act 2 scene 4 events and quotes Flashcards
What does threescore mean?
60
“Threescore and ten…
(old man)
I can remember well”
“But this sore night…
hath trifled former knowings”
What do the quotes “Threescore and ten I can remember well” and “but this sore night hath trifled former knowings” mean?
70 years he has been alive but he has never seen such an awful night like the King’s death night - shows how awful and sinful the act of regicide is
“And yet dark night…
(Ross)
strangles the travelling lamp Is’t night’s predominance”
What technique does Shakespeare use when Ross talks about the darkness and the lack of light?
pathetic fallacy
What does the quote “And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp: Is’t night’s predominance mean?
the darkness (dark night) is consuming the sun( the travelling lamp)
evil is outweighing good- inversion of the natural order
also mirrors the darkness of the act that Macbeth has committed
What quotes do “And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp: Is’t night’s predominance” link to?
“Stars hide my dark and deep desires”
“Fair is foul and foul is fair”- bad outweighing good is “fair”
The old man describes the situation as?
“unnatural”
“A falcon… was by…
(old man)
a mousing owl hawk’d at and kill’d”
Who does the falcon represent in the analogy?
Duncan
Shakespeare uses pathetic fallacy to convey what?
to make the external world seem to be an extension of the moods and actions of the characters- the analogy shows the inversion of the natural order
What is the significance of kings being appointed by God?
killing “God” almost means that the natural world has been inversed- reason why the world has a sinister atmosphere- God is angry
What have happened to Duncan’s horses?
They have eaten eachother
Now that Malcolm and Donalbain have fled who is the king now?
Macbeth as he is the highest ranking thane
