Macbeth Revision Flashcards
What is a hamartia?
A fatal flaw
What is Macbeth’s fatal flaw?
Macbeth’s fatal flaw was his ambition. Macbeth’s ambition rises when the witches tell him he will become king, and he craves more.
Conventions of a tragedy
Chaos and disorder, fatal flaw which causes their down fall, supernatural, the death of the protagonist
How were Shakespeares characters different from before the Renaissance
Shakespeares characters are more psychologically complex and they are not all good or all bad like in the medical stories. Everyone makes mistakes, even the king or queen. He brings in some greek classics by including the mention of Neptune.
Themes of Macbeth
Fate vs Free-will
Guilt
Ambition
Guilt
While evil acts might produce the desired outcome, they don’t come without consequences
Shown through Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s visions and his inability to sleep
Ambition
Macbeth is driven to seek power and become King of Scotland
Lady Macbeth pushes Macbeth’s ambition over the edge by questioning his masculinity because he appears weak when he is unsure whether to commit the murder
Fate vs Free-will
Our fate may be predetermined, but it is what we do that determines how we get there. In Macbeth, he is told he will become king, and it is his choice of killing Duncan that gets him there, even though he could have become king anyway.
The witches
The audience would be aware that the witches’ prophecies don’t come without a twist.
Simple sentence
1 independent clause
subject + verb
A complete thought
Compound
2 or more independent clauses joined by FANBOYS
Complex
An independent clause and a dependent clause joined by a subordinating conjunction
Compound complex
Consists of independent and dependent clauses
Rhyming couplet
for drama
iambic pentameter
appears at the end of important speeches
Can signal high levels of emotion and can also be an indicator of magic
“Be bloody, bold and resolute, laugh to scorn
the power of man, for none of women born
shall harm Macbeth”
River
Macbeth is too deep into his river of troubles that he can’t turn back or reverse his actions, it is as difficult as getting to the other side. He is feeling stuck and tired of covering up his tracks.
