Macbeth Revision AQA Specimen Paper 1 The raven himself is hoarse extract Explain how far you think Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as a powerful woman. AQA Specimen Paper 2 Bring me no more reports; let them fly all extract Explain how far you think Shakespeare presents Macbeth as a hero. May 2017 Paper Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be extract Explore how Shakespeare presents ambition in Macbeth. AQA Specimen Paper 3 He has almost supped extract Explore how Shakespeare presents the marriage between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Duncan (1995) 1) Sons, kinsmen, thanes 2) set of sun 3) O valiant cousin! Worthy gentleman! 4) God save the king! 5) The sin of my ingratitude 6) There if I grow, the harvest is your own 7) signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine 8) love, happiness, joy, 9) What bloody man is that? 10) plead like angels, trumpettongued poison'd chalice 11) resembled my father 12) 'Amen stuck in my throat 13) I'll gild the faces 14) golden opinions 15) Neptune's ocean wash this blood 16) The spring, the head, the fountain of your blood is stopp'd 17) By th' clock tis day, and yet dark night strangles 18) A falcon [was] by a mousing owl killed Witches (2013) 1) thunder and lightning 2) hurlyburly 3) When the battle s lost and won 4) set of sun 5) I ll do, I ll do, and I ll do 6) nine times nine 7) the charm s wound up 8) so wither d and so wild 9) look not like the inhabitants o the earth and yet are on t 10) chappy finger 11) skinny lip 12) you should be women and yet your beards forbid me to interpret that you are so 13) speak if you can 14) look into the seeds of time 15) wool of bat and tongue of dog 16) finger of birth-strangled babe 17) the charm is firm and good 18) by the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes 19) secret, black and midnight hags Banquo (1987) 1) True, worthy Banquo; he is full so valiant 2) the root and father of many 3) There is none but he whose being I do fear 4) There if I grow, the harvest is your own 5) the root and father of many 6) they hail'd him father to a line of 7) a fruitless crown 8) a barren sceptre 9) lesser than Macbeth, and greater 10) not so happy, yet much happier 11) seeds of time 12) thou will get 13) take my sword 14) enfold thee and hold thee to my heart 15) Thou hast it now: king, Cawdor, Glamis, all 16) set me up in hope 17) I fear, thou play'dst most foully for't Macduff (2014) 1) there s daggers in men s smiles 2) Turn, hell-hound, turn 3) knocking 4) all my pretty chickens? 5) dispute it like man 6) I will do so. But I must also feel it as a man 7) I have no words; my voice is in my sword 8) Your royal father is murdered 9) Is thy master stirring? 10) untimely ripped from his mother s womb 11) you dog from hell 12) Lord's anointed temple 14) he fail'd his presence at the tyrant's feast 15) beware Macduff 16) give to the edge o' the sword his wife, his babes 17) to leave his babes, his mansion he loves us not 18) Not in the legions of horrid hell can come a devil more damn'd in evils to top Macbeth
Critical theory: Duncan The idea of a king's divine right to rule gained leverage during the reign of King James I. In James I s The True Law of Free Monarchies (1598), he suggests that kings are higher beings who owe their kingship to the will of God. James I declared kings sit on God s throne in the earth. King James I describes any uprising against the king as monstrous and unnatural. It would be an uprising against the will of God. With Macbeth s death and Malcolm's ascension to the throne, the natural order is restored. The land can begin to heal itself under the guidance of a king who is capable of compassion and cares for his kingdom. In Greek mythology, if Themis (the divine or natural law) was ignored, then Nemesis (Goddess of Retribution) would spring into action. She punished those who committed hubris in rejecting divine law and order. In killing Duncan, both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth would immediately attract the attention of Nemesis. When Macbeth and Lady Macbeth murder Duncan, this act was a rebellion against God. It would be a perversion of the natural order. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth s perversion of nature is reflected throughout the play: in Lady Macbeth s unsex[ed] gender, in the sickness that attacks them both, and the uprising of the land (literally in the case of Burham Wood which uproots to Dunsinane ) to restore the natural order they upset. King James I wrote in The True Law of Free Monarchies that the relationship between the king and his subjects can be compared to the head of a body. The king symbolises the head and it should protect the body (his citizens) from all evil. Macbeth is unable to protect the land from evil because he is the root of all evil. After Duncan s death, the land begins to reflect evil through weird and supernatural events. Shakespeare notes