Macbeth Flashcards
(14 cards)
“Like valour’s minion, carved out his passage”
Valour’s minion - he was a slave to bravery
Agression/ violence was glorified
“Brave Macbeth”
Praise by King Duncan
“Stay you imperfect speakers, tell me more”
Imperatives to show desperation
Reveals his hamartia
He knows the witches are imperfect, yet still trusts them
“Stars hide your fires, let not light see my black and deep desires”
Juxtaposition to show his internal confliction between his hamartia and morality
Rhyming couplet aligning him with the witches
“Is this a dagger which I see before me”
Hallucination - showing his unstable state of mind
“Could not I pronounce Amen”
Shows his complete disconnection from religion
Rhetoric - to show his complete uncertainty
“Will all great Neptune’s oceans wash this blood clear from my hand”
Motif of blood
Neptune - Roman God of the seas (also showing reject for Christianity)
Hyperbole - to show he is overly consumed by guilt
Metaphor of washing, showing his impurity
“Blood will have blood, I am in blood stepped so far that to return would be as tedious to go o’er”
First line means murder will lead to more murder
Critic AC Bradley says - Macbeth commits to the course of evil
“Will” - certainty that there are inevitable consequences
“Untie the winds and let them fight against the churches”
Imperative - showing Macbeth believes the witches have power over the natural world
Personification
Distressed Christian audience
“Life’s but a walking shadow”
Macbeth’s epiphany where he realises life is pointless
“Give to the edge of the sword his wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls”
Imperative - Macbeth’s impulsive decision where he acts on paranoia to maintain power
Listing - highlights Macbeths ruthless and irony
“Unfortunate” - recognises that they are innocent but is so cold hearted that he doesn’t care
“Cursed usurpers head”
Link to DRoK
Punished for sinning (usurping the throne)
“Dead butcher”
Ironic that he has left no legacy behind him
Butcher - highlighting extent of murder
“So foul and fair a day I have not seen”
Macbeth mimics witches
