Grade 9 English Literature (AQA) GCSE table with three pages of quotes and in depth analysis on the key theme of Violence. Can be used for revision and to help with essay writing.
VIOLENCE:
The theme of violence is central to the development of the narrative and the characters by
fulfilling the prophecies; violence manifests within, and is the driving force of the plot.
M: ‘Till he unseam’d him from the nave to Macbeth’s violent actions here are
th’ chops, And fix’d his head upon our celebrated as courageous by the king: ‘O
battlements’ (Act 1, scene 2) valiant cousin! worthy gentleman!’. After
the battle is won the captain gushes over
Macbeth’s victory “for brave Macbeth…
with his brandished steel which smoked
with bloody execution” and this admiration
could be traced as the root of Macbeth
taking pleasure in the murder of other
people. Later in the scene, Duncan
sentences Macdonwald to death. If you
are able to take a man’s life you are
looked at as a true honourable leader.
Another example is when the admirable
Young Siward, who speaks of standing up
to Macbeth and killing him (“thou liest,
abhorred tyrant with my sword I’ll prove
the lie thou speak’st”) as a way to avenge
the murders that Macbeth has caused.
Eventually in battle Macbeth kills the
young child but has a great significance
on how the morality of violence can be
interpreted in a valiant way, as he is
praised for dying in battle “like a man he
died”. In these instances, violence can be
elucidated as respectable instead of a
horror. The play gives us two different
types of violence: one that is acceptable,
and one that is criminal; the first holds
Scotland together, the second tears it
apart.
LM: ‘I would, while it was smiling in my In their world Macbeth is caught in a
face, have pluck’d my nipple from his repeating circle of violence. It also leaks
boneless gums, and dash’d the brains out’ into the language of the characters, who
(Act 1, scene 7) make their points with bloody images.
Perhaps the most unsettling one belongs
to Lady Macbeth, who imagines harming a
baby. She is trying to persuade Macbeth
to keep his promise, but has to do so like
this because the language of violence is
the most convincing in Macbeth’s world.
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