Macbeth

Macbeth

1. Key themes he introduces

   • Bravery honour loyalty (at the battle and start of the play)
   • Guilt and a Man with a Conscience (guilty conscience revealed through his imaging's and visions. he is shown to have a guilty conscience throughout even though he is committing these evil deeds, his tragic flaw a key structural need for a tragedy.
   • evil and supernatural
   • Duplicity
   • Ambition (his flaw which is galvanised by the witches prediction that he will become Thane of Cawdor then King. "why do I yield to that suggestion, Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair and make my seated heart knock at my ribs"
   • Easily Manipulated (propelled to evil by lady Macbeth and the witches
   • A Tyrant
   • treachery (Jacobean context Shakespeare purposely include the fate of tryants in this play to warn the audicence of the conseqences of tryranny and vaulting ambition. this was particular relevant as the gunpowder plot had just happen under the rule of king James so Shakespeare flattered the king by warning the country and audience of the consequences of tyranny.

2. Act 1

   • "brave Macbeth" (Heroic Brave Warrior)
   • " Disdaining Fortune whith his brandished steel" (Heroic Brave Warrior)
   • "unseamed him from the nave to th'chaps" (graphic metaphor shows his bravery but also his brutality and the potential for him to commit evil deeds)
   • "nobel Macbeth hath won" (Duncan ancones Macbeth will be made thane of Cawdor Macbeth doesn't know at this point use of adjective nobel present him as a virtuous loyal servant)
   • "all hail Macbeth hail to thee Thane of Glamis all hail Macbeth hail to thee Thane of Cawdor all hail Macbeth that shalt be king hereafter" (Witches prophecy they are the catalyst to his downfall did they really see it or are they just influencing him? Shakespeare's use of dramatic irony and prophetic language create a supernatural tone.
   • "whose horrid image doth unfix my hair and make my seated heart nock at my ribs" (use of graphic bodily imagery and metaphor emphasising the horror in killing the king. Macbeth still has a conscience despite these evil thoughts of regicide)
   • "black and deep desires" (diabolical demonic language creates a parallel to the witches. Dramatic shift in tone to ruthless and ambitious
   • "bloody instructions.. to plague th'inventor" (euphemistic language Macbeth fears the consequences of killing Duncan verb "plagues" shows the earthy consequences and destruction of the great chain of being and the horror it will bring to the world"
   • "I have no spur to prick the side of my intent, but only vaulting ambition" (personification of ambition portrays Shakespeare's message of the dangers of over reaching and ruthless ambition. Reveals Macbeths fatal flaw to the audience.
   • "I am settled ...false face must hide what the false heart doth know." repletion of false emphasises his deceit and duplicity and the acceptance of his role to murder Duncan

3. Act 2

   • "Nature seems dead and wicked dreams abuse the curtained sleep" (Foreshadowing of Macbeths future deprival of sleep and insanity . also the affects on the natural order and the great chain of being. )
   • "I go and it is done" (tonal shift to decisive and banishes his guilty conscience and anxious thought to commit this evil deed.)
   • "Macbeth shall sleep no more" (haunted and tormented by the murder repletion of phrase suggests sleep is a privilege and pure and nurturing and that Macbeth will be deprived of it from her on after).
   • "Knock X3 repeated stage direction" perhaps symbolising the pumping of Macbeths heart emphasising his guilt and his worriers of being found out.
   • "of my violent love ... his silver skin laced with his golden blood and his gashed stabs looked like a breach in nature" (Macbeth admits to killing Duncan's guards he is declining into further moral darkness but claims to the other Thanes and lords it was out of love of Duncan through the oxymoron "violent love" and shakespears use of regal and graphic violent imagry emphasises how unnatural Macbeths deed is and the disruption in the divine right.

