violence

Question 1

macbeth act 1
‘disdaining fortune.. smok’d with bloody execution’

Answer 1

• ‘smok’d’ could connote to heat and hell, foreshadowing his evil.
• ‘disdaining fortune’ alludes to his later hubris and defiance as he tries to dodge his destiny shows a disregard for his fate, and his attempt to manipulate the natural order
• ‘smok’d with bloody execution’- implies violence is a destructive force, like fire. shakespeare combines smoke and blood, tow motifs that recur throughout the play and are linked to macbeth’s guilt
• shakespeare shows how violence and bloodshed are romanticised in the context of war- impressive imagery

Question 2

macbeth act 3
‘in time will venom breed/ no teeth for th’present’

Answer 2

• he acknowledges his tumultuous fortune as a result of his violent nature, yet his hubris binds him into a false sense of security suggesting that danger is not yet imminent

Question 3

macbeth act 4
‘his wife, his babes , and all unfortunate souls’

Answer 3

• their murders are emblematic of macbeths excessive bloodthirst and violent nature, they presented no threat yet he is now on an unstoppable trajectory of murder. macbeth takes on the Godly role of deciding who has the right to live

Question 4

macbeth act 5
‘before my body, i throw my war like shield’

Answer 4

• as a ‘shield’ connotes protection, it shows macbeth desperately wants to protect and persevere his former noble image of him being a ‘worthy’ and ‘valiant’ soldier. as his last words contain a violent semantic field, it shows how his ambitious and violent nature has directly caused his fall from grace

Question 5

lady macbeth act 1
‘stop up the access and passage yo remorse’

Answer 5

• she wants to be entirely violent, with no remnants of femininity- she is aware this constrains her. she sees emotion synonymous with weakness. by eradicating this weakness, she can unlock the barbaric tyrant she dreams of being

Question 6

lady macbeth act 1
‘dash’d the brains out’

Answer 6

• the merciless act of rejecting maternal inclinations characterises lady macbeth as violent and determined, she effectively competes with macbeth who as a man of that era, could not be weaker than a woman.

Question 7

lady macbeth act 3
‘you lack the season of all natures, sleep’

Answer 7

-this is the antithesis to her previous violent depiction; it seems she is now trying to moderate and quell his evil. she is comparatively passive and is preoccupied with the noun ‘sleep’ (a motif for peace and innocence). it appears she is yearning to reverse the murderous chaos as she realises her role as queeen is not what she expected.

Question 8

‘(thunder and lightning)’

Answer 8

• shakespeare introduces the witches with pathetic fallacy- the atmosphere is volatile, ominous, and dangerous from the offset. this could foreshadow the violence that will ensue throughout the play- through disrupted and aggravated weather being nature’s fury at this coming violence

Question 9

malcolm act 4
He refers to Macbeth as a ‘weak poor innocent lamb // To appease an angry God’

Answer 9

Although ambitious, typical of a stoic male of the era, his understanding of the detrimental impact of Macbeth’s ambition is salient.
Moreover, ‘Lamb’, within a biblical context, is an animal used for sacrifice- a symbol of triumphant and suffering. By Malcolm referring to Macbeth as this, he may be alluding that Macbeth’s triumphant in becoming King, has directly lead to his pitiful suffering.