Flashcards
Macbeth Theme Quotes
Cards in this deck (9)
- 1Macbeth - Theme8 Quotes
- 2“stars hide your fires, let not light see my black and deep desires”- Macbeths ambition to be king is starting to control him
- Once a noble warrior, now a tyrant who is concealing his true, dark feelings
- Macbeth doesn't want anyone to know of his ambition so he tries to hide it
- Macbeth is now speaking like the witches this further emphasises the influence the witches have on him and his ambition - 3“look like the innocent flower but be the serpent underneath”- Lady Macbeth is telling Macbeth that he must hide his ambition and that no one must know of his true intentions
- He has to act like a loyal brave kinsman around others but secretly be a backstabbing ambitious murderer
- This is significant as later on in the play Macbeth becomes a villain
- He hides his Machiavellian behaviour behind a shield of lies and false innocence
- He commits more and more crimes as he tries to keep his wife and ambition happy - 4“I am settled and bend up each corporal agent to this terrible feet”- Lady Macbeth has convinced him he needs to be king and that nothing else matters
- 'Bend up' suggests that Macbeth is forcing his body to kill Duncan in order to fulfil his ambition of becoming king
- He also says that killing Duncan is a 'terrible feet' again suggesting he's reluctant to kill him - 5“I have no spur to pick the sides of my intent but only vaulting ambition”- Macbeth is stating that he has no good reasons to kill Duncan other than his own ambition to be king
- This shows the still loyal side to Macbeth but also shows his flaw that will inevitably cause his downfall, ambition
- The word 'vaulting' suggests that his ambition vaults beyond his initial (non existing) ambition that was present before, only to land him somewhere unknown to him - 6“hang loose about him like a giants robe upon a dwarfish thief”- The simile used compares Macbeth to a 'dwarfish thief'.
- This shows is thought of as not fitting the role of a king as it is such a large role and he just doesn't fill the requirements
- this also shows Macbeth as a thief as he has stolen the crown from Malcolm by killing Duncan
- This shows where people start seeing Macbeth as an unfit king and he loses his respect at the cost of him ambition - 7“this tyrant whose sole name blisters our tongues, was once thought honest’ you have lov’d him well”- They can't say Macbeth's name again because of everything he has done
- It makes them feel horrible
- They sed to love him but he has slowly become more aggressive - 8“out, out brief candle, life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more”- Here Macbeth is comparing himself to an actor as just like and actor has no control over their actions and emotions as they are following as script, Macbeth too feels he has no control over his emotions or actions
- Macbeth finally sees himself as flawed as he was full of ambition and as a result of his ambition he has lost his wife, his hour, his respect and ultimately it will cost him his life
- This can be seen as a waring form Shakespeare about the consequences of having ambition and of crossing a king - 9“I throw down my warlike shield, lay on MacDuff and damn’d be him that first cries, ‘hold enough’”- Here Macbeth attempts to reclaim some of the honour he has lost due to ambition
- He tries to do this by not defending himself and fighting Macduff to the death
- This however can be seen as not an act of heroines but a result of his ambition
- His ambition to be king is why he is being forced to fight for his life
- Macbeth has the ambition to remain king and to kill Macduff but he also has the ambition to be a warrior hero again so he attempts to die as one
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- National 5 English Flashcards on Macbeth Theme Quotes, created by Nicola Main on 02/01/2018.
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- Nicola Main
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