4. Act 3

   • "goes Fleance with you?" (Macbeth is questioning Banquo as to his actions an wants to know if his son is going with him. Remember Fleance is the main threat to Macbeths throne and suggests he is plotting against his best friend however he hides this behind innocent questioning.
   • "upon my head they placed a fruitless crown and put a barren sceptre in my gripe" (adjective fruitless emphasises how the crown is going to die with Macbeth and barren suggests infertility and lack of heirs to his throne).
   • "gracious Duncan I have murdered" (first time Macbeth doesn't use euphemism's he is recognising the evil he has committed he does have amoral conscience still).
   • "to make them kings the seeds of Banquo kings" (juxtaposition of Macbeths infertility to Banquo's fertility and suggestion that his son will be the future king Macbeth fears this greatly. )
   • "Banquo was your enemy"( betrayal of his friend he is manipulative and the roles change from lady Macbeth to Macbeth getting the murders to commit his evil deeds for him he is descending into further moral depravity.
   • "we have scorched the snake not killed it" (Macbeths fearful he hasn't got a secure position as king biblical allusion to evil again through the "snake" and the fear of the snake in Macbeths case Banquo's heir attacking his position as king)
   • "restless ecstasy"
   • "make our faces vizards to our hearts " Macbeth has had enough of hiding what he has done and cant go on with this duplicitous act.
   • "o full of scorpions is my mind dear wife!" (short exclamatory sentence and metaphor amplify how Macbeth is tormented and poisoned and in a position of internal pain because of the evil deeds he has committed. Use of "dear" shows there tender relationship.)
   • "twenty trenched gashes on his head" the evil in Macbeth orders to kill Banquo
   • "enter ghost of Banquo and sit in Macbeths place" is a key dramatic device the ghost is a physical manifestation of Macbeths guilt. significance of him sitting in Macbeths place symbolising Macbeth will be dislodged and overthrown for Fleance who still lives,
   • "I am in blood stepped in so far that should wade no more " (use of physical imagery showing the damage and blackening of Macbeth heart and soul and the effects it had on him yet he justifies future evil because he has already committed so much further decline into moral evil and depravity.)

5. Act 4

   • "I will be satisfied deny me this and eternal curses fall on you" Macbeth is arrogant and cursing to the witches he is almost aligned with them
   • "who bears a glass which shows me many more" mirror cold have been held up to king James showing he is in the line of kings in the apparition. Shakespeare is faltering him.
   • "seize upon Fife; give to th'edge o'th'sword his wife, babes and all unfortunate souls that trace his line. no boasting like a fool this deed ill do before this purpose cool" Macbeth descendeds even further into evil ordering all Macduff's family to be murdered. Shakespeare use of juxtaposition of innocence and violence emphasises Macbeths evil in that now he is killing innocents. use of rhyme reflect Macbeth as being one of the witches demonic and evil.

6. Act 5

   • "fear not Macbeth no man that's born of woman shall ever have power upon thee" Macbeth repeats the witches prophecy as it gives him reassurance and security
   • "ill fight till from my bones my flesh be hacked. give me my armour" (Macbeth still has bravery and courage despite is evil deeds and still possesses heroic qualities of bravery and courage.)
   • "I will not be afraid of death and bane till Birnam Forest come to Dunsinane." Macbeth repeats the prophecy again as it gives him security use of rhyme echo's and aligns him with the witches again.
   • "I have almost forgot the taste of fears" he has lost his sense of vulnerability and awareness true tragedy there was a time that Macbeth would have been uneasy and anxious he recognises his loss of humanity and there is a undelying tone of regret. clearly prtays Shakespeare's message of the dangers of ruthless ambition.
   • "tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" tricolon or triplet suggests Macbeths future is repetitive and empty. use of a nihilistic tone suggesting his life Is monotonous now his wife is gone.
   • "they way to dusty death. out out brief candle life's but a walking shadow" ominous bleak imagery metaphor suggests life is unforfilling
   • "sound and fury" hendayades suggests his life is distressing, not worth living and meaningless.
   • "they have tied me to a stake; I cannot fly . but bear like I must fight the course." animalistic imagery reflects Macbeths corage emphasised through verb "must" he will fight to the end.
   • "exit Macduff with Macbeths body" then end of out tragic hero