that by th clock tis day and yet dark night strangles the sun. Shakespeare states a falcon [was] by a mousing owl killed and that Duncan s horses ate each other. The land is troubled with man s act. The land is shrouded in darkness after the set of sun. It becomes barren, no longer fertile and healthy; nothing can grow without the light of the sun or without the love of Duncan. Macbeth s infertility emphasises his lack of kingly nature. With the death of the rightful King Duncan, came the death of the sun. When Macbeth perverts nature and claims the throne, the land becomes sick as a result. Although referenced in Macbeth, the poisoned chalice predates this record by 1570 years. In Matthew 26, Jesus urges his disciples to drink from the cup for this is my blood. Although, at this point, Jesus knew he had been betrayed, King Duncan did not. However, just like Jesus, Duncan is a symbol of love and compassion. However, a parallel allusion is also made as both figures are fated to die a mortal and painful death. Roy Walker imagines the murder of Duncan as a symbol of the crucifixion of Christ. Macbeth symbolises Judas, and Duncan represents Christ. Shakespeare references another Golgotha. The battlefield to Golgotha was the place of Christ's death in the New Testament. An immediate Biblical allusion is made to Matthew 27 which extends upon the idea that Macbeth s murder of Duncan is just as great a deed as the death of Christ. The death of Duncan has just a great an impact on Scotland as the death of Christ had on the world. The murder of Duncan has also been likened to Cain's fratricide. Walter Curry believes the moral degradation of Macbeth follows an archetypal pattern exemplified by Lucifer and Adam within the Bible. Shakespeare compares a dead Duncan to a new Gorgon. Just like the fabled Medusa, the sight of the King's bloody corpse is so terrible it will destroy them. Yet, Medusa originally was a virgin temple maiden for the goddess Athena. She attracted the attention of Poseidon and was raped by him within the temple. Both Medusa and Duncan represented all that was once pure, but their lives became tainted by evil. Duncan s metaphorical rape stems from the phallic imagery of the daggers which Macbeth uses to penetrate Duncan s body. Interestingly, it is to Neptune (the Roman equivalent of Poseidon) to whom Macbeth begs his ocean s [to] wash this blood.
Critical theory: Witches Macbeth is punished for his desire for power. In The Wheel of Fire (1930), G. Wilson Knight states that the weird sisters personify the Greek Furies. These were the avengers of murder. The witches madden Macbeth with their apparitions and ghosts. Rather than being figures of evil, the witches punish Macbeth s violent actions. The witches represent the Greek Fates. Their Greek name, Moirai, comes from portion or that which is allotted to you. Boece (1527) states the weird sisters were goddesses of destiny. It was the role of the Greek Fates to fashion a life: one to spin the thread of life, one to measure it, and one to cut short the thread. Shakespeare amplifies the dangers of overreaching power and ambition through this link to Greek mythology. Macbeth/Lady Macbeth is punished by premature death. To defy the Fates was to bring Nemesis, the Goddess of Retribution who destroyed those who displayed hubris. In Matthew 26.49, Judas betrays Jesus for his own over overreaching ambition. Judas greets Jesus with Hail Master to identify Jesus to the Roman guards. The witches greet Macbeth with All hail. From the start of the play, Shakespeare emphasises the witches betrayal of Macbeth. However, whereas Judas deceived Jesus for power, the witches deceive Macbeth and punish his quest for power. The word weird from weird sisters stems from Old English. Wyrd means fate or destiny. It is predestined that Macbeth/Lady Macbeth s overreaching desire for power and ambition is punished by the three witches. Within Macbeth, the nobles speak in iambic pentameter and all other characters speak in prose. However, the witches speak in trochaic tetrameter. This style juxtaposes with the more natural prose. The heavy stresses give the witches speech a sense of foreboding. This emphasises their malevolence and unearthliness. Immediately, the witches are on the fringes of normal society not only through their beards, but also their manner of speech. Shakespeare deploys an untraditional stress pattern to present the witches as other and different. Binary oppositions are invoked within Macbeth: lost and won, fair and foul. Yet, they are subverted. The witches rupture heteronormativity. Banquo is unable to label these women as they look not like th' inhabitants o' th' Earth, and yet are on 't. Marilyn French believes the witches represent ambiguity. This gender ambiguity continues into Lady Macbeth and Macbeth s relationship. The witches challenge our assumptions about masculine and feminine attributes. Although not a secret, black, and midnight hag, Lady