evil Flashcards
(12 cards)
intro
- in ‘Macbeth’, Shakespeare portrays evil as an insidious force that originates beyond the human realm but finds willing hosts in mortal ambition and moral weakness
- evil emerges as both a supernatural influence and a human drive, first embodied by the witches whose cryptic presence signals a world turned upside down
- Shakespeare uses the inversion of the natural order to suggest that evil disrupts the very fabric and reality
- as Macbeth’s vaulting ambition takes hold, his private soliloquies reveal a mind at war with itself, showing how internal temptation can override loyalty and reason
- Lady Macbeth’s invocation of ruthless resolve further demonstrates how evil grows when one character’s moral weakness feeds another’s will to power
- throughout the play, recurring imagery of darkness and blood serves to dramatise the corrosive effects of wrongdoing, underlining the idea that once moral boundaries are crossed, evil perpetuates itself until it destroys both sinner and state
paragraph 1 quotations
‘fair is foul, and foul is fair’
‘so foul and fair a day I have not seen
‘fair is foul, and foul is fair’ analysis
→ not only blurs the lines between good and evil, and therefore moral and immoral acts, but also implies that the introduction of evil is part of a much larger, almost cosmic cycle
→ by speaking in trochaic tetrameter, they oppose the other characters, who speak in iambic tetrameter, emphasising the influential and overwhelming power they exploit in order to manipulate Macbeth
→ evil, therefore, is both a symptom and a cause of the disruption of the natural order
→ furthermore, by declaring that ‘fair is foul’, Shakespeare implies that even acts that appear honourable can lead to chaos and destructive power
→ Macbeth’s internal conflict and descent into a murderous tyranny are prime examples; his initial ambition (to some may seem ‘fair’) quickly transforms into a path of brutal violence and moral decay (‘foul’)
→ moreover, this line is spoken by the witches, whose very presence disrupts the natural order and causes Macbeth’s power-hungry ambition
→ their chant foreshadows the violent upheaval that will plague Scotland due to Macbeth’s easily influenced mind that lead to him committing evil acts
‘so foul and fair a day I have not seen’ analysis
→ through this, the audience sees how easily their dark influence seeps into human speech and thought, planting the seed of ambition and evil in a once-honourable warrior
→ mirrors the witches earlier paradox and uses metrical inversion to underline moral upheaval
→ by opening with a trochaic inversion on ‘so foul’, Shakespeare disrupts the expected iambic pentameter, reflecting how natural order and ethical certainties have already been unsettled
→ the antithesis of ‘foul and fair’ creates a compact paradox that suggests victory and disaster coexist, hinting that triumph in battle brings its own darkness
→ alliteration of the ‘f’ sounds binds the two opposing ideas together, making them inseparable and unsettling to the ear
→ in echoing the witches, Macbeth unwittingly reveals how their evil influence has seeped into his own perception, foreshadowing the moral confusion and inner conflict that will drive him toward regicide
paragraph 1
- from the onset, Shakespeare presents evil as an external, almost elemental force that immediately unsettles the natural order
- in Act 1, Scene 1, the witches are emphasised to be agents of chaos as their paradoxical chant, ‘fair is foul, and foul is fair’ undermines every moral certainty
→ not only blurs the lines between good and evil, and therefore moral and immoral acts, but also implies that the introduction of evil is part of a much larger, almost cosmic cycle
→ by speaking in trochaic tetrameter, they oppose the other characters, who speak in iambic tetrameter, emphasising the influential and overwhelming power they exploit in order to manipulate Macbeth
→ evil, therefore, is both a symptom and a cause of the disruption of the natural order
→ furthermore, by declaring that ‘fair is foul’, Shakespeare implies that even acts that appear honourable can lead to chaos and destructive power
→ Macbeth’s internal conflict and descent into a murderous tyranny are prime examples; his initial ambition (to some may seem ‘fair’) quickly transforms into a path of brutal violence and moral decay (‘foul’)
→ moreover, this line is spoken by the witches, whose very presence disrupts the natural order and causes Macbeth’s power-hungry ambition
→ their chant foreshadows the violent upheaval that will plague Scotland due to Macbeth’s easily influenced mind that lead to him committing evil acts
- the witches influence is emphasised when Macbeth later echoes their words - ‘so foul and fair a day I have not seen’
→ through this, the audience sees how easily their dark influence seeps into human speech and thought, planting the seed of ambition and evil in a once-honourable warrior
