Macbeth revision

• List of predictions (Macbeths first visit):

  Prediction 1- Macbeth becomes a Thane

  Prediction 2- Macbeth will be king

  Prediction 3- Banquo’s children will be kings
• List of predictions (Macbeths second visit):

  Prediction 1- Beware Macduff/Thane of Thife

  Prediction 2- he will never be vanquished until Birnham Wood comes to Dunsinane

  Prediction 3- No man of woman born shall harm him
• Context - At the time the play was written and performed (1603) there was a lot of religious tension between Catholics and Protestants
• Context - Witches trials involved burning or hanging as a punishment
• Context - Traitors to the king paid with there own lives
• Context - James 1st was king of England and Scotland in 1603 when Shakespeare wrote Macbeth
• Regicide = Killing a monarch
• A Thane could gain or lose power
• Context - There are many references to religion throughout the play such as ‘the devil himself could not make evil good’
• Context - The Gunpowder Plot took place on November 5th, 1605 which is Guy Fawkes Night today
• Context - The witches were often associated with witchcraft, which was seen as an act against God
• Quotations: “Black and deep desires ”
• Quotations: “Fair and foul, and foul is fair.”
• Quotations: “There to meet with Macbeth.”
• Quotations: “You shall be king.”
• Quotations: “Look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under‘t.”
• Quotations: “Are you a man?”
• Quotations: “False face must hide what false heart doth know.”
• Quotations: “She should have died hereafter.”
• Quotations: “Macduff is fled to England.”
• Quotations: “Macduff was from his mothers womb untimely ripped.”
• Quotations: “My worthy Cawdor.”
• Quotations: “Noble Banquo.”
• Quotations: “To me you speak not.”
• Quotations: “Come, thick night.”
• Quotations: “What, can the devil speak true?.”
• Quotations: “Smoked with blood execution.”
• Quotations: “Carved out his passage”
• Iambic pentameter: 10 beats per line
• Macbeth was seen as brave and was admired at the start of the play, compared to towards the end where he was seen as a coward
• God ordained right to rule: Thou shall not kill is one of the Ten Commandments
• People of higher status can rule over anyone who is of a lower status
• Themes in Macbeth: Ambition, Supernatural/Witchcraft, Masculinity, Femininity, Guilt, Bravery, Courage
• Quotations: “Sleep no more”
• Quotations: “Give me the daggers”
• Quotations: “Thou canst not say I did it”
• Use a language device to describe the quotation during the part of the paragraph where you zoom in: Metaphor, repetition, simile, alliteration, irony, foreshadowing
• Quotation: “Thou art too full of the milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way.”
• Context: in the bible, a snake leads to the downfall of man (Adam and Eve) through trickery relating to Macbeth and lady Macbeth being tricked by the witches
• Context: In the quotation ”look like the innocent flower…..” Look is an imperative verb which is bossy and women were not supposed to give men orders