Macbeth Flashcards

Question

FFMHWTFHDK false face

Answer 1

False face must hide what the false heaart doth know - macbeth * Decides to go through the plan to murder Duncan * marks descent into villainy * alliteration "f" - sharp, sinister rhym, secretive deceptive nature ofhis thoughts * "false"- repetion - becoming 2 faced, "heart" is corrupt with murderous intent "face" facade that hides it * Shakespeare emphasises internal conflict but ambition forces him to hide that * "must" - convince himself- shift LM has infleucned him and now her is persuading himself to follow with the murder * fake innocence - deception

Answer 2

Unsec me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty * awaits husbands arrival, before duncans murder * * remove her feminity - it constrains her in a patriarchal society - sees herself as inferior - unsexed - more masculine and tyrannical * context - against patriarchal expectations of jacobean women who were meant to be gentle, obedient * Context - this shows how ambition and guilt make her want to espace the emotional "weakness" that society links to women * Shakespeare - powerful women like LM feel they have to reject their femininity to gain power in a patriarchal society

Answer 3

Too full o' the milk of human kindness - LM * reading letter from Macbeth * She thinks the best way for her and Macbeth to become leaders is by emasculating him - making him feel insecure, challenges him _____________________________________________ * metaphor - "milk" - nurtuirng, motherhood, innocence - used to insult macbeth - she sees kindness as a weakness * "too full" - so much that it stops him from achieving greatness - implies being too good can be a flaw in a ruthless world * rejects traditional feminiity - shocks jacobean audience - flips trad roles - challenges the idea of what a woman "should" be + unnatural disturbing * shows her moral corruption - encouraging recigide * jacobean audience - see her as a threat to the natural order - dangerous, unfeminine and unnatural - her dominance over macbeth - warning about dangers of ambition and disorder

Answer 4

My hands are of your colour, but I shame to wear a heart so white - LM * after Duncans murder * ridiculing macbeths guilt * patroniising and emasculating him

Answer 5

All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand - LM * sleepwalking * their ambition is their hamartia

Answer 6

When you durst do it, then you were a man - LM * manipulates Macbeth to commit regicide

Answer 7

Double double toil and trouble fire burn and cauldron bubble

Answer 8

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death * When M finds out about LM death

Answer 9

How now, you secret, black and midnight hags? - M * further guidance of future

Answer 10

* antithesis of macbeth * both given the same info but have diff pursuit of power * macbeth = evil banquo = christian virtue * banquo waits for future to unfold * macbeth - regicide and great chain of being * king james- descendent of banquo

Answer 11

**A heavy summons like lead upon me Restrain in me the cursed thoughts + Merciful powers** - Banquo * talking to fleance, cant sleep, affected by witches words, temptations * Simile - emphasises weight and seriousness - possibilty the emotional weight of anxiety/fear * praying to good forces ti oritect him - morally strong * Highlights inner conflict - Shakespeare uses this to create a clear contrast - Banquo is noble and loyal to king even when tempted * psychological burden of ambition Alt: * He is already tempted - asks for "merciful powers" to restrain his thoughts - suggests desires are alr strong within him * Coud be experiecning inner battle with ambition like M * the fact that his cursed thougths exist - prophecy feeply affectin ghim * fear of sleep - fearing what he might dream or desire deep down * Shakespeare - ambition is natural human feeling - makes Banquo complex and realistic

Answer 12

Stay you imperfect speakers, tell me more - M * After king prophecy * words are impactful, not actions * "imperfect" - suggests what they say isnt what he wants, wants witches to say what he wants - delusional + tryanny begins at the start * commands them - against great chain of being because above witches are demons angels and god - ego exceeds and is sustained throughout play * witches and LM use words as their power but macbeth chooses violence as power - uneccessary

Answer 13

If chance will have me king, why chance may crown me, without my stir - Macbeth * He believes in witches prophecy * He feels entitled uses witches words as an excuse for his entitlement - interprets it as a promise - he deserves the crown - this belief in his own destiny fuels his ambition * Shakespeare - ambition + belief in entitlement can distort morality and self-control Shakespeare - highlights how easily ppl can manipulate fate to justify their actions -LM believes this too

Answer 14

if you can look into the seeds of time and say which grain will grow and which will not - Banquo * with witches THEMES: * Ambition, fate/freewill/guilt/supernatural/consequences * literal = asking if wiches truly have the power to predict future ________________________________ * metaphor suggests time holds many possibilities, future is like a field where events are planted, no one knows which ones will grow ie come true. = pretdermination on the other hand - autonomy - we have control which seeds we plants and nurture * **audience questions whether witches are reevealing a predistined future or influence him to take action?** * Macbeth illustrated the tension between fate and free will Banquos cautious response contrasts with Macbeths impulsiveness Shakespeare - provoke the audience to consider how much control they truly have over their lives * contrast between him and Macbeth - he is curious but cautious but Macbeth is obsessed - foreshadows conseuqences of m's ambition, audience builds trust and respect for banquo

