power Flashcards
(11 cards)
introduction
- Power in Macbeth is portrayed as a volatile and corrosive force that both empowers and ensnares those who seek it
- Rather than a static prize, authority is shown as a shifting currency—one that distorts moral values, fractures identity and upends the natural order
- Shakespeare dramatises this through a progression of control: the witches ignite Macbeth’s latent ambition; Lady Macbeth exploits conventional gender roles to seize influence; and the kingly mantle, once donned, becomes a burden that isolates its wearer
- In its interrogation of equivocation - promises that mislead as much as they guide - Macbeth reveals authority as both an intoxicant and a toxin, capable of elevating its bearer even as it seals their downfall
paragraph 1 quotation
‘fair is foul, and foul is fair’
‘fair is foul, and foul is fair’ analysis
→ by speaking in trochaic tetrameter, they oppose the other characters who speak in iambic tetrameter, emphasising the influential and overwhelming power they exploit in order to manipulate Macbeth
→ corrupted power, therefore, is both a symptom and a cause of the disruption of the natural order
→ Furthermore, by declaring that ‘fair is foul’, Shakespeare implies that even acts that appear honourable can lead to chaotic and destructive power. Macbeth’s internal conflict and descent into a murderous tyranny are prime examples; his initial ambition (to some may seem ‘fair’) quickly transforms into a path of brutal violence and moral decay (‘foul’)
→ moreover, this line is spoken by the witches, whose very presence disrupts the natural order and causes Macbeth’s power-hungry ambition
→ their chant foreshadows the violent upheaval that will plague Scotland use to Macbeth’s overindulgence of power and his tyrannical regime
paragraph 1
- from the onset of the play, Shakespeare immediately establishes the overwhelming power of the supernatural, which acts as a catalyst to the destruction of the natural order
- the witches, with their ambiguous prophecies, hold power over the actions of Macbeth, and therefore, eventually the whole of Scotland
- in Act 1, Scene 1, their invocation of chaos - ‘fair is foul, and foul is fair’ - not only blurs the lines between good and evil, and therefore moral and immoral power, but also implies that the corruption of power is part of a much larger, almost inevitable cosmic cycle
→ by speaking in trochaic tetrameter, they oppose the other characters who speak in iambic tetrameter, emphasising the influential and overwhelming power they exploit in order to manipulate Macbeth
→ corrupted power, therefore, is both a symptom and a cause of the disruption of the natural order
→ Furthermore, by declaring that ‘fair is foul’, Shakespeare implies that even acts that appear honourable can lead to chaotic and destructive power. Macbeth’s internal conflict and descent into a murderous tyranny are prime examples; his initial ambition (to some may seem ‘fair’) quickly transforms into a path of brutal violence and moral decay (‘foul’)
→ moreover, this line is spoken by the witches, whose very presence disrupts the natural order and causes Macbeth’s power-hungry ambition
→ their chant foreshadows the violent upheaval that will plague Scotland use to Macbeth’s overindulgence of power and his tyrannical regime
paragraph 2 quotation
‘O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!’
‘O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!’ analysis
→ In likening his thoughts to ‘scorpions’ Macbeth deploys zoomorphism and an extended animalistic metaphor that fuses imagery of venom and pain with his royal identity, suggesting that the very power he seized has injected him with perpetual torment
→ The harsh consonants in ‘scorpions’ and ‘sting’ - though unspoken here - linger in the ear, reinforced by the sibilant ‘s’ sounds that mimic a hissing venom, while the exclamatory ‘O’ breaks sharply from the play’s usual iambic pentameter to signal emotional rupture
→ Shakespeare inverts the normal iambic flow - placing ‘full of scorpions’ before ‘is my mind’ - thereby disturbing the expected rhythm and mirroring the chaos of Macbeth’s inner world
→ Addressing Lady Macbeth as ‘dear wife’ immediately after this violent image highlights the contrast between conjugal intimacy and his mental disintegration: even his closest confidante cannot cure the poison of his sovereignty
→ The line thus presents power as a corrupting disease - its crown a source of authority that simultaneously injects guilt, paranoia and isolation
→ Rather than liberating him, Macbeth’s kingship has transmogrified his mind into a lethal landscape, emphasising that unchecked ambition inevitably warps both self and state
paragraph 2
- as the play progresses, power is revealed as an increasingly isolating and corrosive force that drives Macbeth from restless anxiety into ruthless tyranny
