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“A falcon towering in her pride of place was by a mousing owl hawkd at and killed”

Falcon = Duncan (magnificent, grand, powerful,. Elegant)

Owl – Macbeth (associated with the night, evil, devious)

 

“Duncan’s horses..they eat each other”. This quote shows the absolute rebellion and subversion of nature on the death of Duncan. The horses cannibalism that has ensued is grotesque, deeply disturbing and entirely unnatural – highlights the nature of Macbeth’s acts. Nature’s rebellion also hints at the extreme unnaturalness of Macbeth’s deeds. It is a significant, grotesque, shocking image. It also highlights the destruction that has occurred and perhaps could be interpreted as a bad omen of the destruction that is to ensue.

Macbeth asking Banquo: “Goes Fleance with you?” shows that Macbeth is being consumed quickly by evil as he is plotting to ensure that Banquo and Fleance are killed so that he retains the throne. This question occurs very soon after he has gained the throne. This also shows that ambition and power corrupts – Macbeth holds the most powerful title but is still not satisfied.

“fruitless crown and barren sceptre” – contrast between great things “crown” and “sceptre” which are symbols of power which are contrasted with “fruitless” and “barren” which both suggest being powerless and empty. Perhaps this highlights Macbeth’s fate –the things he saw as being powerful and rich have actually led to an empty life in which he is vulnerable and weak. His life does not give birth to things. Also this furthers the idea that Shakespeare introduces regularly that Macbeth is concerned with the unnatural - both supernatural and unnatural in the sense of going against what is right and normal.

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The natural world is rebelling against the act of regicide. ”sacrilegious murder” – the word choice of sacrilegious suggests the significance and holiness of Duncan.

Lady Macbeth and Macbeth’s outward public response shows no remorse.  This can be seen when Macbeth declares: “There’s nothing serious in mortality. All is but toys”.

Macbeth: “violent love” this juxtaposition highlights Macbeth’s duplicitous nature and inner turmoil. Interestingly the negative aspect is placed first, perhaps showing that evil is overtaking the goodness in Macbeth.

Very quickly after the murder of Duncan we see
Macbeth’s ‘prophecy’ (“that we but teach bloody instructions, which being taught, return to plague th’ inventor”0 come true as already more victims of the murder are being identified: those of Duncan’s chamber.

Duncan:

“silver skin” – sibilance of s, soft sound highlights the beauty of Duncan, the metaphor of “silver skin” Just as silver is a precious metal, expensive and uncommon so Duncan is being described as precious, of great value and rare.

The metaphor of his golden blood shows, just as gold is….so Duncan is ..

Duncan is several times associated with gold.

“his gash’d stabs look’d like a breach in nature”.

The word choice of “gash’d” means a cut however it suggests a large injury, the product of great violence and suggests severe damage to the body.

This simile highlights the horrendous impact of Macbeth’s violence on Duncan’s body.

This quote highlights Macbeth’s propensity for violence, shows the level of his depravity and shows his use of gratuitous violence. This in turn gives us an insight into Macbeth’s true character.

The repetition of the word “breech”.

What is interesting also is the repetition of “love”. Is this a sign of Macbeth’s inner conflict or does it suggest that he is thinking of his love for his wife – which is one of the reasons he has committed this “breech”.

The repeated references to “blood” pervades the text furthering the tragic element of the play. Also it is a word used by many characters showing the bloody effects are far reaching.

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LM assumes the masculine role in her relationship with M – this is courageous, she subverts the expectations of a Jacobean women.

“ignorant present” Word choice of ignorant has negative connotations , this shows her utter disgust of the current situation. Her current situation would be envied by most of Jacobean society – she is in the upper echelons of society, so this shows her insatiable ambition.

What is interesting is if we look at the first words uttered by LM and M on seeing each after a long time apart.

LM says: “Great Glamis, Worthy Cawdor”. It is interesting to note that she refers to his titles and status. Clearly this is how she look son him – as a status, and from him she gains status. This shows the reader that the thing uppermost in her mind is status and hence her ambition, and shows her obsession with power. She sees her husband as a role, not as her love. In contrast, Macbeth’s first utterance to his wife is: “Dearest love”. This is juxtaposed to his wife’s welcome and shows the reader that he, in contrast, sees his wife for exactly that: his wife, his love.

 

LM commands her husband: “look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it”. LM is encouraging her husband to be deceitful. Just as a snake is poisonous, deadly but also often unnoticed  suggesting that he have these qualities when dealing with Duncan. She is here corrupting him, however Shakespeare (through the use of the supernatural) has already informed the reader that Macbeth is easily persuaded. Macbeth is gullible and malleable, but perhaps not the driving force or as strong and determined as LM.  He is vulnerable to her persuasion as his first words to her show his utter love and dedication to her. He is a devoted husband.

 

Act 1 Scene 6

Where Lady Macbeth in the same property saw a “raven”, Banquo (in the company of Duncan) saw a “martlet”. A martlet live in churches and so is associated with religion, purity and innocence thus linking Duncan and his party with purity. Shakespeare uses bird imagery to juxtapose the two groups.

On seeing Lady Macbeth Duncan repeats the word love and references God – showing his good character and aligns him with religion (again).

Duncan when speaking to LM and M talks of love.

The Jacobean audience would be appalled at the plan of regicide but more so the reader sees, due to Shakespeare’s portrayal, that Duncan is a good king. 

 

 

KEY SPEECH ACT 1 SCENE 7

 “if it were done” -  Macbeth uses the conditional tense showing his doubt that continues to plague him regarding his plan to kill Duncan. Lady Macbeth on the other hand shows no doubt at any point leading up to the murder.

“we’d jump the life to come” – this means that Macbeth is aware that if he kills the King he will not go to heaven and will not have any kind of life after death – this shows that Macbeth does indeed have a conscience. Either this can show Macbeth to be human and religious to some extent, or it can be argued that the fact he continues with plan despite being aware of the after effects in terms of religion and spirituality shows his utter lack of care and lack of religion as he overrides his conscience – he knows what he does is wrong.

“that we but teach bloody instructions, which being taught, return to plague th’ inventor” – here Macbeth (before the regicide of Duncan takes place) shows the reader he understands the terrible consequences of murderous actions. He makes it clear that he knows if he kills, he in turn will likely be killed. This shows Macbeth to be reckless ultimately as, despite this insight, he does in fact “teach bloody instructions”. The repetition of bloody, which has pervaded the text from the very beginning, furthers the theme of tragedy and murder. Also the use of this word in association with Macbeth highlights his murderous tendencies. Furthermore the metaphor of plague shows that, just as a plague is near impossible to stop, affects a large amount of the population and is deadly, the consequences of Macbeth’s actions will be difficult to stop and will be devastating to many, resulting in a high number of casualties (not just Macbeth).

 

There is a lot of symmetry in the language between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth – perhaps showing their similar vile natures.

“I have given suck” – perhaps on realising that LM has given birth and lost her child, the audience can begin to understand her current barbarity.  Clearly she has experienced trauma, the same level of trauma cannot be said to have been experienced by Macbeth.

“I would…Have pluck’d my nipple from his boneless gums and dash’d the brains out”

Lady Macbeth is shown to be ferocious and unnatural. Firstly the word choice of “pluck’d” has suggestions of being unnatural, violent and causing significant harm – it is going against nature to produce something unnatural. It is making something vulnerable. This shows that she would use unnatural violence to remove her own newborn baby from her chest. Furthermore the word choice of “dah’s” firstly with the plosive d suggest an extreme of violence and the word choice has suggestions of violence, being uncaring and commtiing violence with a clear purpose.