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Theme Extracts Quotations Methods Context Supernatural Act 4 scene 1 1- 1i 1- Double double... Finger of a birth strangled babe... Fair is foul... Repetition Couplets Trochaic tetrameter Incantatory quality Part of the witches’ infernal brew; interesting contrast with the previous scene (the state banquet); here the supernatural world hosts its own satanic gathering. The horrible brew contains the lowest of creatures, poison, and dismembered bodily parts. Foreshadows Macbeth’s violence against children, reminder of ‘fruitless crown’ Equivocation/chiasmus/ deception. Macbeth fails Daemonologie – James I Fear of supernatural/women Evil and chaos - disorder
1.iii 46- Thunder and lightning Three witches All hail Macbeth that shalt be king Thou shalt get kings tho thou be none And be these juggling fiends no more believed that palter with us in a double sense Look how our partners’ rapt withal to see/read/think clearly; his fatal error is that he cannot recognise equivocation. Pathetic fallacy/ atmosphere of chaos Prophecies fuel Macbeth’s ambition and paranoia; witches’ language is deliberately equivocal; Macbeth is instantly “rapt” - enchanted by their power and his ambition ignited. Macbeth recognises too late that the witches are agents of the devil “instruments of darkness” something which Banquo
(A tale told by an idiot Signifying nothing I gin to be aweary of the sun) What will these hands ne’er be clean Out damn spot- sleepwalking Will all the perfumes of Arabia sweeten this little hand Water/hand motif Sleeplessness motif Blood motif Chaos and Disorder Act 3 scene 4 9- Act 5 scene 5 9- The ghost’s presence at the feast “I am bound in/To saucy doubts and fears...” Entry of ghost of Banquo Entry of murderer “the table is full” Out out brief candle Tomorrow and tomorrow Imagery of constriction – physical and psychic Repetition/ irregular lines/ order has gone Disorder of society – public event disrupted - regicide and attack on God leads to the destruction of the GCOB. Gunpowder plot.
Act 2 scene 4 1 - and tomorrow Signifying nothing Dark nigh strangles the travelling lamp... A falcon towering in her pride of place.... When you durst do it then you were a man An owl shrieks Bleed, bleed poor country Images of nature disrupted - nature out of order/ imagery of violence/ornithological motif Deception Act 2iii 1-19/60-79 Here’s an equivocator that could swear in both the scale against either scale Prose – comments meta- theatrically on the play’s themes of appearance and reality and equivocation Gunpowder Plot – Catholic sedition – evil provokes political violence
Bravery/Heroism 1.ii. 7- 5 viiii 5- 5 viii 25- All’s too weak for brave M As sparrows eagles the hare the lion Valour’s minion Like a man he died I will not yield to kiss the ground before Malcolm’s feet Lay on Macduff Characterisation as hero/ is it bravery or thirst for extreme violence – he becomes a hell-kite Bravery personified - compare with ‘dead butcher’ Young Siward - honour of son’s death - key indicator of masculinity; heroism has shifted away from Macbeth to other thanes - Macduff – image of him carrying Macbeth’s head on stage Macbeth’s fear of humiliation; lost all but his pride; pride means nothing now, he’s only referred to as a tyrant; Chivalric code: the bonds of loyalty between king and thanes. King’s generosity/thanes loyalty. Macbeth manipulates his position and relationshiop with the king. WOrks for himself rather than abiding by laws of chivalry. Renaissance humanism. Evil 4i 1-38 “in the poisoned entrails throw” - Macbeth has Ambition leads Macbeth to commit acts of extreme evil. Evil also
Iv 1i 1- poisoned Scotland/his mind has been poisoned/ link to “filthy air 1i “birth-strangled babe” Violent image of death; imagery of infertility; link to Macbeth’s lack of an heir. Plosive sounds add to atmosphere of evil and menace. Come thick night ... Soliloquy; hellish imagery; motif of darkness. IMperatives. Invokes forces of evil. Significance of number 3
- 3 witches; pervsion of religious symbol of holy trinity. The raven himself is hoarse that croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan; symbolism of raven; bad omen; link to other ornithological imagery; attack on Macduff’s family wren; Macbeth as provoked by Lady M. He fails to acknowledge the source of evil until the final act: I begin to doubt the equivocation o the fiend/ Juggling fiends no more believed that palter with us in a double sense. Equivocation contexts - eg Gunpowder plot.
Act 1 scene 3 116- Act 4 scene 1 132- The very firstlings... how desperate Mac is to keep throne; plan to kill Macduff’s fam; resorts to killing innocents - TYRANT reaction to the thought of becoming king; he knows regicide is wrong how desperate Mac is to keep throne; plan to kill Macduff’s fam; resorts to killing innocents - TYRANT Loyalty Act 1 scene 7 lines 1-28 He’s here in double trust Soliloquy; insight into M’s thoughts; uses heavenly imagery to depict Duncan’s sacred status; M sinning against God; fearful of hell and punishment both on Chivalric code; Gunpowder plot
Act 4 scene 3 91- Act 1 scene 4 lines 12- So clear in his great office that his virtues will plead like angels against the deep damnation of his taking off Child of integrity hath from my soul wiped the black scruples; thy royal father was a most sainted king He was a gentleman on whom I built an absolute trust The Prince of C that is a step on which I must fall down or else o’er leap NO more that Thane of Cawdor shall receive our bosom interest Confusion now hath made his earth and in the afterlife. Plosives emphasise the horror of murdering a king; Loyalty expects loyalty from his thanes; completely trusts them - Duncan’s naivety. Interesting structure of scene which contrasts ideas of loyalty and betrayal. Duncan’s body figured as a sacred place; a
Bleed bleed poor country Of horrid hell a devil more damned in evil to top Macbeth No cousin I’ll to Fife Oh horror horror horror Enter Macduff carrying Macbeth’s head of manhood and Macduff embraces that. Macbeth does not show his emotion in the second half of the play. Banquo and Macbeth Kingship
Violence
