family is murdered by Macbeths assassins. Reveng drives him to kill Macbeth
Macduff
symbolism - Macbeth and Macduff fight between good and evil, sin is defeated and order restored. His bravery exposes Macbeth’s cowardice
Macduff
‘Thy hope ends here’ Macduff pessimistic outlook, no peace if Scotland is ruined by tyrant
Macduff
context: recognise Duncan as the true righteous king, he can ‘see the great dooms image’ (death of the king) which is the end of the world as natural order has been displaced
Believed in Jacobean era that if you go against the divine right of kingship, you would be punished, links to ‘Macbeth does murder sleep’ which means Macbeth has no more clear conscience
MACBETH
“this supernatural soliciting cannot be ill, cannot be good” this is a paradox which reflects ’fair is foul and foul is fair.’ The supernatural soliciting also is sibilance to show the witches are cunning. It shows how Macbeth starts to dwell on the prophecies and knows what he’s about to do is morally corrupted but is excited to be king.
Context: witches and witchcraft was banned under James I rule
“Full of scorpions in my mind” Act3Scene2
metaphor, scorpions are creatures of poison which implies to reader that Macbeth is corrupted with his own desire for power.
”Is that a dagger I see before me?”
rhetorical question shows his disbelief
emphasises his obsession
signs of madness
noun dagger shows his corrupted mind by violence
Context: believed witches would take over the mind, king James wrote a book to warn people of such things
‘life’s but a walking shadow.. signifying nothing.’
metaphor
having an epiphany that life has no meaning
noun shadow is a metaphor for ambition, power and money. all that Macbeth chased but never caught because you can’t catch a shadow
Context: audience is shocked because family is seen as very treasured
