Macbeth

• Mr Everything English: 'In thunder lightning or in Rain'
• Witches


  • They can control the weather
  • They can't physically control Macbeth
• Thunder


  Foreshadows the noise and rumbling of the play
• Lightning


  Foreshadows the act of murder by Macbeth
• Rain


  Foreshadows the consequences and suffering that follows Macbeth's actions
• The three words 'thunder lightning rain' can symbolically represent the entire story of Macbeth
• Captain: 'His dagger is smoked with bloody execution and Macbeth unseened him from the Nave to the chops'
• Smoked


  Implies the speed and power of Macbeth's killing
• Unseened


  Macbeth kills his enemy precisely and painfully, enjoying the act of killing
• Macbeth's killing


  Shows his skill, precision and lack of panic on the battlefield
• Macbeth


  • A patriarchal figure
  • Motivated by his desires and love of killing
• Banquo: 'You should be women and yet your beards forbid me to interpret that you are'
• Beards


  Signify the witches have sacrificed their femininity for power
• Witches


  Represent the lack of power women have in the patriarchal society, even those married to powerful men
• Lady Macbeth's desire to be 'unsexed' shows the limitations women face in the patriarchal world
• Macbeth's name 'son of life' ironically foreshadows the death and destruction he will cause
• Instruments of Darkness


  The witches who tell truths to win people over, then betray them with deeper consequences
• The witches tell truths

  To win people over
• The witches tell truths

  Then betray them with deeper consequences
• Banquo recognizes the problem with the witches - that they cannot be stopped
• The witches


  Choose to meet Macbeth, not by accident
• Banquo's response to the prophecies

  Does nothing
• Macbeth's response to the prophecies


  Accelerates and does his worst
• Shakespeare suggests that if you do nothing, fate will turn out to favour you anyway
• Banquo's silence could be seen as him doing something
• The witches don't have much power other than the power of manipulation they use to influence their target
• The dark and tell us truths metaphor foreshadows something
• Banquo is the antithesis to Macbeth


  Banquo's response to the prophecies is to do nothing, whereas Macbeth's response is to accelerate it and do everything
• Shakespeare is suggesting that if you do nothing, fate will turn out to favor you anyway
• Banquo's silence speaks volumes because he knows the prophecies will come true
• Banquo is not as innocent as he may seem, he just watches Macbeth's downfall
• Macbeth also knows Banquo is a threat to him
• Both Macbeth and Banquo are examples of characters that were completely manipulated and destroyed
• Banquo's silence is because he knows fate is God's plan, so he does nothing to go against it
• Banquo suspects Macbeth killed Duncan, yet he still goes along with Macbeth
• The quote "Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it" shows Lady Macbeth commanding Macbeth on how to behave
• Simile, Symbolism, Foreshadowing


  • The quote uses a simile to compare Macbeth to a serpent under an innocent flower, symbolizing his evil nature hidden by a facade, and foreshadowing his eventual downfall
• The quote relates to the patriarchy, as Lady Macbeth is telling the powerful Macbeth how to behave
• Macbeth's evil actions are not well thought out, unlike Lady Macbeth's calculated plans
• Macbeth's soliloquy "Heat oppressed brain" shows his weakness and foreshadows his eventual downfall