Violence Flashcards
Topic sentence 1:
At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is presented as a violent but brave warrior.
‘bellona’s bridegroom’
‘carved out his passage’
like valour’s miniom’
‘Bellona’s bridegroom… unseated him from the nave to the chaps’
L= Metaphor. MB is compared to the husband of the Goddess of War. However, his brutal violence is seen as noble and brave because he is a loyal subject fighting for his king on the battlefield
‘Carved out his passage’
L= verb. brutal. and violent I = skilled
‘like valour’s minion’
L= simile. represent courage like right hand man
Topic sentence 2
TS2: Lady Macbeth calls upon evil spirits to enable her to become a violent murderess.
‘come to my woman’s breasts and are my milk for gall’
‘come spirits… unsex me here’
‘Come to my woman’s breasts and take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers’
L- alliteration emphasizes desire fem. nurturing to violent and murderous. Also says rather dash baby’s brains out
C = LMB subvertes Jacobean ideals of women as gentle and maternal
R = shocking to both audiences
‘come spirits…unsex me here’
Needs to be given masculine qualities to be brave and violent
I = qualities or cruelty not innate for her
c = women culturally coded to be nurtering
R = shocking
Topic sentence 3
Macbeth realises that his violent acts must lead to more violence.
‘I am in blood sipped in so far…returning were as tedious as go o’er’
‘give to the edge of the sword his wife, his babes’
‘I am in blood stepped in so far… returning were as tedious as go o’er’
L = imagery of river, MB thinks pointless to feel guilt; responsible for lots of murders - can't be undone so pointless to feel guilty; may as well continue to murder anyone who threatens him. R = pity for him as he cannot redeem himself. c = AC Bradley tragic hero: fatal floor, battles w conscience, audience pity, dies
‘give to the edge of the sword his wife, his babes’
L = emotive language. MB punishes Macduff’s family because Macduff has fled to England to raise an army with Malcolm. R = despise for murdering innocent
Topic sentence 4
At the end of the play, Macbeth has resigned himself to a violent death and is denounced as a violent ‘butcher’.
‘our country sinks beneath the yoke…it weeps, it bleeds’
‘ill fight till from my bones my flesh be hacked’
‘Our country sinks beneath the yoke…it weeps, it bleeds’
L = personification. Scotland represented as a suffering slave/ beast of burden under MB’s violent dictatorship. People are regularly dying as MB becomes more paranoid.
R =audience realise MB must be stopped; his reign is violently destroying the whole country.
‘I’ll fight till from my bones my flesh be hacked’
L = violent verbs. MB dies as he began the play – fighting. R = creates pathos for the audience - pity as he was once a great man but catharsis – relief as we know he must die. C = message of warning – violent murderers will be punished (Gunpowder Plot). C = AC Bradley's definition of a tragic hero
