeth emphasises his courage and loyalty to the King, he does patriotic actions for Duncan so the King and audience know Macbeth is chivalrous and is introduced as a positive character,
AO3
Shakespeare is suggesting this is how everyone should be, brave and loyal to the King.
‘Noble Macbeth’
ca1sf3 - F
Character/s
Duncan
Act, Scene
1,2
AO1 - Full Quote
‘What we hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won’
AO2 - Simple
Juxtapostion of a traitorous thane and a noble thane
AO2 - Full
He is referring to the Thane of Cawdor creating a juxtaposition between two thanes, one was dishonourable and a traitor and the other loyal and brave. In 1,1 the Witches reminded us ‘when the battle’s won and lost’. Macbeth’s inheritance of the title of once a traitor is somewhat a ‘poisoned chalice’, victory and defeat are so closely related and emphasise how easy it is to win as it is to lose, thus foreshadowing Macbeth’s downfall.
AO3
Jacobeans believe in the wheel of fortune. At any given point you could be at the top of the wheel succeeding or at the bottom failing. But the wheel continues to turn. Now MB is approaching the top but he won’t remain there. The beheading of the former Thane of Cawdor foreshadows Macduff beheading Macbeth.
‘Thane of Glamis’
‘Thane of Cawdor’
‘Shalt be King hereafter’
ca1sf3 - F
Character/s
The Witches
Act, Scene
1,3
AO1 - Full Quote
‘All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!’
‘All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!’
‘All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!’
AO2 - Simple
Foreshadowing and plays on Macbeth’s ambition
AO2 - Full
The witches are playing on Macbeth’s ambition and planting the idea of murder in his head. This scene is significant for the whole play in that it works as foreshadowing. Also, the prophecy is the major cause of Macbeth’s tragedy. Macbeth’s personality is changed because of the witches’ prophecy and nothing would have happened if Macbeth didn’t hear those three lines by The Witches.
AO3
Don’t trust witches or the supernatural, it’ll trick you and could go as far as you to commit regicide.
‘Dress me in borrow’d robes’
ca1sf - F
Character/s
Macbeth
Act, Scene
1,3
AO1 - Full Quote
‘The Thane of Cawdor lives: Why do you dress me in borrow’d robes?’
AO2 - Simple
Foreshadows Macbeth’s similar fate of the Thane of Cawdor
AO2 - Full
Macbeth’s query, ‘Why do you dress me in borrow’d robes?’, is part of a chain of repeated clothing imagery that carries through the play, creating one of the many motifs in Macbeth. Being dressed in ‘borrowed robes’ suggests that Macbeth has acquired the title ‘Thane of Cawdor’ when it does not belong to him. The echo of Duncan’s couplet ending the previous scene, which links Macbeth’s success with the former Cawdor’s death, also foreshadows Macbeth’s similar fate later in the play.
AO3
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‘Win us with honest trifles’
ca1sf3 - T
Character/s
Banquo
Act, Scene
1,3
AO1 - Translation
‘They earn our trust by telling us the truth about the little things’
AO2 - Simple
They’re tricking us with a small truth
AO2 - Full
Banquo believes that it is possible that the Weird Sisters told Macbeth one small truth (an “honest trifle”) so that they could trick him into believing whatever else they say: that he would become king and that Banquo would father kings.
AO3
The supernatural and witches can’t be trusted, they use little lies to draw you in.
‘Horrid image doth unfix my hair’
ca1sf - //
Character/s
Macbeth
Act, Scene
1,3
AO1 - Full Quote or Translation
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AO2 - Simple
Hair stands on end of thinking about regicide
AO2 - Full
He knows that for him to become king, Duncan must die, and at this point in the play, he is already considering murder. The ‘‘horrid image’’ is that of killing Duncan, and the thought ‘‘doth unfix my hair’’ means it makes his hair stand on end to think of killing Duncan for the throne.
AO3
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