macbeth Flashcards
“vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself and falls” - AMBITION, KINGSHIP
personification - portraying it as possessing a potency comparable to a human force that can exert influence + corrupt his mind
- “fall” = awareness that his encompassing ambition is his hamartia in which leads to his physical + mental decline
- he is a victim ensnared by his own ambition, vulnerable to its relentless force
- metaphor, draws parallel to a jockey displaying ambition to be a untameable, animalistic force
“with tarquins ravishing strides, towards his design” AMBITION
- ambitiously strives to emulate tarquin, embody a ruthless blood-thirsty leader
- fuelled by lingering emasculation in which power becomes synonymous with brutality propelling him towards a relentless pursuit of dominance
- “design” = intentional - mirrors MB’s intentional crafting of his desired position as king through ambitious pursuits
“stars hide your fires, let not light see my black and deep desires” AMBITION, APP VS REALITY
- duplicitous façade will create irreversible damage, attempt to hide from god = awareness of his belligerent ambition but has fallen victim to its relentless force and corruptive repercussions
- APP vs REA = dark + light imagery, MBS dichotomous character
- despite projecting a virtuous façade, he harbours malevolent, tyrannical intentions
- wants to shroud sinister motives in metaphorical darkness, if these came to “light” acquiring the throne would be obstructed
- rhyming couplet = resemblance of spellcasting technique employed by witches - accentuate their deceptions
- mbs descent into a shadowy, malevolent trajectory - asks for duplicitous intentions to be revealed so he can fulfill his ambitions
“smok’d with bloody execution”
“disdaining fortune”
- VIOLENCE
- connotes heat and hell = foreshadows his malevolent nature he will soon face moral and psychological ramifications for
- syntax = receives commendation for stoic bravery implies a symbiotic relationship between his downfall and his intrinsic proclivity for violence
- “disdaining fortune” = fortune proceeds execution, foreshadows MBs acquisition of an illegitimate title and wealth through violent means but how this will lead to his eventual execution
“i am in blood” - GUILT, VIOLENCE
motif of blood is symbolic of the repercussions of murder
- earlier = merely had blood on his hands whereas now the blood has entirely enrobed his body symbolic of how he is engulfed with guilt
- fear + guilt has transferred from being horrified to indulging in further heinous acts
- murder acts as a means of self - preservation
” so foul and fair a day i have not seen” - SUPERNATURAL
- emulates witches paradoxes in which foreshadows how he will become a vessel for their twisted misconduct or perhaps suggests a predestined susceptibility to manipulation and deception
- supernatural’s exerted influence acted as a catalyst for his tragic fate
“ i have not seen” = vivid image of blindness - mb will be metaphorically blinded by the irresistible allure of the supernatural forces
“tell me” “call em” - SUPERNATURAL
imperatives reflective of his hubristic nature, personal pronoun = authoritative demand for universal respect and obedience, extending to the supernatural realm
- illegitimate title of king inflated his sense of self - importance and has made him believe he can supersede supernatural power, this ignorance accelerates his downfall
“sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep” - GUILT, APP VS REALITY
- motif of sleep - sleep synonymous with innocence, his disturbed sleep is symbolic of his departure from innocence
- descent into madness - no longer issues imperative commands like “stars hide your fires” instead he reflects on his mental anguish that torments his troubled mind
- his disruption of natural order through his wickedness, masked by a pious façade has forever connected his mind to relentless torment of guilt
