Macbeth Exam Revision

By DaRabbit, Student

Notes and Quotes for the exam revision and study of Macbeth, by William Shakespeare

An essay hosted at LiteratureClassics.com

Macbeth

Macbeth steeled himself to murder only by repressing everything that gave him worth as a human being so that he ¡§moves like a ghost¡¨

He is totally alienated from himself ¡V ¡§To know my deed, ¡¥twere best not to know myself¡¨

For most of the last half of the play Macbeth is in a neurotic state, alternating between black melancholy and outbursts of ¡§valiant fury¡¨. ¡§Some say he¡¦s mad. Others, that lesser hate him, Do call it valiant fury¡K¡¨

Most of these impromptu actions are to keep him from thinking: ¡§This deed I¡¦ll do before this purpose cool¡¨.

Shakespeare¡¦s portrayal of the downward spiral of a man once called ¡§worthy gentleman¡¨ and now ¡§fiendish hell-hound¡¨ is obviously meant to endorse the emerging Romantic values of the time

So that her own femininity would not keep her from doing evil deeds she called on demons to enter her body ¡§And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full / Of direst cruelty.

She ridiculed his masculinity to get him to kill Duncan, ¡§What, quite unmanned in folly?¡¨

¡§Look like the innocent flower, / But be the serpent underneath.¡¨

¡§worthy gentleman¡¨ „³ ¡§fiendish hell-hound¡¨

¡§god¡¦s soldier be he¡¨ ¡V odd to us of today that being happy at the death of your son , but to in the context of the play it was a great achievement to die valiantly

She is finally so caught up in deception that she cannot take the stress any more She starts to worry that people are no longer falling for their deceptive ways, and states this in one of her mad speeches in front of the doctor: ¡§What need we fear who knows it, / When none can call our power to accompt?¡¨

¡§who would have thought that the old man had so much blood in him?¡¨

According to Duncan, gutting someone like a fish is worthy of the praise ¡§Oh Valiant cousin, Oh worthy Gentleman!¡¨

¡§Macbeth¡¨ = ¡§Son of Life¡¨

by murdering duncan, Macbeth is destroying himself; his ¡§single state of man¡¨ is shaken by his inner conflict.

However much he represses it, his self-condemnation is implanted deeply in his mind, as Merteith says:
¡§Who then shall blame
His pestered senses to recoil and start,
When all that is within him does condemn
Itself for being there?¡¨

¡§oh, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!¡¨

hecat ¡V ¡§¡Kyou all know security / is mortal¡¦s chiefest enemy¡¨

¡§what he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won¡¨ - he gets thane of cawdor

¡§if chance will have me king, why chance may crown me without my stir¡¨

¡§let us make us medicines of our great revenge to cure this deadly grief¡¨

¡§come, we go to the king, our power is ready¡¨

¡§despair thy charm¡K macduff was from his mother¡¦s womb untimely ripped¡¨

¡§lay on, Macduff!¡¨

¡§I have almost forgot the taste of fears¡¨

¡§not in the legions / of horrid hell can come a devil more damned / in evils to top Macbeth¡¨

¡§by the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes¡¨ ¡V they are evil, like Macbeth.