Now that we have finished Act I of Macbeth, and have scanned the text
for examples of the motifs I listed before we began reading, write a
response in which you use your annotations to help you 1) demonstrate an
understanding of the passage in the context of the play and 2) identify
and discuss the significance of your motif within the passage. Why is
it meaningful, and how is Shakespeare playing with motif symbolically?
Here, again, is a list of motifs, and if you find one on your own, that's even better.
Things that grow (seeds, eggs, etc.)
Blood
Paradoxes
Rings (things that fold back upon themselves).
Hands
Sharp Objects (cutting through coverings).
Darkness
Vision / eyes
Fog / Murk
Time
Garments that don't fit.
Jewels
"Manliness" / Femininity
Gluttony / over-eating
Dichotomies:
Healthy bodies / dismembered bodies
Cleanliness / Dirtiness
Fairness / Foulness
Illusion / Reality.
Health / Sickness.
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ReplyDelete(I.II.1-3) and (I.II.8-21) In the first passage, it’s during one of the very first scenes of the play where the King of Scotland, Duncan, sees a wounded man, and he asks him about the battle with their enemies who are led by Macdonwald. Then the Sergeant tells him that Macbeth and Banquo are fighting bravely, and also he describes how Macbeth killed Macdonwald. After the Sergeant gives Duncan the update, he gets taken away to get treated, and then Ross comes in. He tells the king that the Thane of Cawdor has been defeated and Norway had terrible numbers, so they ended up as the victors. This scene foreshadows what is to come in the play. Shakespeare used blood as a motif, and he mentioned it in the first line of the scene, “What bloody man is that?” This gives the audience a clue about all the deaths that are going to come, especially because when Ross told Duncan about the victory, they won because Macbeth killed Macdonwald in a very bloody manner.
ReplyDelete(I.IV.35-40) In this passage, I found a line where Duncan talks about how his son, Malcolm, will be the heir to the Throne. This goes back to blood motif, because it can also relate to blood lines and not just blood. Since the heir to the throne was always within the family, it makes sense that Malcolm would be his father’s successor. Also, in the context of the play, Macbeth had just been told by the three witches that he would be the King, and so when Duncan tells everyone that Malcolm is next in line, it makes Macbeth angry. This leads to Macbeth and Lady Macbeth planning the murder of Duncan; therefore, more death and blood.
(II.II.83-90) Then in the last section, I found a line that Lady Macbeth said. In this scene, it was right after Macbeth killed Duncan, and he went back to Lady Macbeth with the bloody daggers still in his hands, because he was in shock. Lady Macbeth is angry that her husband couldn’t do the job right. First she tries to get him to return to the scene of the crime and wipe the blood on the chamberlains and leave the daggers there, so that they take the blame, but then she just does it herself, because Macbeth refuses. Going back to one of the motifs Shakespeare used often, this scene contains a lot about blood. A death has occurred, and Macbeth feels guilty. Shakespeare wanted to the audience to see that since Macbeth feels like there’s blood on his hands that can’t be washed away with just water, it can symbolize that Macbeth can’t just forget what happened and be done with Duncan’s murder. It will be a part of him from now on, and his bloody hands act as a reminder of his guilt. Another motif that Shakespeare used often is hands, and this is a recurring word in this scene. Shakespeare may have been trying to convey to the audience that hands symbolizes the murder of Duncan in this context. This is because whenever Macbeth or Lady Macbeth says hands it is near the word “blood” as well, so the hands represent Macbeth killing Duncan with the daggers.
In Macbeth, one of the most confounding, complicating and above all confusing plays ever to be written by a mortal man, there is image after image of blood.
ReplyDeleteThese images of blood are so vividly described and appear in the book at times when Macbeth would have reason to feel guilt. And thus we have a motif.
Guilt is a sickening feeling and at times it can feel almost poisonous. I would even go as far as to say that guilt can murder any feelings of hope and perhaps it can even destroy happiness. I imagine guilt on such an extreme level would only occur along with carrying out an absolutely dreadful act, such as eating the last of your brother’s ice cream or perhaps killing your beloved leader and king.
For example when Macbeth is deciding to kill Duncan, a hallucinated dagger appears before him. All of a sudden the dagger turns bloody and Macbeth freaks out as he wonders aloud if the dagger with the blood on it is real. “And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood, Which was not so before. There's no such thing: It is the bloody business which informs Thus to mine eyes.”
And then after Macbeth has carried out the awful evil, one could literally substitute the word guilt for blood and the passage could make arguably even more sense. “Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean form my hand? No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red.”
And that brings us to the conclusion that blood=guilt. Weehoo.
In Macbeth there are many examples of greed and gluttony. One that stands out most in my mind is about the sailor’s wife and the witches. The sailors wife refuse to give the witches food so they call her fat and ugly and then curse her husband because she is fat and ugly and apparently unsympathetic.
