Macbeth and Macduff's castle : Act 5

Question 1

shakespeare interrogates….

Answer 1

macbeth’s internal divisions between guilt, unjustified confidence and a propensity towards violence

Question 2

macbeth’s guilt begins to surface

Answer 2

‘my soul is too much charg’d with the blood of thine already’

Question 3

‘my soul is too much charg’d with the blood of thine already’

Answer 3

• maintains his sense of humanity
• he has a capacity for remorse
• reiterates the notion that macbeth must remain somewhat redeemable to be characterised as the tragic hero, he is not merely a villain

Question 4

macbeth’s confidence

Answer 4

gloats that he cannot be killed by a man ‘of woman born’ yet macduff soon disparages him by revealing ‘macduff was from his mothers womb / untimely ripped’ (born by caesarean section

Question 5

moment of anagnorosis in battle

Answer 5

• strips him off his hubris, courage and tenacity
• and his intrinsic cowardice which lady macbeth formerly ridiculed rises again
• he concedes in saying ‘ i’ll not fight with thee’
• reminds us that macbeth is merely a puppet for evil and it is his intrinsic qualities of a soldier which are extrapolated by external forces in the play (witches/lady macbeth)