Macbeth

Macbeth

1. BRAVE - courageous behavior of a character.

   • The sergeant pronounces that Macbeth has killed the traitor and that he is brave for doing so.
     • "For brave Macbeth — well he deserves that name 1.2.18
       • The sergeant tells the king that Macbeth deserves the heroic title who carried out murdering the traitor.
   • Ross titles Macbeth as being brave in front of the King for his noble, brave act
     • Bellona's bridegroom...self-comparisons (1.2.61-62)
       • Bellona was the Roman goddess of war. Here the Thane of Ross praises Macbeth's unsurpassed skill on the battlefield, referring to him as "Bellona's groom when Macbeth confronted Norway
   • Macbeth is convincing/lecturing himself that he is brave/strong enough to murder Duncan.
     • "I dare do all that may become a man, Who dares do more is none." 1.7.47-48.
       • Macbeth is basically lecturing and convincing himself that he can do anything manly and anyone who dares to do more is a fool- There is no one who do more manly things than him. His confidence is taking over, in order for him to gain the strength and be convinced enough to murder Duncan.

2. AMBITIOUS - having or showing a strong desire and determination to succeed.

   • Banquo tells Macbeth that the prophecies were expected and do not need to be feared
     • "Good sir, why do you start: and seem to fear Things that do sound so fair?" 1.3.54-55
       • Banquo says to Macbeth that he should not be surprised or afraid on listening to these predictions as they sound fair (meaning good, fortuitous). There is also an implication that Macbeth ‘starts’, because the witches have given voice to his most private desires. The fear stems from Macbeth’s realisation that thought may become action. If he could not countenance what the witches seem to hint at, and dismissed the thought out of hand, he would have no cause to fear.
   • Macbeth's reaction over being declared as the future king is not as expected, he is terrified and had a seemed terrible to him.
     • "Why do I yield to that suggestion Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair, And make my seated heart knock at my ribs, Against the use of nature?" 1.3.146-149.
       • He recognizes that this is great news and should be making him very happy and he is confident that he will be a great king, but he’s also terrified. Good news seems terrible to him (less ambition at that moment). This also refers to the quote of 'Fail is foul, foul is fair" since some things that may seem good will be bad at times and some bad things may be good. He is freaking out over nothing.
   • Lady Macbeth confronts Macbeth telling him that he finally agrees to the plan of killing the King to get the crown.
     • "Was the hope drunk Wherein you dress'd yourself?" 1.7.35.
       • She is telling him that "Was his hope of being king fed only by the drink? Now he has awaken to look sickly at that which you previously desired (the idea of obtaining the crown)." She is basically using a metaphor and hyperbole to describe as if he had literally taken a drink to open his eyes to finally look straight into the idea of killing King Duncan and agreeing to it since he finally has agreed to the plan.
   • As soon as Macbeth finds out his prophecy of becoming king, he starts having thoughts of killing the current king, King Duncan
     • My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, Shakes so my single state of man that function Is smother'd in surmise, and nothing is But what is not. (1.3.151-154)
       • Right after the witches have told Macbeth his future king prophecy, the fact that his first thought is about killing the king is mighty suspicious—almost as though they've just awoken a murderous ambition that's been there all along.

3. IMAGINATIVE - imagining

   • Macbeth imagines a dagger floating in front of him leading him to Duncan's room/murder scene.
     • "Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand?" 2.1.41-42.
       • As Banquo and Fleance leave, Macbeth has an imagination of a dagger floating in front of him leading him to Duncan's bedrrom to his death place
   • Macbeth hears the crying of his dead wife. He describes it as being a horror, but it isn't as bad as it seems because of all the horrors he has experienced from all the people he has murdered.
     • "The time has been, my senses would have cool'd To hear a night-shriek; and my fell of hair Would at a dismal treatise rouse and stir As life were in't." 5.5.11-14.
       • It's the part where they say Macebeth's wife died, which is the "cry." And in the beginning of the paragraph, Macbeth is saying that even a cry doesn't "rouse and stir" him anymore than it used to and rather he "forgot the taste of fears." Because he murdered so many characters, he does not get emotional or severely affected by anything going around him.
   • Macbeth is told that from this time on he will be a target.
     • "Methought I heard a voice cry 'Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep -- the innocent sleep.'" 2.2.43-44.
       • Macbeth states that from the horrific act he has committed (murder Duncan), he has murdered sleep; referring to that he cannot ever sleep again and that the memory of this murder will murder sleep causing him to never sleep again and that this memory will target him being in his mind forever (guilt).