Macbeth is infamous for her role as the fourth witch. The witches subvert the natural order of religion and society, and Lady Macbeth subverts the order of gender and craves power. It was widely believed in Europe for centuries that sorcery could cause impotence. In the preface of Daemonologie, King James I believes witches were able to weaken the nature of some men. Macbeth infertility draws attention to Lady Macbeth s secret nature. It is also worth noting that the witches speak in numbers. The First Witch will make the sailor s torture last sev'n nights, nine times nine. The witches chant Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine. The First Witch repeats I ll do, I ll do, and I ll do. There are three witches. In Christianity, three represents the Holy Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Bad luck is frequently thought to come in threes. Macbeth is hailed by three titles (Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor and King hereafter ) and is later given three prophecies. Nine is a multiple of three: therefore, nine and nine times nine multiplies and reinforces the power of the number three. Shakespeare suggesting that the Witches are an unholy trinity. In Shakespeare's primary source for Macbeth, Holinshed's Chronicles, the Weird Sisters are goddesses of destinee.
Critical theory: Banquo According to Jungian theory, Banquo would represent the wise old man. Banquo does not seek out power and is happy to let the seeds of time fall as they may. Even in a ghostly form, the character does not seek out revenge. The character is traditionally played as stolidly loyal, unmoved by the supernatural or by personal motivation. Banquo symbolises fertility. The witches predict thou will get. In Greek mythology, Demeter is the goddess of harvest and fertility. Shakespeare presents the seed of Banquo as being a catalyst of power. Shakespeare continuously emphasises the semantic field of harvest in association with Banquo: the root, if I grow, the harvest is your own. Shakespeare amplifies the presence of fertile Demeter in all allusions to this lesser yet greater character. Banquo s power lies in his seed. With regards to fertility, Banquo is Macbeth s juxtaposing doppelganger. Whereas Banquo is the root and father of many, Macbeth has a fruitless crown. Consequently, Macbeth states There is none but he whose being I do fear. Contextually, Elizabeth I held the throne before James I. She was the virgin queen who described herself as being a barren stock. Freud describes the play of Macbeth as mirroring the Tudor s curse of unfruitfulness. Shakespeare juxtaposes this with Banquo s fertile blessings of the Stuart line. The critic Maskell describes Banquo as Schelandre's paragon of valour and virtue. The royality of [Banquo s] nature flatters King James ancestry. The House of Stuart descended from the grandson of Fleance s daughter. Macbeth was insecure with regards to his friend and recognised in Banquo a kingly quality he did not possess himself. Banquo is the preferred servant of King Duncan who desires to enfold thee and hold thee to my heart. On greeting Macbeth, Duncan simply remarks welcome hither. Banquo and Duncan arrive at Macbeth s castle together, and Banquo delivers Duncan s hostess gift to Lady Macbeth. Shakespeare draws parallel allusions to Macbeth and Mark Antony, and Banquo and Caesar. Macbeth believes his genius will be destroyed as Mark Antony s was by Caesar. In Antony and Cleopatra, Antony asks the soothsayer Whose fortunes shall rise higher? with the answer being Caesar s. The angel who guides Caesar is weaker than the angel who guides Anthony. Similarly, Macbeth fears his angel will be overwhelmed by man they hail d father to a line of. Shakespeare borrowed the character of Banquo from Holinshed's Chronicles. In Chronicles, Banquo is an accomplice to Macbeth in the murder of the king. Shakespeare may have changed this aspect to please King James, a descendant of the real Banquo. Critics often interpret Banquo's role in the play as being a foil to Macbeth. Banquo resists evil where Macbeth embraces it. Coleridge saw the unpossessedness of Banquo s mind as an unsullied, unscarified mirror to Macbeth s villainy. Leighton believed that Banquo is far from noble. Banquo s motives are unclear, and some critics question his purity. Even though he suspects foul play in the death of Duncan, he does nothing to accuse Macbeth of murder. He believes Banquo drank in, as greedily as his partner, the prophecies of the weird tempters. However, he lacked Macbeth s prompt resolution to act. Also, Banquo lacks his own Lady Macbeth to stir him into action. Prior to being killed, Banquo demands Fleance to take my sword. Once again, phallic and fertile imagery is associated with Banquo. By passing on his sword to his son, Banquo is metaphorically passing on his seed to ensure the witches prophecy is fulfilled. Fleance s evasion of death spearheads the birth of James I.