Answer 15

Dispute it like a man - Malcolm to Macduff when his family is killed

Answer 16

Turn, hell-hound, turn - Macduff - ending

Answer 17

There's husbandry in heaven;their candles are all out - Banquo + fleance walking at night

Answer 18

To betray's in deepest consequence - Banquo when he meets witches

Answer 19

Unseamed him from the nave to th'chops - Captain - About Maceth in the battle * visceral image - dehumanisation

Answer 20

Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done't - LM before King Murder * justification for being a coward * her weaknesses are appearing

Answer 21

Whence is that knocking? - Macbeth - just killed Duncan

Answer 22

* It isolated him - makes him become emotionally detached, paranoid and tyrannical. Reflects Jacobean fear of ambition beyond one's power as it disrupts the great chain of being and divine order * explore how human desire, when left unchecked, distorts moral judgement and leads to self-destruction - driven by the illusion that ambition = greatness * addictive - irrational and corrosive, consuming his sense of morality and self

Answer 23

* Immediately haunted by guilt after Duncan - moral crisis * His guilt doesnt manifest in madness like LM but in hallucinations and insomnia = deeper psychological torment * Over time, he builds emotional calluses, numb to bloodshed - Shakespeare - ignoring guilt doesnt erase it, it warps the soul until theres nothing left to feel

Answer 24

* At first trusts fate ("chance may crown me"), but quickly acts to force it. * Murders Banquo and Macduff’s family to control prophecy. * Shakespeare presents fate as misinterpreted—he chooses violence. * Shows humans shape their own downfall through misguided free will.

Answer 25

* Macbeth rules through fear, not divine right. * Contrasts with Duncan (virtue) and Malcolm (order). * Tyranny brings chaos—Macbeth loses legitimacy and support. * Shakespeare condemns unlawful power; tyranny disrupts nature and God’s will.

Answer 26

* Insecure masculinity = easily manipulated (Lady Macbeth challenges his manhood). * Links manhood with violence, not honour or virtue. * Shakespeare critiques toxic masculinity—violence ≠ strength. * True manhood lies in self-awareness, which Macbeth loses.

Answer 27

* Macbeth hides guilt/ambition behind a mask ("false face"). * Becomes a master of deceit—betrays loyalty and trust. * Reality is obscured by manipulation, hallucination, prophecy. * Shakespeare shows deception as a symptom of inner collapse.

Answer 28

* Supernatural = symbol of disorder and temptation. * Witches awaken ambition, don’t control Macbeth. * Hallucinations = guilt turning inward (dagger, Banquo’s ghost). * Macbeth chooses to follow supernatural signs = free will + moral collapse. * Shakespeare warns: those who trust the unnatural lose self, soul, and sanity.

Answer 29

* Illegitimate power = corrupts Macbeth completely. * Contrast with Duncan and Malcolm (rightful rulers). * Obsessed with keeping power, not worthy of it. * “Safely thus” = fear, not confidence in leadership. * Power gained by force = leads to paranoia, isolation, and collapse.is

Answer 30

* corruption - shows how seeking unnatural power can result in self-destruction - becomes mentally undone, showing how supernatrual forces can overpower human intentions * her guilt manifests through supernatural hallucinations - showing that the forces she once invoked now torment her - highlights double nature of supernautral * tool to control macbeths destiny * seeks help from it

Answer 31

* Manipulates Macbeth and questions his masculinity and courage, true power behind the throne in the start * as macbeth ascends to the throne, LM loses influence over himas he becomes more paranoid and indepdent, mental state worsens - power is corrupt

Answer 32

* Rejects feminine qualities - belives ambition must be achieved through violence * ambition blinds her to the consequences * self-destructive

Answer 33

* Start - non end - all * internal conflict - cold determination at the start and inability to cope with guilt at end - shift shows guilt is inescapable and can erode a persons sanity

Answer 34

* Rejects idea that fate alone will ensure macbeths rise to power so manipulation - demostrating her free will belief * sees herself as master of her own fate however irony of fate: they are powerless in the face of destiny * Fate cannot be escaped, Shakespeare LM r/s with fate to show how ambition and free will cant completely alter the course of preterminded outcomes

Answer 35

* doesnt see the moral or dive right * focused on seizing power rather than governing justice or wisdom sees duncan as weak * kingship achieved through murder is unsustainable - chaos