→ mirrors the witches earlier paradox and uses metrical inversion to underline moral upheaval
→ by opening with a trochaic inversion on ‘so foul’, Shakespeare disrupts the expected iambic pentameter, reflecting how natural order and ethical certainties have already been unsettled
→ the antithesis of ‘foul and fair’ creates a compact paradox that suggests victory and disaster coexist, hinting that triumph in battle brings its own darkness
→ alliteration of the ‘f’ sounds binds the two opposing ideas together, making them inseparable and unsettling to the ear
→ in echoing the witches, Macbeth unwittingly reveals how their evil influence has seeped into his own perception, foreshadowing the moral confusion and inner conflict that will drive him toward regicide
- by linking the supernatural with Macbeth’s own budding desires, Shakespeare highlights that evil is both an external temptation and an internal vulnerability, setting the stage for the tragic unravelling of conscience that follows
paragraph 2 quotations
‘full of scorpions’
‘full of scorpions’ analysis
→ metaphor links his mind to venomous, stinging creatures, suggesting that guilt has become a living, deadly presence inside him
→ Shakespeare deploys zoomorphism here not merely for shock but to show how Macbeth’s conscience has been irretrievably poisoned by his crimes
→ furthermore, the zoomorphism here does more than evoke pain; scorpions carry a cultural weight of deceit and hidden malice, suggesting that Macbeth’s wrongdoing has summoned a creeping poison that coils around his reason
→ description of his mind deepens the play’s exploration of evil by transforming abstract guilt into a vividly corporeal torment
→ by placing this metaphor at the heart of a trochaic inversion - accentuating ‘full’ before ‘of scorpions’ - Shakespeare disrupts the smooth iambic flow, mirroring the tragic hero’s fractured psyche
→ the harsh sibilance in ‘scorpions’ further enacts the hiss and sting of his conscience, so that language itself becomes an instrument of suffering
→ situated immediately after Banquo’s murder, the line signals how evil has shifted from a singular act to an ongoing mental pathology: Macbeth is no longer in control, but governed by the venom he once unleashed
→ in this way, the metaphor encapsulates evil’s self-perpetuating nature, emphasising that once one allows darkness to take root, it proliferates uncontrollably from within
→ the adjective ‘full’ suggests not merely the presence, but the complete saturation of Macbeth’s mind. It implies that there is no respite or empty space - his thoughts are overwhelmed, leaving no room for peace or moral clarity
paragraph 2
- as the play progresses, evil crystallises into a self-perpetuating force that both torments and transforms its host
- having seized the throne by regicide, Macbeth’s language turns increasingly fractious and hallucinatory, most vividly when he confesses that his mind is ‘full of scorpions’
→ metaphor links his mind to venomous, stinging creatures, suggesting that guilt has become a living, deadly presence inside him
→ Shakespeare deploys zoomorphism here not merely for shock but to show how Macbeth’s conscience has been irretrievably poisoned by his crimes
→ furthermore, the zoomorphism here does more than evoke pain; scorpions carry a cultural weight of deceit and hidden malice, suggesting that Macbeth’s wrongdoing has summoned a creeping poison that coils around his reason
→ description of his mind deepens the play’s exploration of evil by transforming abstract guilt into a vividly corporeal torment
→ by placing this metaphor at the heart of a trochaic inversion - accentuating ‘full’ before ‘of scorpions’ - Shakespeare disrupts the smooth iambic flow, mirroring the tragic hero’s fractured psyche
→ the harsh sibilance in ‘scorpions’ further enacts the hiss and sting of his conscience, so that language itself becomes an instrument of suffering
→ situated immediately after Banquo’s murder, the line signals how evil has shifted from a singular act to an ongoing mental pathology: Macbeth is no longer in control, but governed by the venom he once unleashed
→ in this way, the metaphor encapsulates evil’s self-perpetuating nature, emphasising that once one allows darkness to take root, it proliferates uncontrollably from within
→ the adjective ‘full’ suggests not merely the presence, but the complete saturation of Macbeth’s mind. It implies that there is no respite or empty space - his thoughts are overwhelmed, leaving no room for peace or moral clarity
- through this metaphor, Shakespeare presents evil not as an external force alone but as a self-sustaining pathology that writhes within the psyche, driving Macbeth ever deeper into paranoia and moral decay
paragraph 3 quotation
‘Out, damned spot!’
