MACBETH
Act 1 Scene 1
PARA 1:
POINT QUOTE EXPLANATION WIDER CONTEXT
The witches are “I come, This is a refernce to Graymalkin is
conveyed as Graymalkin!” her cat, and hence referring to the
antithesis to God. while showing her name of the hers
celestial ability to cat, which evokes
telepathically further fear for the
comminucate, but Jacobean audience
also displays her since cats were an
eccentric essential aspect to
(considered by 1606 fretted
Jacobeans) abilty to witchcraft.
speak to animals.
The witches are “Fair is foul and foul The paradoxical
presented to be is fair/ Hover language spoken by
supernatural. through the fog and these 3 witches is an
filthy air” example of their
foreign,
supernatural
characteristics- their
speech very
converse to other
Jacobeans.
Furthermore, the
witches speak in
triplicates, possibly
to force the reader
to percept the
witches as a
collective powerful
legion rather than
indivuiduals. The
witches also speak
in trochaic
tetrameter, which
, gives the impression
as though they are
casting a callous
spell. Finally, the
frequent rhyming
couplets is vastly
different from other
characters in the
play, deliberately to
evoke a perception
of the witches to the
reader as
paranormal.
The witches are “When shall we The pathetic fallacy
portrayed as three meet again? / of
tempestuous and In thunder lightning “thunder”/”lightning
mysterious. or rain” ”/”rain” displays the
unpredictable and
“Hover through the unforeseeable
fog and filthy air” nature of the 3
witches. Moreover,
the frivalence in
“fog” and “filthy air”
implies the
obscuring and
ambiguous persona
of these witches.
This could also be
symbolic for how
characters in this
tragedy must go
through the “fog” to
uncover the truth.
Finally, the Jacobean
audience are
introduced to the
end of a witches
conversation and
leaves the audience
to remain pondering
, upon what they
were discussing,
thus building
tension and
suspense.
Act 1 Scene 2
POINT QUOTE EXPLANATION WIDER CONTEXT
Macbeth is “For brave Though the readers Though he is
conveyed as an Macbeth” have not been presented as a
inspirational, heroic “Disdaining Fortune, introduced yet to conquering and
leader. with brandish’d Macbeth, the manly character for
steel, Which smok’d Jacobean audience Jacobeans, his
with bloody are given the gender subversion
execution” impression of a would then have
loyal, valiant warrior made him appear as
(shown by the a weak, fragile man
adjective “brave”)
who is so patriotic in
preserving his
country’s excellence
(conveyed through
the visceral imagery
“smok’d with bloody
execution”). This is
set for Macbeth to
subvert these
qualities.
Macbeth and “As sparrows, This simile compares Though Macbeth
Banquo are eagles, or the hare, Macbeth and and Banquo are
conveyed to be a the lion.” Banquo to dominant being
duo of domineering, predators, to give a complimented, in
honourable servants clearer image of the eyes of the
to the king their power. The Great Chain of
pluralising effect Being, they are
make Banquo and being dehumanised.
Macbeth emerge as This is key to the
an honourable team question of how
rather than much respect
