‘So foul and fair a day I have not seen’
- Act 1 scene 3
- Macbeth’s first line uses lexical mirroring, echoing the language of the witches. This shows his instant connection to them, and highlights how, already, he is victim to their manipulations.
- Macbeth’s use of paradoxical language demonstrates how his good and noble appearance may, in truth, hide a more evil soul.
“Why do you dress me in borrow’d robes’
- Act 1 Scene 3
- Metaphor suggest reluctance to wear them
- Foreshadowing as they were previously owned by a traitor; the thane of Cawdor
- Suggests clothing motif and appearance vs reality
“Stars, hide your fires, let not light see my black and deep desires”
- Act 1 Scene 4
- Macbeth’s use of an aside here indicates his secrecy and lack of honesty for the first time. -The use of colour imagery, with his desires described as black, indicates his burgeoning evil and hidden darkness. It emphasises his outward honour and inward corruption
- He uses cosmic imagery to command the stars, reflecting his desire to control not only his fate but the natural order aswell
- Links to his fatal flaw of ambition and hubris
- Macbeth’s use of evasive language, “hide” indicates his inner “foulness” that he wishes to hid
- Reinforces the theme of appearance vs reality
- metaphor indicates an awareness on his own moral corruption but also a willingness to embrace it highlighting his hamartia of unchecked ambition
- Invoking darkness foreshadows how Macbeth aligns himself with evil and dark forces, this distributing the great chain of being
- foreshadows his moral corruption
“Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean?”
- Macbeth’s use of hyperbolic language demonstrates his anxiety and fear as he returns from killing Duncan. - The quantifier “all” demonstrates his belief that he will never truly be able to escape the consequences of his sinful deeds.
- The symbolism of blood, symbolising guilt, demonstrates how Macbeth’s noble character is now being figuratively stained by his evil acts.
- links to lady Macbeth’s quite “little water clears us of this deed”
- In contrast, Lady Macbeth’s use of the quantifier “little” (in contrast to Macbeth’s “all”)
indicates her lack of remorse. - Her use of the pronoun “us” may indicate her belief that she and Macbeth are equals,
which was unusual in a patriarchal society - The hyperbole ‘Neptune’s oceans’ references the Roman good of the sea Neptune and suggests that even the entirety of the world’s oceans cannot cleanse him of his crime.
- The metaphor of ‘blood’ as a stain symbolises the permanence of his actions and the enormity of his guilt through the exaggeration which also convert his inner conflict and despair.
- Foreshadows the enduring consequences of Macbeth’s ambition presenting Macbeth’s guilt as having long term impacts on him as late in the play it manifests in his hallucinations of Banquos ghosts and his increasing paranoia.
“I am in blood stepped in so far that should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o’er.”
Act 3 scene 4
- He’s too deep in sin to stop. Symbolises total moral decay.
- Imagery of going so far into a river, that it is easier to cross to the other side than go back
- represents him being too far on to the path of murder to the point of no return. It is easier to continue
- Verb “wade” suggest walking through water with difficulty, tiring
- insight into his psychological state
- The metaphor “in blood” refers to Macbeth’s deep involvement in violence and murder
- The quote reveals that he sees no easy way to stop, as he is already burdened by guilt and the consequences of his actions
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“But now I am cabin’d, cribb’d, confin’d bound in to saucy doubts and fears”
Act 3 scene 4
He is trapped in the prophecy
- tricolour alliterative
- imagery of suffocation
- The metaphor represents his psychological state
- The words “cabined, cribbed, confined, bound” are a deliberate and repetitive way to describe his sense of being imprisoned, not physically, but mentally and emotionally. He feels inescapable from the “saucy doubts and fears” that plague him
- This moment is a turning point where Macbeth’s mental state begins to visibly deteriorate, showing the psychological consequences of his violent ambition. He feels he is only at the “initiate fear” stage and will need to commit more deeds to become desensitized to his actions
“Blood will have blood”
Act 3 scene 4
- represents the cycle of consequences
- one act of violence will inevitably lead to another, creating a cycle of revenge
- relates to the biblical concept of an ‘eye for an eye’
- It can be understood as a statement about karma, suggesting that negative actions will often be reciprocated with similar actions in return.
- Macbeth commits his first murder by killing Duncan, and then feels he must continue to kill to protect his power
- banquets bloodline?
- paranoid of the supernatural