4. GUILT/REMORSE - culpable of or responsible for a specified wrongdoing.

   • Macbeth describes his guilt right after murdering Duncan as something unforgettable, traumatizing, and would leave a stain on him forever.
     • "How is’t with me, when every noise appals me? / What hands are here! Ha, they pluck out mine eyes. / Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather / The multitudinous seas incarnadine, / Making the green one red. "2.2.56-61
       • Macbeth says this to himself after murdering Duncan. His guilt causes him to shake at every noise. His hands symbolize the murder. Neptune is an allusion to the Roman god of the sea, whose waters could not wipe the blood--meaning guilt--from Macbeth's hands. Incarnadine means a pinkish, reddish color similar to the color of flesh or blood, the same color as the seas if Macbeth were to wash his hands in them. The entire passage exemplifies hyperbole and demonstrates the extent of Macbeth's guilt, a guilt which he no longer feels after the murders of Banquo and Macduff's family.
   • Macbeth describes his current situation as how he has stepped to much into so much blood and how it is too late to go back out and he might us well continue, but the guilt is still following him.
     • "I am in blood Stepp'd in so far, that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o'er" 3.4.162-164)
       • Macbeth is wishing he hadn't killed all those people to become king. He feels like he is surrounded by their blood because he can't get their deaths out of his mind so he feels surrounded by that and so surrounded by their blood.
   • After killing King Duncan with the dagger, Macbeth feels extreme guilt after committing the crime.
     • One cried, 'God bless us!' and 'Amen,' the other, as they had seen me with these hangman's hands. List'ning their fear, I could not say 'Amen,' when they did say 'God bless us'. 2.2.34-37 Methought, I heard a voice cry, 'Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep'. 2.2.43-44
       • The murder that starts with his ambition to become a King ruins Macbeth’s life leading him to the darkness of guilt. The word that Macbeth used to say so easily, Amen, all of the sudden became a word that is impossible to say. Macbeth believes that he will no longer have the protection by the God because he had committed a serious murder. He becomes unable to utter the word Amen or God bless us.
   • Macbeth realizes guilt he is feeling right after murdering Duncan
     • Picture "How is’t with me, when every noise appals me? / What hands are here! Ha, they pluck out mine eyes. / Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather / The multitudinous seas incarnadine. " 2.2.70-74
       • This quote is spoken by Macbeth immediately after he is screamed at by Lady Macbeth when he brought the dagger with him after murdering King Duncan. His bloody hands which he no longer recognizes as his own are symbols of his guilt and murder. Neptune is an allusion to the Roman God of the sea. Therefore, the line, "Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood," shows that even the great God of the Sea would not be able to wash the blood on Macbeth’s hands, which will make the guilt follow him.

5. GREEDINESS - intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth and power

   • Macbeth's greed over wanting the crown is starting to overcome him in the early stages of wanting the crown.
     • "The Prince of Cumberland! that is a step On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires: The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be, Which the eye fears, when it is done to see." 1.4.56-61
       • This was what Macbeth uttered when he was leaving King Duncan's palace, after the official designation of Malcolm as the rightful heir. I choose this quote, for it demonstrates one of the early signs of greed and extreme ambition of Macbeth. Macbeth now thought of Malcolm as an obstruction on his path to the throne. Now that King Duncan had named Malcolm heir to his throne, Macbeth had to somehow make himself king. There must be a way that he could achieve that, otherwise he would have to give up. And when Macbeth was pondering about the possibilities in his mind, he wished that the stars hid their lights, lest his deep and ambitious desires be revealed, and his timid eyes be disturbed, upon witnessing his imminent deed. Macbeth just sparked a thought would later helped him to ascend to the throne. This is still the beginning of his journey.
   • In this quote, Macbeth finally is starting to realizing how overly greedy over killing Duncan
     • "Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself And falls on the other." 1.7.26-27
       • This quote here is describing how Macbeth realizes that he is being overly greedy with wanting to kill Duncan. He realizes that if you are too greedy, there is a very high chance that you'll end up in a very bad situation; often overestimating how well or good your plan is and how greedy you can be.
   • Macduff and Malcolm are having a conversation stating that Macbeth is living a luxurious life as king. However, all the sins and evilness he has accumulated from his act can be described in one simple word, which is greed.
     • "I grant him bloody, Luxurious, avaricious, false, deceitful, Sudden, malicious, smacking of every sin That has a name." 4.3.************
       • This quote is stating how greedy Macbeth is; he is being described as someone who contains every last bit evil there ever could be in the world. Both Malcolm and Macduff had realized that he was deceiving everyone, while living the luxurious lifestyle as a king. They relate his personality and actions to the one word that describes him best, greed.
   • In this quote, Macbeth's greedy desires start kicking in by him starting to want to kill Duncan for the crown but he hopes it will be a secret.
     • "Stars hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires" 1.4.58-59
       • This quote represents Macbeth's greed entirely. In the quote he is referring to how he wishes his true intentions of becoming king and gaining power to be kept secret from everyone. He is saying that his intentions could be found out as well, however if no one finds out about his intentions, he will be saved. He describes how the stars should hide there light to cover the sins he will commit later on to be come kinf