Analysis Of The Play Macbeth English Literature Essay

We can infer that Macbeth is a man of great ambition and that deep inside of him he longed to be king. Furthermore, we can infer that the thought of murder seemed to already have occurred to him: “that he seems rapt withal” and “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical”. Macbeth, “starts at the fair-sounding” predictions of the witches because he is startled by the fact that they put his deepest most desire into actual words. We can see that Macbeth has a fluctuating will which makes him susceptible to the witches as well as an imagination which is not controlled by morals but by his lust for power. We can also see that he is superstitious which is shown by the ease at which he is influenced by the witches. In summation it can be seen that Macbeth is ambitious, superstitious, gullible and over imaginative.

(1.2.1) The extract is taken from the Act 1, scene 5, before Duncan arrives to stay the night at Macbeth’s castle as Lady Macbeth begins planning Duncan’s death and calls on dark spirits to give her strength to follow out her plan.

(1.2.2) Her “fell purpose” is her evil plan to kill King Duncan.

(1.2.3) Lady Macbeth is shown as the stronger and more determined of the couple, while Macbeth is kinder but less decisive. It can be seen that it is an affectionate relationship as they use terms of endearment towards each other such as: “My dearest love”, “dear wife” and “Great Glamis”. Lady Macbeth is devoted to Macbeth and admires his greatness and shows unselfish love to help him achieve his greatest ambition. Macbeth shares his joys with Lady Macbeth and takes her guidance throughout the play. It can be seen that Lady Macbeth is the more dominant in the relationship and makes most of the decisions which, in some cases, could be seen as a reversal of normal roles.

(1.2.4.1) Lady Macbeth wants to be de-womanized, guilt free, and brave, like a man. She declares “unsex me here, and fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full of direst cruelty!” as she no longer wants female feelings and wants her kindness to be replaced with cruelty. She emphasizes this statement by saying “Come to my woman’s breasts, and take my milk for gall”. This statement suggests that she wants the milk in her breasts to be replaced with bile. She wants no connections with female compassion and wants to be as manly as possible.

(1.2.4.2) Her speech suggests that her womanhood, shown by breasts and milk, normally symbolic of nurture, prevents her from committing feats of cruelty and violence, which she associates with manliness. She believes that in order to commit murder she must be relinquished of all motherly instincts associated with a woman and must assume the mindset of a man. This can be seen in the quotes: “take my milk for gall” and “fill me from crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty!”. She believes that she can only achieve this state of cruelty if all her womanly associations are removed. She believes that only men are able to commit acts of violence as women are too kind and therefore wants to be a man in order to kill Duncan. She also believes that if she is not “un-sexed” she will be too weak and will pull out of the plan.

(1.2.5) The theme of masculinity and violence is brought out in this scene as well as the reversal of normal order as woman are normally depicted as nurturing not violent and that violence is normally committed by men and in order to commit violent acts one needs to be manly.

(1.2.6) Soliloquies are used to display the characters thoughts to the audience in order to give them a better understanding of the story.

Question 2 Poetry

His mistress is the woman whose love he seeks and she is described as coy because of her false pretence of modesty and because she is flirtatiously shy in order to be alluring and plays hard to get as he tries to win her love.

Times winged chariot refers to the ancient belief that a man on a chariot pulled the sun across the sky. This creates an image of time moving quickly as the speaker can hear how quickly the chariot is moving across the sky therefore time is being personified. The word desert creates and image of a barren, empty place and suggests that this fast movement of time will lead them to a place that will provide nothing. The “deserts of vast eternity” also implies an image that neither the speaker’s lust nor his listener’s beauty will endure through eternity (times winged chariot) and will eventually become barren like a desert.

These lines convey the impression that the speaker’s mistress is young and beautiful. He is also saying that this beauty won’t last forever. It also indicates that that the speaker’s mistress does have a passion for the speaker even though she may not convey it. It also re-enhances the impression of her being coy.

Yes. The speaker admits that time is not on his side and declares it a problem throughout the whole poem but in the end says that even though time is not on their side they can give it a good run for its money therefore providing a solution to the problem he posed in the poem. This is an effective conclusion as it carries the idea that love conquers all and is a very clever way to persuade the mistress to fall for him as it is emphasizes the idea that they can make their love work even if time will forbid it.