Critical theory: Macduff Although not the eponym of the play, Macduff is a key player in both the rising action and resolution of Macbeth. The character is the first to discover Duncan s body. He is the man who kills Macbeth. Macduff is an avenging hero. After Duncan s death, the dark night strangles the sun. Shakespeare states a falcon [was] by a mousing owl killed and that Duncan s horses ate each other. James I declared kings sit on God s throne in the earth. King James I describes any uprising against the king as monstrous and unnatural. It would be an uprising against the will of God. By referring to Macbeth as a hell-hound, Shakespeare emphasises Macduff s full awareness that the natural order has been displaced and a dog from hell now sits on the Scottish throne. When Macduff knocks at the gate of Macbeth's castle, he is equated with the figure of Christ. The scene with the Porter parodies a text known as the Harrowing of Hell. Before Christ s ascension to heaven, Jesus demands entrance at the gates of hell. Yet, he is kept waiting by the Porter, Rybald, who takes his orders from Beelzebub. Shakespeare mirrors this scene and Macduff echoes the demands of Christ and is left knocking. The Harrowing of Hell marks the climax of the battle between God and Satan for the fate of humanity. Macbeth represents Beelzebub, one of the fallen angels in Milton's Paradise Lost. Once brave, he now channels the power of Satan. When Macduff finds out about the death of all [his] pretty chickens, Malcolm urges him to Dispute it like a man. Macduff's reply - I will do so. But I must also feel it as a man emphasises his sense of compassion. This emotion juxtaposes him completely with Macbeth s soulless response to his wife s suicide where he simply wishes there had been a time for grief. In the final combat between hero and anti-hero, Macduff cries out, I have no words; my voice is in my sword. It is his very wordlessness that contrasts with Macbeth's empty rhetoric. Likewise, when Macbeth informs Donalbain of his father s death, he states 'The spring, the head, the fountain of your blood / Is stopped'. The statement is wordy and Macbeth skirts around the point with euphemisms. Yet, when Macduff speaks to Donalbain, he is clear and to the point: Your royal father's murdered.' In Greek mythology, Athena is born from Zeus's forehead (as a result of him having swallowed her mother Metis) dressed in armour. Athena was the goddess of courage, justice and strength. Similarly, Macduff was ripp d from his mother s womb in contrast to Macbeth who carv d out his passage. Although Macduff s birth may connote weakness, the allusion to Athena demonstrates his immediate readiness for justice and battle. Due to a lack of medical advancement, Macduff s mother would have been already deceased, and the baby cut from her womb. Macduff was born not from a woman, but from a corpse. Julius Caesar was born by this procedure. Hence, the name Caesarean. Both figures are linked by their power and leadership. Macduff is granted the gift of penetration. He recognises there s daggers in men s smiles. At the start of the play, Shakespeare states that Macbeth will allow the prophecies to unfold without my stir. When Macduff greets the Porter he asks Is thy master stirring? Macduff knows Macbeth no longer waited for chance to crown him. Macbeth can see through the hellhound s façade of an innocent flower. Macduff has no personal ambition and thus has no desire to oust Duncan for his own advancement: he is the epitome of patriotism. Macduff views Duncan as the Lord's anointed temple. Duncan is the life o' the building. The idea of a king's divine right to rule gained leverage during the reign of King James I. In James I s The True Law of Free Monarchies (1598), he suggests that kings are higher beings who owe their kingship to the will of God. James I declared kings sit on God s throne in the earth.