MACBETH THOUGHT QUESTIONS #1: EXPLAIN ONE OF MACBETH S SOLILOQUIES AND ITS IMPORTANCE.

#2: EXPLAIN TWO DIFFERENT OCCURRENCES OF THE SYMBOL OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS.

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Emily Oren AP English-2nd hour Macbeth thought questions January 8, 2012

Macbeth Thought Questions

#1: Explain one of Macbeth s soliloquies and its importance.

In Shakespeares play Macbeth he creates a character, Macbeth, who ascends the Scottish throne in the midst of a blood bath. This blood bath is, not so coincidentally started by his-own hand. When his lies and evil deeds begin to tumble in on him he starts to reflect on his life. In Act V, scene V, lines 20-31 he begins to decide his life means nothing. He seems to have come to terms with his up coming death, and realizes his shortlived kingship was not worth all the blood spilled. To fully understand this soliloquy by Macbeth, the reader, or audience, must know what has just happened in his life. Macbeth just learned of his wifes death, which is thought to be a suicide. And he is coming to terms with the fact that a war is about to break out.1 After his servant told him about Lady Macbeths death he said, She should have died hereafter;/ There would have been a time for such a word, iHe wishes she had not died at such an inconvenient time. He has his hands full with the war that is about to happen, and trying to maintain the crown, so he does not even have time to mourn her. By placing this line in the soliloquy Shakespeare effectively shows Macbeths disconnect to his emotions. Lady Macbeths sudden death caused Macbeth to reflect on life in general, To-morrow and To-morrow, and To-morrow/ creeps in this petty pace from day to day,ii. During his reflection he seems to sum up day-to-day activities as a waste of time. According to Macbeth they dont seem to have a real impact on life in general, To the last syllable of recorded time;/ And all our
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A war for the Crown started by Malcolm and Macduff to overthrow Macbeth

yesterdays have lighted fools.iiiThings that most people find joy in and cherish doing, he seems to deem invaluable. With these few lines, Shakespeare helps characterize Macbeth as emotionless, once again. Macbeth moved on to say life in general is meaningless, Out, out, brief candle!/ Lifes but a walking shadow.iv Macbeth uses the candle in these lines, as a symbol for life. The brief candle stands for how life is short, and can be taken away quickly. Paired with the metaphor of life being a walking shadow the reader can quickly deduce he thinks life is short and meaningless. He doesnt think much of life and everything in it by comparing it to a walking shadow. Macbeth is saying nothing really matters and nobody really notices you. Really capturing how Macbeth feels Shakespeare uses a metaphor of an actor, a poor player/ That struts and frets his hour upon the stage/ And then is heard no more.v Macbeth connects himself and his meaningless kingship to the actor and his equally meaningless play. He calls his life empty, he is king for a bit but once he is gone, nobody will remember him. Just like an actor on a stage, the actor performs their part well, but once they are done, nobody remembers them. To nail his point home Macbeth uses one last metaphor incorporated with the actor, it is a tale/told by an idiot, full of sound and fury.vi He says life goes by with lots of sounds and emotions, lots of things happen, but in the end, everybody is forgettable. Then he blatantly states what he had been alluding to the entire soliloquy, Signifying Nothing.vii He sums up what he means in these last two words. That life signifies nothing. Nothing happens that is important in life, and you will be forgotten. This once again shows a huge disconnect between Macbeth and his emotions. He cannot even find a sliver of meaning in kingship, or even life. Throughout this whole soliloquy Shakespeare seems to be hinting at something, prodding the reader to realize a whole other level to Macbeths character. Macbeths lack of emotion over his wifes death, and his whole life in general, does not allow him to see what most others see in life, happiness. He

went through life wanting nothing but to climb the hierarchical ladder, and keep his power. This caused him to do harsh, evil things things, and lose all sense of what is important.(see,#2: Explain two different occurrences of the symbol of light and darkness. On Macbeths evil) Shakespeare seems to have presented this characterization at an odd time, since Macbeth is about to face his death. But by placing this soliloquy here the reader sees the full impact of the murders on Macbeth. They also see him come back to reality. He finally realizes his Kingship does not make him immoral, and in fact he was not all that great of a king. In this soliloquy he comes to grasps with the idea that he will soon die, and that nothing was worth his crown. Some readers may take this as a bit of remorse out of Macbeth for his gruesome acts that gained him the crown. Others may simply find it a reflection on Macbeths life. Either way it shows his acceptance of his upcoming death and not so noble kingship. In his last soliloquy Macbeth reflects on his life, and what it all means. He ended up coming to the conclusion that life signifies nothing. While throwing himself a pity party he came to terms with the fact that he will die, and his ascension to the throne was in no way noble. Shakespeare does his last characterization of Macbeth in this soliloquy by showing his disconnect to his emotions, and unhappiness with his life. Whether one should pity him for this fact, is completely up to the reader.
#2: Explain two different occurrences of the symbol of light and darkness.

