Year 10 Assessment - Macbeth’s State Of Mind Flashcards
ACT ONE SCENE 2
‘Except they meant to bathe in reeling wounds, or memorise another Golgotha’
• Golgotha was where Jesus was crucified, so this religious imagery suggests Macbeth is killing in a Christian manner (for their country) - (link to Paganism later, betrayal/abandonment of God)
• verb ‘memorise’ has connotations with relishing/enjoying the mental return to an experience - foreshadows future addiction to bloodlust and implies an aspect of his hamartia is this infatuation with blood. Also could be giving the impression of a psychopath - Shakespeare is challenging the idea that sadistic tendencies could be the result of a martial society, not simply M’s guilty actions/sins as this occurs in Act One (before regicide)
• sergeant imagines that M wants to bathe in his wounds (graphic imagery) - a mark of efficacy of killing. Juxtaposed by the adjectives, ‘valiant’ and ‘worthy’, shows you gain respect through violence
• Shakespeare shows the natural consequence of breeding a war-like man in a war-like society. Suggesting to King James I and nobles to move away from conflict, campaign for peaceful society ruled by civic law (especially after gun-powder plot )
ACT TWO SCENE 1 - IS THIS A DAGGER…
Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee
• posed as a rhetorical question to create ambiguity and the uncertainty of the necromancy - beginning of M’s spiralling
• breaks iambic pentameter on the 11th and 12th syllable, frequently used by Shakespeare to convey something deeply evil or wrong taking place
• dagger is metaphorical imagery for M’s troubled conscience which he cannot control or ‘clutch’ - personifying murders as if it isn’t in his control (abdicating responsibility as he can’t cope with it, ref. to scene 4) foreshadowing his spiral as admitting he isn’t strong enough
• address of ‘thee’ shows inferior status, but this is contradicted by requesting permission which assumes the dagger has powers (can’t control impulses, yet another indication of psychotic tendencies) quote also refers to act 2 scene 2 when he can’t let go and physically brings the daggers, LM has to take them away (‘why did you bring these daggers from the place?’) could be interpreted as metaphor of guilt OR of his addiction to bloodshed/action of killing, from this point on M truly indulges his repressed passion and capability and psychotic tendencies spiral to madness/deep mental illness
ACT 2 SCENE 1- NATURE
‘Nature seems dead’ - ‘nature’ should be a contrary force to his hallucinations but to M it ‘seems dead’ and allows ‘wicked dreams’ to deceive sleeping man indicating that he is hallucinating still. Also foreshadows the strange happenings of nature that will occur due to divine order being disrupted. Also uses present tense - interesting as Shakespeare could be referring to the gun powder plot as well as conflict in the Jacobean era, an absence of God implied in societies values and actions. Demonises and deters actions against the King
ACT TWO SCENE 1
‘With Tarquin’s ravishing strides’ - allusion of Tarquin who was a Roman King who murdered his kin - adds to graphic imagery and violence, also reinforces his fantasies of killing. Although his ambition acts as a ‘spur’ M sees his hamartia as his bloodlust (also a Pagan or classical reference, not Christian to show M’s rejection of religious values and abandonment of God, now worshipping evil spirits such as ‘Pale Hecate’ the goddess of witchcraft. Similar theme to LM of corruption by evil spirits ‘come, you spirits’ (‘heaven or hell’ - equal opportunities as he doesn’t believe in them or the consequences, this is why he commits) )
‘the bell invites me’ - abdicates responsibility because he can’t cope with the guilt. Bell is a motif - seen in Act 5 scene 5 before the battle, ‘ring the alarum bell’ imperative verb ‘ring’ contrasts as demonstrates control over actions, M is no longer afraid or doubtful of consequences, welcomes tragic end and murder, lost sense of guilt and shame
ACT 2 SCENE TWO - SLEEP
• personification of sleep in semantic field, ‘knits’ ‘innocent’ ‘care’ all relate to femininity. M sees sleep as a restorative and female presence - has killed his feminine sense when he killed Duncan (emotional sympathies, meekness, pacifism etc) which allows his chaotic ambition of ambition and bloodlust to become tragically intensified. Lost other states of being, now only one focus of his mind. Also trochaic stress here breaks the iambic pentameter and yet again emphasises distress
ACT TWO SCENE 2
‘I hear a knocking’ - knock is also a motif, first appears (Act 1 Scene 3). Knock symbolises the reality outside of the gate away from the dark, goulish atmosphere of cold calculations and insane ramblings. Audience is woken from the dark revelry - makes deed raw real and far more shocking to them. Symbolic of how the outside world is now involved in/poisoned by these deeds, similarly to how the GPP caused a chain effect of events and deaths because of betrayal and the spreading of ideas/riots. Shakespeare brings awareness to negative consequences of conspiracy.
‘great Neptune’s ocean’ - pre-Christian God, once Duncan is killed M turns away from any ideas involving Christianity. Also refers to how fountains and grand statues were common as an image of water cleansing our sins. M is the foil of baptism (Christian idea) by instead indulging in sins.
