Supernatural Flashcards
“Fair is foul and
foul is fair’
L= paradox/chiasmus. The witches predict MB will
be king which is good but lead him to commit
murder which is evil, in order to achieve his
ambition to be king. Shows equivocation of witches.
“instruments of
darkness‘
L= metaphor. Banquo realises the witches could be evil
agents of the devil and tempt MB to commit sin.
C= reflects James 1’s belief in witches as evil agents,
described in his book ‘Daemonologie”. Shakespeare flatters
his patron the king by including a subject in which he was interested.
“thy bones are
marrowless, thy blood is
cold’
D= the ghost is not just supernatural, it is a projection of
his guilty conscience after murdering Banquo.
R= ghost terrifies audience; also a warning of how
murderers will be punished - dead will come back to haunt
them. C= Gunpowder Plot.
‘by the pricking of my
thumbs, something
wicked this way comes’
L= rhyming couplet. The know MB has become as
evil as they are.
C= It was believed witches could sense the approach of evil.
“artificial sprites….. shall
draw him on in his
confusion’
The witches decide to deceive Macbeth about his future to
punish him.
R/I= Audience may feel MB deserves punishment for his evil
or feel sympathy as he shouldn’t have trusted the witches.
‘juggling fiends’
L= metaphor. MB realises he has been deceived by
the witches as agents fo, the devil and that he has
damned his soul to Hell for murdering a king.
C- Divine Right of Kings. Punishment from God.
TS1: The witches are the catalysts for the action, and they exploit Macbeth’s hamartia - his ambition.
TS2: Banquo is less trusting of the witches and cautions Macbeth that they might have evil intentions.
TS3: The supernatural also occurs in the appearance of Banquo’s ghost.
TS4: Later in the play, the witches recognise Macbeth’s evil, and seek to deceive him.
TS5: At the end of the play, Macbeth realises he has been deceived, and the witches have led him to damn his soul.