In William Shakespeares play Macbeth the motif of light and darkness imagery is used. The light symbolizing what is good in the world, and the dark, everything evil. To make his point Shakespeare brings this imagery into play several times. With each occurrence evil seems to become stronger and overcome the good. The first occurrence of this motif is in Act II, scene IV, lines 11-12. It is the day after Macbeth murdered King Duncan. Ross and an old man are talking about the weather. Ross goes to say,

Ist nights predominance or the days shame/ That darkness does the face of earth entomb/ when living light should kiss it?viii They are talking about how it is day, but its so dark out it seems like it is still night. By setting up the darkness entombing the earth it gives the reader a visual of something evil taking over. The line when living light should kiss it, makes the darkness seem all the more powerful and evil. The good light can do nothing but kiss it, making only a small dent in the dark evil. By placing this symbolism here and making it the first occurrence, he sets up night as being evil and day as being good. ist nights predominance or the days shame/ that darkness does the face of earth entomb, shows how nights darkness is seen as evil and days light is seen as good, but maybe not as powerful. Shakespeares second showing of this motif is in Act III, scene II, lines 51-60. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are talking about keeping the crown. Macbeth has already thought up a plot to murder Banquo, who has started to suspect Macbeth of the kings murder. He does not want to tell Lady Macbeth, though, because he wants her to be innocent of the knowledge.ix He goes on to say, come, seeling night/ scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day.x This reference to good and evil, light and darkness, is easily identifiable because of how Shakespeare last set up his symbolism of light and dark. Here Macbeth wants the night to come and take over day so his murderous plot can go through. He seems to suggest once again that day/light is not near as powerful as the evil of night is, by referring to it as pitiful day. In the same section Macbeth goes on to another reference to light and darkness, Light thickens, and the crow/ makes wings to th rocky wood/ Good things of day begin to droop and drowse/ while nights black agents to their preys do/ rouse.xi Here he uses both day and night, light and darkness. Macbeth is setting up the scene for what is to come that night, He is hinting to Lady Macbeth what will happen without actually telling her. Nights black agents most nearly means the murderers he has hired to kill Banquo. It gives the reader an image of evil creatures of the night coming to destroy what goodness the day has left. The light seems to fade away eventually and give in to the evils

of night, giving the idea that evil once again triumphs over good. Shakespeare seemed systematic about how he portrayed light and darkness. As the play progressed you could see Macbeths character slowly growing more and more evil. The same thing happens to the imagery Shakespeare uses, every time light and darkness comes up evil seems to be taking over good more and more. When putting all the pieces together the reader or audience realizes that every murder takes place during the night, which would lead one to associate night or darkness with evil. At first the audience seems to find no hope after all this imagery of light and darkness, since darkness seems to always override the light. But the play comes full circle to goodness prevailing. In the beginning Macbeth is seen as a hero for killing a traitor, showing good is around in this world. As the play goes on he slips to the evil side of everything. But in the end Macduff comes and kills Macbeth, who is also seen as a traitor, making him the new hero, and having good win out in the end. Shakespeare created a chilling motif of light and dark representing good and evil. He made it seem like evil would always win out, or darkness would always take over the light. If one doesnt take a closer look to the play and its entirety they would be left with no hope. But since the play comes full circle to a hero killing a traitor, hope is indeed found.
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Act 5, Scene 5, lines 20-21 Act 5, Scene 5, lines 22-23 iii Act 5, Scene 5, lines 24-25 iv Act 5, Scene 5, lines 26-27 v Act 5, Scene 5, lines 28-29 vi Act 5, Scene 5, lines 29-30 vii Act 5, Scene 5, line 31 viii Act 2, Scene 5, lines 10-12 ix Act 3, Scene 2, line 51 x Act 3, Scene 2, lines 52-53 xi Act 3, Scene 2, lines 56-60
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Learning Targets: First Page: Table of contents Second Page: Footnote Fourth Page: Cross reference (first paragraph) Sixth Page: End notes Other: Used the split bar to transfer the citations to endnotes instead of right after the quote. I used it so that I didn t have to scroll up and down to see what citation it was.