Answer 36

* Rejection of trad fem - masculinity to achieve goals *

Answer 37

* represents guilt * physical reminder of their crimes * linked to violence * the more blood they spill, the more their humanity fades * guilt has driven LM mad - imagines blood on her hands * deception,power,loyalty,violence,guilt, good and evil

Answer 38

* What the theme does * Why Shakespeare used them what emotions/idea they create * What does the language reveal about characters mind * could the quote mean something else? * context - this would shock a jacobean audience * context -

Answer 39

* quote and what it shows * context * why it matters + jacobean audience

Answer 40

Make our faces vizards to our hearts, disguising what we are - macbeth * metaphor - vizards - protection during war for soldiers - self deception - actions are necessary or even noble, like a solfier protecting his country - may believe his seizing of the crown will benefit others, however audience knows his motives are selfish - shows how ambition can distort reality * shows Macbeths increasing control and confidence in teh partnership * shakespeare warning that evil thrives in secrect and those who hide their true selves can become dangerous * calling of a mask demostrates how ambition and guilt have led him to reject his conscience, conving himself his actions are justified * "faces" - outward display and public persona they must maintain

Answer 41

My soul is too much charged with blood of thin already * focusses o soul at the end of the play - he knows he will die and feels regret - knows he will go to hell * says this to Macduff * juxtaposes with the blood shed he has comitted * reluctant to giht macduff * admission of guilt -

Answer 42

Who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him - LM * Guilt after duncans death * "old man" - deeply humanising, not said his name - strips away his title and focuses on his vulnerability and age - not just a political figure but a fragile human being * show remorse and emotional sensitivity that she tried to hide or deny * "so much blood" - emotional overflow, death has left a massive psychological impact, quantity of blood is symbolic of overwheling guilt

Answer 43

Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more - macbeth after banquos ghost * metaphor - turns his crimes into smth physical and inescaoable, showing how guilt has overwhelmed him "stepping" - each murder was a conscious action not an accident - he chose his own path * "wade" - slow heavy movement - visceral image - he is not just stuck, hes dragging himself deeper - aware his actions are exhausing and deliberate - but still ongoing. * stepped in so far - lots of blood * calls it "tedious" to go back too - kiling everyone is easier than going back to being good * suggests he has crossed a moral line - so deep in sin that turning back would be just as hard as continuing int: * acceptabnce of hisviolent path - no longer sees killing as shocking - emotioanlly numb - tedious - murder is just tiresome not territing * internal conflict - he knows he could sstop but hcooses not to - shakespeare showing he is trapped by his own ambtiion, not just fate * Fatalism or nihilism - nothing matters anymore might as well keep killing * Shakespeare warning how power can desensitise and dehaminse, turning guilt indifferent

Answer 44

Regardless of status, blood reoresents life and something given by God * When Macbeth kills, he is not just taking life - he is turning away from God * He more blood he spills the more he loses his connection from God * through the visceral imagery

Answer 45

* they fill the role of God * he seeks them out ultumately for guidance like people praying to a higher power * places his trust in them

Answer 46

* earlier - cautious and skeptical - intially lets them plant the seed of ambition but doesnt immediately act on it * final visit - he commands them, he now believs in their power * curious to devoted almsot worshipful - power and ambition have corrupted his spiritual compass * he is trying to take fate into his own hands but ironically he is becoming more controlled by them through vague prophecies - witches act like gods but also devils, giving him false confidence * Context - turning to witches for guidance is blasphemous - shakespeare reflects the danger of abandoning moral and religious order

Answer 47

* perhaps Macbeth already wanted to kill Duncan * "stars hide your fires" * LM simply verbalises what he fears to admit - giving him approval and a sense of stability, knowing that he isnt alone

Answer 48

* foil to macbeth * motivation driven by the need for revenge for slain family *

Answer 49

O horror, horror, horror - when duncan dies * repetition emphasises strength of his emotion * adopts the role of the judge in this play - knows macbeth is wrong * will act on gods behald to bring justic * "feminine" - weak - men were meant to be stoic * shakespeare challenges the jacobean soceity by making this "feminine" man macduff to kill macbeth and restores justice * implies moral strength and emotional depth are not signs of weakness but of true manhood * message relevant today - gender norms * emotions make us human

Answer 50

* Macbeth's betrayal is spiritual as well as political * LM loyalty is destructive - showing how excessive loyalty is destructive *

Answer 51

* why is a character presented this way * put a03 at the end * do not explicity tlak about daemonologie * how does current audience perceive characters? * include the effect of the point * how does it have significance to the question * explain how Shakespeare has weaved themes together - link to question * why for everythigng

Answer 52

I must feel it as a man - Macduff when ross tells him about lady macudffs murder in response to "dispute it like a man"

Answer 53

I am a man again - macbeth - after banquos ghost disppears

Macbeth Flashcards

(77 cards)