Useful short quotations: Macbeth

You don't need to learn them all.

Just choose the ones you understand and you'll know how to use.

 Themes
Equivocation*
Appearance and reality
The nature of manhood
Hubris**


 *Equivocation - the use of ambiguous language to conceal the truth - links to the theme of appearance and reality
**Hubris - Excessive pride or self confidence. IMO this is a better word to use than 'ambition', though I don't think AQA agrees with me! 

 Equivocation
Macbeth: ... My dull brain was wrought/With things forgotten (when he has been told he's Thane of Cawdor and has been imagining he can be king)

 Lady Macbeth: He that's coming/Must be provided for (on hearing that Duncan is coming to spend the night)

 Porter: here’s an equivocator, that could swear in both the scales against either scale; who committed treason enough for God’s sake, yet could not equivocate to heaven (this is the key to the whole play - he is talking about Father Garnet, a Catholic priest who was executed for his part in the Gunpowder Plot in 1606 and who tried to save himself by equivocation at his trial) The whole of this scene centres on the theme of equivocation.

 Macbeth: But Banquo’s safe? (on hearing that he's been murdered)

 Macbeth: ... our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss;/Would he were here! (at the banquet - Macbeth knows that Banquo is dead)

Ross: ... they were well at peace when I did leave them (Macduff's family is, of course, dead)

Appearance and Reality 
Duncan: There's no art/To find the mind's construction in the face (on learning that he was betrayed by The Thane of Cawdor)
 

Macbeth: False face must hide what the false heart doth know (Macbeth after he's decided that he will kill Duncan)

Lady Macbeth: Look like the innocent flower/But be the serpent under't (Lady M persuading Macbeth that Duncan's visit provides the perfect opportunity for the prophecy that Macbeth should be king to be fulfilled)




Macbeth: Why do you dress me in borrowed robes? (On being told he has been given the title Thane of Cawdor)



 Macbeth: To know my deed, 'twere best not know myself (After the murder of Duncan)
Lady Macbeth: ... make our faced vizards to our hearts (before the banquet - a 'vizard' is a mask.)
Macbeth: play the humble host (at the beginning of the banquet)
The Witches 'show' Macbeth the line of kings. ('Show' means pretence, something which is not real but appears to be.)

Malcolm pretends to be dissolute and unfit to be king when speaking to Macduff in England, but reveals that he is, in fact, the perfect candidate. 

Birnham Wood appears to move towards Dunsinane, but in reality the army is using branches as a disguise. 

The nature of manhood
Macbeth: ... shakes my single state of man (upon hearing that he has been made Thane of Cawdor and begins to believe he will be king and he can hurry it up) 

Lady Macbeth: When you durst do it, then you were a man (when Macbeth tells her that he has decided not to kill Duncan)

Macbeth: I dare do all that may become a man (when Lady M is taunting him for changing his mind about killing Duncan) 

 Lady Macbeth: It is the eye of childhood/That fears a painted devil (after Macbeth has killed Duncan)

 Macbeth: .. let's put on manly readiness (he's still in his night clothes - he means 'get dressed, after Duncan's body has been discovered)

 Macbeth: in the catalogue you go for men (to the murderers)

 Lady Macbeth: Are you a man? (after Macbeth has seen the ghost of Banquo for the first time) 

 Lady Macbeth: What, quite unmann'd in folly? (after the ghost appears)

 Macbeth: What a man dares, I dare (after the ghost's second appearance)

 Malcolm: Dispute it like a man (to Macduff in England)

 Macbeth: .. at least we'll die with harness on our back (when Birnham Wood is coming to Dunsinane)

 Siward: Had he hurts before? (he has just been told that his son has been killed and wants to be certain that he got his wounds fighting face to face, not running away with injuries to his back and so a coward)

 Hubris/Ambition - this came up as a question in 2017, so I'm omitting it for now. 

 




here’s an equivocator that could swear in both the scales against either scale, who committed treason enough for God’s sake yet could not equivocate to heaven
here’s an equivocator that could swear in both the scales against either scale, who committed treason enough for God’s sake yet could not equivocate to heaven.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Revise 'Romeo and Juliet' - AQA

Image
May 15th 2019                        Afternoon AO1 : you know the play really well and you have your own ideas about it  AO2 : you can talk about language and structure and that this is a play written for a reason AO3 : you know this is a tragedy and what makes it a tragedy.  You can talk about what the play tells us about its context. AO4 : you can spell, punctuate and paragraph accurately.   Make sure you know who is who. Tragedies are always named for the main character/s - the protagonist/s.  Romeo and Juliet : no matter what the question is about, you need to talk about them.  It's their play. ( AO1 ) Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet The other main characters are:- Mercutio : neither a Montague nor a Capulet, but a friend to Romeo. His name tells you something about his character which is mercurial ( someone whose mood or behaviour is changeable and unpredictable, or someone who is clever, lively, and quick). He dies at the beginning of Act 3.
Read more

I don't know how to write about Shakespeare! Help!

Image
And Breathe Do you know the play? No getting round that one, I'm afraid. You need to know the story and who's who. ( AO1 ) You can't write about what you don't know.    Ah - you do know the play? Excellent news. What now? You can make better sense than this, honest.   OK - this is a general guide. I don't know which play you've studied or what the question will be in May, but I do mark the paper and I know what makes a good answer.  Read the question carefully and find the key words . They tell you what to write about. It will always say: 'Starting with the extract, explore how Shakespeare presents ( key word/s ) in the extract and the play as a whole'. The extract/speech will focus on the key word/s in the question. No-one is trying to trick you.   Good news - unless it helps you to get going, you don't need to write an introduction .  In any case never write 'In this essay I am going to write about key word/s in th
Read more

Useful short quotations: Romeo and Juliet

Image
You don't need to learn them all! Just choose the ones you understand. Fate : Prologue : ' fatal loins' ' Star-cross'd lovers' Why?   Links to the theme of fate throughout the play.  Links to   Romeo : Some consequence yet hanging in the stars (I.iv) - Just before the masked ball where he meets Juliet Romeo : 'black fate (III.i) - after Mercutio has been killed Romeo : I defy you stars (V.i) - after he has been told that Juliet is dead Romeo : 'inauspicious stars ' (V.iii) - just before he kills himself What does it tell us about Romeo's character? Love: Lots of different kinds of love in the play.   Romantic love : Romeo : Did my heart love till now? (I.v) - he has just glimpsed Juliet at the ball Romeo : It is my lady. Oh, it is my love (II.ii) - he has seen Juliet at her window  Juliet : be but sworn my love (II.ii) -  about Romeo, whom she does not know can hear her Juliet : If thou dost love , pronounce i
Read more