Macbeth Flashcards
Brave Macbeth - well he deserves that name
Character:
Shows us that Macbeth has many good qualities. He is brave and also a good soldier.
“Stars hide your fires/ Let not light see my black and deep desires”
Character:
The word choice of ‘black’ and ‘deep’ suggests that the witches words are working on Macbeth. As a result of his ambition Macbeth is beginning to consider doing evil to make the prophecy come true. However, Macbeth acknowledges that this is wrong. The metaphor suggests he desperately does not want anyone to find out about his evil thoughts. He wants to maintain an appearance of loyalty.
Too full of the milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way.
Character:
Lady Macbeth knows that Macbeth is not a natural born killer. She sees kindness and compassion as her husbands weaknesses
I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent/ but only vaulting ambition
Character & Key Scene:
In his soliloquy we see that Macbeth has ambition. The personification of Macbeth’s ambition also suggests that he is distancing himself from the evil idea of killing Duncan. He suggests his ambition is riding away of its own accord. Macbeth’s conscience is winning over his ambition.
When you durst do it, then you were a man.
Character & Key Scene:
Lady Macbeth is a very forceful and manipulative character. She persuades Macbeth into going through with the murder by a tracking his masculinity. She says that he was only a man when he dared to kill the King, suggesting that now he has backed out he is no longer masculine to her. She makes Macbeth change his mind again. This is important to the rest of the play, as the action that follows is the out working of the consequences of this decision.
His virtues will plead like angels trumpet tongu’d against the deep damnation of his taking off
Key Scene:
Macbeth knows that Duncan is a good King. He compares Duncan’s virtues to Angels, which suggests he is good and innocent. Macbeth thinks that if Duncan was an evil King there would be some justification for killing him, but as he is good he cannot justify it to himself.