- already seated on the throne, he confesses to Lady Macbeth that ‘O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!’, comparing his tortured thoughts to venomous creatures that sting without mercy
→ In likening his thoughts to ‘scorpions’ Macbeth deploys zoomorphism and an extended animalistic metaphor that fuses imagery of venom and pain with his royal identity, suggesting that the very power he seized has injected him with perpetual torment
→ The harsh consonants in ‘scorpions’ and ‘sting’ - though unspoken here - linger in the ear, reinforced by the sibilant ‘s’ sounds that mimic a hissing venom, while the exclamatory ‘O’ breaks sharply from the play’s usual iambic pentameter to signal emotional rupture
→ Shakespeare inverts the normal iambic flow - placing ‘full of scorpions’ before ‘is my mind’ - thereby disturbing the expected rhythm and mirroring the chaos of Macbeth’s inner world
→ Addressing Lady Macbeth as ‘dear wife’ immediately after this violent image highlights the contrast between conjugal intimacy and his mental disintegration: even his closest confidante cannot cure the poison of his sovereignty
→ The line thus presents power as a corrupting disease - its crown a source of authority that simultaneously injects guilt, paranoia and isolation
→ Rather than liberating him, Macbeth’s kingship has transmogrified his mind into a lethal landscape, emphasising that unchecked ambition inevitably warps both self and state
paragraph 3 quotations
‘Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow’
‘brief candle’
‘walking shadow’
‘Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow’ and ‘brief candle’ and ‘walking shadow’ analysis
→ This weary insistence on the future - so often synonymous with hope - becomes instead a burden, as time itself conspires to erode any sense of purpose in his rule
→ When he likens life to a ‘brief candle’, the metaphor of a fragile flame poised to be instantly extinguished captures how his hard‑won authority is both transient and vulnerable: the very light that once symbolised power now flickers on the brink of darkness
→ That darkness swallows him entirely in the image of the ‘walking shadow’, a phantom whose only certainty is its own insubstantiality
→ Technically, the shift from the candle’s delicate warmth to the cold emptiness of a shadow charts Macbeth’s descent from regal potency to spectral impotence - his crown reduced to a mere illusion cast by a dying light
→ By weaving anaphora, metaphor and stark visual contrast, Shakespeare presents unchecked ambition as a performance without substance, revealing that what seemed like sovereign triumph is at best a momentary glow and at worst a nightmarish echo that vanishes the moment the candle gutters
paragraph 3
- At the play’s dénouement, power is presented as an ephemeral and hollow force
- In his ‘Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow’ soliloquy, Shakespeare strips sovereign authority of grandeur through anaphoric repetition: each ‘tomorrow’ trudges forward in weary iambs, evoking the drudgery of time under Macbeth’s tyrannical grasp
→ This weary insistence on the future - so often synonymous with hope - becomes instead a burden, as time itself conspires to erode any sense of purpose in his rule
→ When he likens life to a ‘brief candle’, the metaphor of a fragile flame poised to be instantly extinguished captures how his hard‑won authority is both transient and vulnerable: the very light that once symbolised power now flickers on the brink of darkness
→ That darkness swallows him entirely in the image of the ‘walking shadow’, a phantom whose only certainty is its own insubstantiality
→ Technically, the shift from the candle’s delicate warmth to the cold emptiness of a shadow charts Macbeth’s descent from regal potency to spectral impotence - his crown reduced to a mere illusion cast by a dying light
→ By weaving anaphora, metaphor and stark visual contrast, Shakespeare presents unchecked ambition as a performance without substance, revealing that what seemed like sovereign triumph is at best a momentary glow and at worst a nightmarish echo that vanishes the moment the candle gutters
conclusion
- In ‘Macbeth’ Shakespeare crafts a nuanced study of power’s seductive allure and inherent fragility
- From its first poisonous promise by the Witches to its tyrannical middle reign and final collapse into nihilistic despair, authority is never a stable possession but a force that warps every soul it touches
- Through shifts in verse, haunting imagery and sharply contrasted character arcs, the play reveals how unchecked ambition corrodes moral judgment, isolates its wielder and ultimately destroys both individual and state
- In restoring rightful order at the close, Shakespeare not only condemns the violent usurpation of power but also affirms that true sovereignty requires legitimacy, restraint and a recognition of human fallibility
