Violence Flashcards
What can Jacobean society be summed up as?
‘Might Not Right’
Nobility equates to performance on the battlefield
How does “Might Not Right” reflect on the Actions of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth?
Perhaps, their actions aren’t as morally unscrupulous as we believe
they are simply a product of vaulting ambition and fate
What is one way Macbeth and Lady Macbeth displace themselves within the great chain of being?
- Through their regicides, they kill God’s “Anointed One” the king
- They besmirch the names of the dead, blaming their crimes on the guardsmen
How is Equivocation presented in relation to Violence in “Macbeth”?
“I hath done the deed”
- Euphemism
- No religious books forbid “The deed”
- Link to a fear of God
- Understanding their actions
- Contrasts to “Unseaming from “The Nave to the Chops”
Why do the Macbeth’s Equivocate?
Self Preservation
Shakespeare also perhaps wants the audience to have a shred of remaining sympathy
Why is “the porter scene” important in Macbeth?
The Porter scene is a form of comic relief that lessens the impact of the murder of Duncan, Shakespeare may do this so that the audience remains sympathetic for his tragic hero.