This is reiterated in Act 2 Scene 3 - when Lennox says ‘the night has been unruly:where we lay’ lamentations heard suggest that all of nature is in turmoil (GCOB). We are reminded that the Jacobeans believed in divine order and a crime against the King was therefore a crime against God. The belief was linked to Satan’s rebellion against God in the bible. Satan was deemed responsible for unrest and it was believe that he worked through witches and evil spirits to attack divine order. So here we are made aware that M is now on the side of evil and foreshadows events during M’s reign such as Act 3 Scene 4. There will be a ‘dire combustion’, explored further in
Act 2 Scene 4. Also mimics gunpowder plot, evil spirit link, flattering James I beliefs and stigmatising protest against the King.
AMBIGUOUS - Roman God - sees life as Romans did (a tragedy) so murders Duncan despite knowing his fate, willing to die for bloodshed. Again ref. to extensive military focus in the country and these tragic ends are a warning from S, but could also be interpreted as M not truly believing there will be consequences of his actions - beginning stem of arrogance, later emphasised by second set of prophecies and another contribution to his fatal flaws.
Act 3 Scene 4 - ‘gory locks’
‘Thou canst not say I did it; never shake thy gory locks at me!’
• address of Banquo’s ghost - themes of necromancy, this shows deteriorating mind to the audience
• still repressing extent of his guilt as he immediately denies responsibility - shifts his own corruption onto someone else’s conscience - still in denial/ignorant of God’s omniscience
• juxtaposed by graphic imagery, ‘gory locks’ - although could be seen as a confession to the brutality of regicide, could interpret it as Jesus at his crucifixion on the hill of Golgotha
• symbolic of God’s disappointment and disdain to M - ‘stars’ have recognised his sins and he will be punished
• kills going forward anyway - stressed his addiction, can’t stop no matter the weight of the consequences
ACT 3 SCENE 4 - thy bones…
• reference of cold blood - ironic as we see M is truly the cold blooded ‘butcher’, further reinforces lack of human empathies and suggest he doesn’t feel guilt at all
• juxtaposed by plosives (‘b’) which mirror sense of shock about being attack , also emphasise guilt as he is haunted by the murder and action of killing
• ‘tiger’ ‘bear’ ‘thy sword’ - common theme Shakespeare reiterates, M would rather face ruthless predators than deal with the psychological impact of guilt. Again emphasises the complicated emotions and psychological impacts of the country producing ruthless men who are desensitised with the action of killing despite not understanding the true consequences, and cannot handle the plague of their guilt and emotions afterwards
ACT 4 SCENE 1
‘that will never be’ - M’s hubris and arrogance is fully indulged in this scene - no longer possesses ability to think logically or beyond murder, ‘I’ll make assurance double’ and blatantly ignores the literal depiction of his tragic end, ‘an armed head’, shows mine has deteriorated beyond ordinary functioning.
ACT 5 SCENE 5
M’S MONOLOGUE
‘she should have died hereafter’ - treats death as a burden as opposed to grief, due to his fixation/excitement of the prospect of killing. Lost all humanity. Interesting to compare to Act 2 Scene 3 when he bluffs an extremely emotional response to Duncan’s death, ‘all is but toys…this vault to brag of’ shocking contrats emphasises the extent of M’s emotional deterioration and how killing has made him desensitised to loss and grief/death
‘tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow’ - repetition shows pointless succession of days (because God has abandoned him) dismissed as he knows he will have a tragic end - repeated by ‘we’ll die’ is he truly so unempathetic in nature he feels nothing about the prospect of his tragedy, other than welcoming bloodlust?
‘out out, brief candle’ - eradicating and rejecting light. not only submitting to the darkness but actively resenting goodness and Christianity. Light acts as a motif - we see all his acts of murder committed in darkness, or a reference to the darkness of his mind. While LM craved the light and tried to turn back towards God, away from her husbands actions, M is the antithesis and indulges in darkness. Summarises his last moments, submitting to his fate and unleashing the anticipation of bloodshed.
ACT 5 SCENE 8
‘Macbeth slain’ - cyclical ending as the GCOB is restored. Strangely anti-climactic revelation from the stage directions, M is finally revealing the truth of death, murder and war - it is not valiant or glorious, or as heroic as M initially portrays it to be. M dies brutally, completely unromantically, with no family or friends. Reflects how he has deteriorated so far that he had entered a place of having no mourners. God had abandoned him also (heaven and Earth) ‘damned’ in final soliloquy shows he has been damned to Hell
Act 3 Scene 2
‘ o full of scorpions is my mind’
• double stress of ‘o full’ breaks the iambic pentameter to express something is deeply wrong
• metaphor ´ scorpions’ suggest he is being attacked and poisoned - denying responsibility and putting it on unnamed forces
• also shows he is surrounded by powerful thanes who could turn on him - theme of paranoia is explored
• violent - kill their family, corrupt, ugly - his mind is ugly, shows how truly grotesque his mind has become due to the poisonous ambition leading him to become addicted to bloodshed
• consistency of symbolism would suggest he would use ‘be the serpent under’t’, but can’t see himself as evil
• Jacobean era would expect him to be punished - here we see his own mind has turned on him
