analysis

• "the instruments of darkness tell us truths, win us with honest trifles to betrays in deepest consequences" - Banquo a1,s3

  -instruments are to be played

  -the witches are going to play Macbeth and Banquo

  -foreshadows evil - witches represent the devil

  -he admits the witches tell us truths - believes supernatural

  -once the witches pull you in they drop you and you will suffer the consequences

  -Macbeth is addicted - he goes back for more

  -witches manipulate Macbeth for own benefit
• "bleed bleed poor country" - Macduff a4s3

  -Macbeth destroyed the divine right of kings and created chaos in Scotland

  -the idea that the way a monarch rules impacts the land

  -Macduff asking Malcom to fight for Scotland

  -Macduff is distressed about state of Scotland
• "there's no art to find the minds construction in the face" - Duncan a1s4

  -you cannot see through to what a man is thinking just by looking at his face

  -Duncan admits he is gullible

  -he thinks people who seem good and loyal might not be

  -misjudged old thane of Cawdor

  -irony - misjudges Macbeth
• "i have no spur to prick the sides of my intent but only vaulting ambition which overleaps itself" - Macbeth a1,s7

  -Macbeth is not in control of his ambition lady Macbeth (the rider with spurs) is

  -he has no genuine motivation for justifying his intentions

  -only has his vaulting ambition - excessive and uncontrollable

  -external pressure is driving Macbeths intentions (lady Macbeth)

  -encapsulates Macbeths flaw - his ambition is excessive and self destructive

  moment of self awareness

  -battle between ambition and conscience
• "fair is foul and foul is fair hover through the fog and filthy air" - the witches a1,s1

  • repetition of f - fricative, aggression
  • trochaic tetrameter - childlike
  • paradox - opposites are equated, disruption of moral order and blurring of distinctions between good and evil
  • foreshadows moral confusion of characters
  • everything is flipped good is bad
  • highlight cyclical nature of the play - fair may ultimately lead to foul
  • weather used to create darkness, atmosphere of chaos where wickedness thrives
  • witches - murky environment
  • emphasises importance of looking beneath the surface
• "let not light see my dark and deep desires" - Macbeth a1,s4

  • juxtaposition of light and dark highlight moral conflict
  • Macbeth desires are sinister and forbidden
  • inner turmoil and moral ambiguity - he recognises the wickedness of his desires but is consumed by ambition
  • fear of exposure
  • influence of supernatural forces
  • witches are catalysts leading him down a path of destruction
  • foreshadows macbeths corruption
• "out dammed spot; out I say" - lady Macbeth a5,s1


  -tries to rid herself of bloodstains on her hands

  -blood symbolises guilt

  -repetition emphasises desperation and urgency to cleanse herself of guilt

  -highlight the psychological consequences of ambition
• "look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under it" - lady Macbeth a1,s5

  -telling Macbeth to be two faced, look innocent and be evil

  -reflects her belief in the power of deception and manipulation to achieve their ambitions

  -appearance vs reality, to succeed must mask their true intentions

  -fair is foul, foul is fair
• "I gin to be aweary of the sun and wish estate o'the world were now undone" - Macbeth a5,s5

  -Macbeth knows he is going to die

  -he is expressing his physical and emotional fatigue

  -tired of the daylight - shows the consequences of his actions

  -wishes the entire order of the world could be undone

  -reflects his regret and desire to turn back time undoing the events that have led to his state of despair and moral decay

  -shows his realisation of the irreversible consequences of his ambition and actions
• "I would while it was smiling in my face have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed the brains out" - lady Macbeth a1,s7

  • intentionally horrific
  • abandoned all her femineity
  • rejected all patricidal roles and maternal feeling
  • society has made her evil
  • women's role is to provide children and she cant
  • lady Macbeth wants to take revenge on the world
  • king is gods representative on earth
  • says to Macbeth she would never have broken a promise to him
• "come you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here and fill me from the crow to the toe top full of direst cruelty" - lady Macbeth a1,s5