‘Out, damned spot!’ analysis
→ Lady Macbeth’s anguished command distils the play’s blood motif into a single, shattering moment of psychological collapse
→ by using an imperative verb ‘Out’, Shakespeare shows her frantic desire to purge the ‘spot’ of guilt that refuses to leave her mind, signalling that evil can never be truly washed away
→ the abruptness of the phrase, framed in exclamatory mode, heightened the sense of desperation and mirrors the fractured state of her psyche
→ calling the stain ‘damned’ invokes religious condemnation, suggesting that her crime has plunged her beyond redemption and that evil carries eternal consequences
→ the absence of a subject (‘Out, damned spot!’ rather than ‘get out’) creates a haunting impersonality: the spot, and by extension her own guilt, has become its own malevolent presence, almost a character in its own right
→ blood here is more than a physical residue; it embodies a moral stain that taints her thoughts and sleep, turning her once-ruthless ambition into self-torment
→ blood is a recurring motif throughout the play that represents the repercussions of evil and tyranny
→ through this use of imperative mood, religious diction, and motif, Shakespeare presents evil not as an external force to be conquered but as an insidious poison that inhabits the mind, proving fatal even to its most ardent architects
paragraph 3
- by the end of Macbeth, evil is presented as a self-devouring force that leaves its perpetrators hollowed out and isolated
- Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking scene crystallises this ruin: her obsessive hand-washing and anguished cry ‘Out, damned spot!’ (Act 5, Scene 1)
→ Lady Macbeth’s anguished command distils the play’s blood motif into a single, shattering moment of psychological collapse
→ by using an imperative verb ‘Out’, Shakespeare shows her frantic desire to purge the ‘spot’ of guilt that refuses to leave her mind, signalling that evil can never be truly washed away
→ the abruptness of the phrase, framed in exclamatory mode, heightened the sense of desperation and mirrors the fractured state of her psyche
→ calling the stain ‘damned’ invokes religious condemnation, suggesting that her crime has plunged her beyond redemption and that evil carries eternal consequences
→ the absence of a subject (‘Out, damned spot!’ rather than ‘get out’) creates a haunting impersonality: the spot, and by extension her own guilt, has become its own malevolent presence, almost a character in its own right
→ blood here is more than a physical residue; it embodies a moral stain that taints her thoughts and sleep, turning her once-ruthless ambition into self-torment
→ blood is a recurring motif throughout the play that represents the repercussions of evil and tyranny
→ through this use of imperative mood, religious diction, and motif, Shakespeare presents evil not as an external force to be conquered but as an insidious poison that inhabits the mind, proving fatal even to its most ardent architects
conclusion
- in ‘Macbeth’, Shakespeare demonstrates that evil is neither static nor singular but a dynamic force that evolves from external temptation into internal torment
- at first it appears as uncanny prophecies and unsettling omens, then blossoms into deliberate acts of violence driven by unchecked ambition and collusion
- as the characters pursue power through bloodshed, evil embeds itself in their minds, poisoning conscience and warping perception until guilt becomes a living presence
- by the play’s end, this corruption has consumed both king and queen, leaving behind only despair, isolation, and the collapse of moral order
- in showing evil’s journey - from invocation to self-destruction - Shakespeare warns that once one embraces wrongdoing, it becomes an ineradicable pathology that brings ruin not just to its victims but to its very investigators
