Violence in macbeth

Violence in macbeth

1. Macbeth

   • ‘Till he unseam’d him from the nave to th’ chops, And fix’d his head upon our battlements’ — Act I, scene 2
     • before we even meet Macbeth, he has sliced someone in half and chopped his head off as a prize
     • Celebrated by the king
       • O valiant cousin! worthy gentleman!
         • "worthy" is the key word that demonstrates that morally the people thought it was right to kill for country
   • Violence is definitely linked to power in the play: the most successful king seems to be the one who is the best at killing. What this means is that the world of Macbeth is caught in a repeating circle of violence:
   • It will have blood, they say: blood will have blood’ — Act III, scene 4
     • This quote presents the language of the characters who make their points with bloody images

2. Lady Macbeth

   • ‘I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have pluck’d my nipple from his boneless gums, And dash’d the brains out’ — Act I, scene 7

3. witches

   • "Fair is foul, and foul is fair." Violence is either viewed as valorous, or cognitively detrimental.