  • in order to succeed you have to be a man
  • isn't saying make her a man but take away her feminine traits
  • women were excluded from power
  • only get power through relations
  • manipulates husband to gain power
  • she wants to be fully immersed with the worst possible evil (spirits)
• "there's the smell of blood still. all the perfumes in Arabia will not sweeten this little hand" - lady Macbeth a5,s1

  • guilt and consequences of actions linger despite trying to cover them up
  • no amount of scents or external attempt to mask the guilt can erase the stain of their deeds
  • no amount of external purification can cleanse them
• "will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hands" - macbeth a2,s2

  • trying to understand the enormity of his crime and the guilt that follows
  • he will never get rid off his guilt
  • becomes used to killing people
  • emphasise magnitude of guilt
• "brave Macbeth - well he deserves that name" - ross a1,s2

  • seen in very high regard by the king and people around him
  • initial impression of Macbeths character is brave and deserving of ambition
  • brave refers to Macbeths courage in battle
  • his violence is praised
  • ironic as play goes on
  • his ambition and desire for power lead him down a path of betrayal murder and tyranny
• "full of scorpions is my mind" - Macbeth a1,s3

  • scorpions convey idea of inner torment and guilt
  • associated with danger poison in death
  • his mind is full of horrible thoughts - been poisened
  • psychological burden he carries
  • scorpions represent his darkest desires
  • his mind is like a weapon that craves death
  • completely consumed by these feelings
• "when thou durst do it, then you were a man" - lady Macbeth a1,s7

  • shows the danger of patriarchy and how it oppresses men
  • he had to be brave and courageous in the eyes of his wife
  • she calls him a coward
  • questioning Macbeths courage and bravery
  • Macbeth would only prove himself to be a true man if he kills the king
  • emasculates him and manipulates him
  • murder would show his strength
• "out out brief candle! life's but a walking shadow" - macbeth a5,s2

  • brief candle is a metaphor for life
  • fragility of life and its inevitable ending
  • compares life to a walking shadow emphasizing its insubstantial nature
  • shadow represented whatever Macbeth chased in life
  • moment of realisation
  • cannot catch up with shadow
  • emphasises disappear
  • all life will end
• "a little water clear us of this deed" - lady Macbeth a2,s2

  • reflects her attempt to downplay the severity of her actions
  • convince herself that consequences can be washed away
  • attempt to supress guilt and rationalise their actions
  • ignorance of the psychological impact of murder
  • water - purification, cleansing, renewal
  • water can wash away guilt - naïve
  • sets of chain of events
  • foreshadows psychological torment - guilt will haunt them
  • lady m suicide
• "blood will have blood" - Macbeth a3,s4

  • violence will always lead to more violence
  • consequences will catch up
  • after he sees Banquo's ghost
  • to maintain power Macbeth orchestrates others deaths
  • cycle of violence
  • consequences cannot be escpaed
  • destructive nature of ambition
  • moral decay that accompanies the pursuit of power
  • fate - individuals are bound by their actions
  • consequences are inevitable
• "none of woman born shall harm Macbeth" - the witches a4,s1

  • blood child utters line
  • gives Macbeth false hope - seems impossible for anyone not be born of a women
  • fuels his overconfidence
  • could refer to someone born via c -section (Macduff)
• "dead butcher and his fiend like queen" - Malcom a5,s8

  • Macbeth refered to as a butcher because he killed lots of people
  • caused widespread death and distruction
  • brutal and indiscriminate nature of his actions
  • possessing quialites like a demond
  • manipulative, ambitious, morally corrupt
• "false face must hide what the heart doth know" - Macbeth a1,s7

  appearance vs reality

  • he is two sided with his intentions
  • appears noble
  • is evil and deceitful

  repetition of false

  • emphasises false and unnatural taking of the crown
  • doesnt have nobility
  • is a false king
• "why do you dress me / in borrowed robes" - act1, s3

  motif of clothing

  • something physical and temporary
  • can easily be removed
  • like is title as king - not permament
• "upon my head they placed a fruitless crown" - a3, s1

  place

  • carefully crafted, not given
  • manipulated his position as king
  • not been acquired through legitimacy

  fruitless

  • king is synonymous with being fruitful to their people
  • leadership and morality
  • lack of fruit shows how he is not suited for the role and how he violated the natural order