Macbeth Final Discussion_VWO_4

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• WO
• havo
• Leerjaar 5

 Textual Features

What is the tone of the play? 

The tone of the play is dark and foreboding from the beginning when the three witches meet on a heath during a tunderstorm. 

https://www.jstor.org/stable/821942?seq=2#metadata_info_tab_contents

Intertextuality 

Intertextuality is the relationship between texts, especially literary ones.

Intertextuality refers to the interdependence of texts in relation to one another (as well as to the culture at large). Texts can influence, derive from, parody, reference, quote, contrast with, build on, draw from, or even inspire each other. Intertextuality produces meaning. Knowledge does not exist in a vacuum, and neither does literature.

 Intertextuality allows the core text to draw on a much broader range of connotations than if it simply created its own world and language.

Intertextuality (1)

Macbeth: ... He has the wisdom to act bravely but also safely. I'm not afraid of anyone but him. Around him, my guardian angel is frightened, just as Mark Antony's angel supposedly feared Octavius Caesar. (Act II, scene 1, p.89)

This is an allusion to Mark Antony and Julius Caesar, two famous Roman politicians and leaders of the Roman Republic, as well as a reference to Shakespeare’s play Antony and Cleopatra, in which a soothsayer predicts Antony’s fortunes would be lesser than Caesar’s.

soothsayer: a person supposed to be able to foresee the future

Intertextuality (2) 

First witch: A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap and munched away at them. ....  Her husband sailed off to Aleppo as master of a ship called Tiger. I'll sail there in a kitchen strainer, turn myself into a tailless rat, and do things to him - ... . (ACT I, scene 3, p. 11) 

Aleppo is the second largest city in modern day Syria. Note that when Shakespeare wrote Macbeth, Aleppo was under the control of the Ottoman Empire and would have been a place of great mystery to the Elizabethans.

Find an example of intertextuality. 

A little water clears us of this deed. = A little water will wash away the evidence of our guilt. (Act 2, scene iii, p. 61) - This is a biblical allusion to Pontius Pilate publicly washing his hands to absolve himself of any guilt for Christ’s crucifixion.

Maybe they wanted to take a bath in their enemies' blood, or make that battlefield as infamous as Golgotha, where Christ was crucified, I don't know. -  This is an allusion to Golgotha, the place where Christ was crucified.

 

Symbolism

• blood represents guilt
• the image of water is associated with washing away the guilt versus water 
• light symbolises good, dark symbolises darkness 
• nature represents the correct order of the world
• health and disease represents the state of Scotland
• masculinity represents aggression and courage
• sleep represents clear conscience
• storm represents unrest
• nature's symbioses represents interaction of men's deeds  and nature

Imagery - Birds

In Shakespeare's day there were many myths and folk tales surrounding bird life. Different species of bird were thought to have specific characteristics - some, for instance, were specifically thought to bring bad luck. Shakespeare uses this to link birds and their habits to the human characters and how they behave. 

Find examples of bird imagery. 

Lady Macbeth: ... That was the owl that shrieked with a scary 'good nights' like the bells they ring before they execute people. 

Imagery - wild animals

Nature has often been described as 'red in tooth and claw' and it is this idea that Shakespeare uses in his references to wild animals. They are savages and untameable and share certain characteristics with people in the play. 

Find examples of animal imagery. 

'Red in tooth and claw' is a reference to sometimes violent natural world, in which predatory animals unsentimentally cover their teeth and claws with the blood of their prey as they kill and devour them.

Macbeth: Argh! I feel like my mind is full of scorpions, my dear wife. (Act 3, scene iii, p.99)

Figures of speech (1) 

ALLITERATION: Double, double toil and trouble. (ACT IV, scene i, p. 131)

ANTITHESIS: When the battle's lost and won.

So foul and fair a day I have not seen. (ACT I, scene iii)

APOSTROPHE: Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand? (Act II, scene i, p. 51)

METONYMY: I drink to the general joy o'the whole table, and to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss.  (ACT 5, scene iv,  p.115)

antithesis: the use of contrasting words in a phrase, clause, or sentence with balanced or parallel construction. 

apostrophe: a figure of speech in which a character or the author of a work addresses a thing, a person, or an entity that is absent . 

metonymy: the use of a word or phrase to represent a thing, an entity, a group of people, an institution, and so on. 

Figures of speech (2) 

Dramatic irony

Banquo: The fact that this summer bird, the house martin, builds his nests here proves how inviting the breezes are. There isn't a single protrusion in the castle walls where these birds haven't built their hanging nests to sleep and breed. I've noticed that they always like to settle and mate where the air is the nicest. (ACT 1, scene 6, p. 37) Find more examples of dram. irony.

protrude: extend beyond or above a surface

Figures of speech (3)

Metaphor

Macbeth: Thanks for that. The adult snake lies in the ditch. The young snake that escaped will in time become poisonous and threatening, but for now he has no fangs. Get out of here. I'll talk to you again tomorrow. (ACT 3, scene iv, p. 109) 

Macbeth describes Banquo as a snake and his son Fleance as a worm. He still sees Fleance as a threat, and is afraid of his venom. 

Figures of speech (4) 

Personification

Lennox: The night has been chaotic. The wind blew down through the chimneys where we were sleeping. People are saying they heard cries of grief in the air, strange screams of death, and terrible voices predicting catastrophes that will usher in a woeful new age. The owl made noise all night. Some people say that the earth shook as if it had a fever.  

Ross: Ah yes, old man. You can see the skies. They look like they're upset about what mankind has been doing, and they're threatening the earth with storms. The clock says it's daytime, but dark night is strangling the sun. Is it because night is so strong, oe because day is so weak, that darkness covers the earth when it's supposed to be light? (Act 2, scene 4, p. 79)

Figures of speech (5). 

Simile

Angus: .... The soldiers he commands are only following orders. They don't fight because they love Macbeth. Now he seems too small to be a great king, like a midget trying to wear the robes of a giant. (Act 5, scene ii, p. 187)

Macbeth: Now I'm scared again. Otherwise I would have been perfect, as solid as a piece of marble, as firm as a rock, as free as the air itself. But now I'm tangled up with doubts and fears.ut Banquo's been taken care of? (ACT 3, scene iv, p. 109)

Figures of speech (6) 

Paradox: Fair is foul, and foul is fair. (Act 1 , scene i)

What! can the devil speak true? (Act 1, scene iii)

Paradox: is a contradictory statement that may actually be true, such as, 'The boxer called himself a lion, but he turned out to be a lamb.'

Macbeth: themes

ambition - Macbeth and Lady Macbeth deceptible to lure of power

gender roles

destiny versus free will

loyalty versus betrayal

Ambition can be a positive thing if it is motivated by a desire to help. 

Loyalty is rewarded, betrayal is punished ... .

Kingship - under Duncan's rightful reign, the country is ordered and peaceful. Macbeth's unlawful reign is reflected in the overturned natural order; e.g. day turns to night and horses eat each other.