ReplyDeleteThis is a literal example of gluttony and overeating but if you look at the way Macbeth acts in the play there is also a figurative version too. In the beginning of the play Macbeth is promoted to thane for his brave actions in the battle against the Norwegians. This is in effect his first bite of power and power becomes something that he thirsts after for the rest of the play even killing his own king in an attempt for of it. Essentially It also makes Macbeth figuratively ugly because he is morally tarnished by his actions.
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ReplyDeleteA motif that is constantly brought up in Macbeth is gluttony. One example of gluttony in the play is when the sailor's wife is stuffing her face with chestnuts. When the First Witch sees the woman doing this the witch asks for some of the chestnuts. The woman refuses to share the chestnuts, making the witch very angry. The witch then puts a curse on the woman and her husband. Upon closer examination of this passage the reader discovers that it is more than just the witch becoming angry because the woman will not share her food. This passage foreshadows the events to come on Macbeth's quest for power.
ReplyDeleteThe woman in this passage is stuffing her face with chestnuts, but throughout the play Macbeth is stuffing his face with power. Once Macbeth gets his first taste of power and hears the prophecy from the witches, Macbeth becomes obsessed with power. He and Lady Macbeth become consumed by the idea of power and take drastic measure to get their fill of it. The couple is unwilling to relinquish this power to anybody else, much like the sailor's wife was unwilling to share her chestnuts. However, gluttony can lead to many problems and greed can change everything, a lesson that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth may learn the hard way if they're not careful.
ReplyDeleteIn Macbeth one of the biggest motifs of act I is greed selfishly wanting more and more at any risk at all. Greed in Act I ties back to Power in Act I Macbeth is promoted to Thane of Cawdor or other words a nobleman for his acts in battling the Norwegians. Macbeth is given a taste of what power tastes like but that is simply not enough for him he wants it all to be the supreme so he schemes up a plot to assassinate the King Duncan to ultimately gain power of the rights of King. His plan was to invite Duncan over and feed him have a night between the two along with their spouses and have them stay the night so he could kill him in his sleep which he does and to cover it up he covers the guards in blood to frame them of all of this.
The motif greed symbolises Duncan as a person entirely he is greed he is overtaken by the glories of power that he killed his king to gain more it is like an addiction once you taste a little you are completely hooked. This motif is important because shakespeare gave this title to Macbeth he is image of greed in Macbeth it is like a title to him what you shall think of once you backround check this character he symbolizes Greed for power based on his actions.
In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, motifs are the key to making the play unique when being compared to other plays. Shakespeare uses many different motifs that are scattered throughout the play to describe and compare two different things. One of my favorite dichotomies that was used in the play, compared garments to a title. In one scene Macbeth says to Ross and Angus “The thane of Cawdor lives: why do you dress me in borrowed robes?” Macbeth is saying that there is already a thane of Cawdor, so why would they address him with that title if its already taken. The motif is comparing a name title, to borrowed clothing.
ReplyDeleteAnother motif that is showed in the play, is when Banquo is talking to the Duncan and says “there if I grow, the harvest is your own.” Banquo is telling Duncan that if he “grows” with the help and support of Duncan, the Duncan will benefit from it.The way I look at that line is Banquo is saying give me riches and power, and I will owe and be indebted to you.
Macbeth is full of motifs and dichotomies, that make reading the play tricky, yet unique and deep.
Throughout Macbeth, one motif that is important to the play is darkness. In most of the scenes, darkness always seems to be around. The play first opens with thunder and lightening, which sets the play off in a dark and haunted mood. As the play unfolds, Macbeth's desire to become King increases to the point where he and Lady Macbeth plan Duncan's death. Lady Macbeth, the brains of this operation, decides to wait until night to kill Duncan. First, she will give Duncan's chamberlains wine until they become drunk. Once they are too intoxicated to do their jobs, she and Macbeth will sneak up on Duncan in his sleep and murder him. This plan was to all unfold in the darkness of the night.
ReplyDeleteIn this passage of Macbeth, darkness is used as a way to cover up the murder of Duncan. Although the darkness was just in the background, it gave Macbeth and Lady Macbeth a sense of security and protection. By working in the dark, it was easier for the two of them to believe that their actions were invisible to others. The darkness of the night gave them the feeling that their footsteps and fingerprints were hidden from those around them. This darkness allowed them to cope with the idea that they killed Duncan. In this passage, darkness helps to cover up the murder that took place and brings Macbeth a sense of security. The motif of darkness is meaningful to Shakespeare's Macbeth because it not only covers up and hides the crimes of the play, but it also brings reassurance to the characters who commit the crimes.
A motif within Macbeth that I have found to be peculiar, yet oddly intriguing, is “hands”. Before beginning this play, I was unsure as to how Shakespeare would be able to turn the subject of hands into something with actual significance to the play. However, upon reading Act One, it has become clear that the blaming of hands is the only true motive for each character’s actions.
ReplyDeleteOne scene that clearly exhibits the motif of hands is when King Duncan declares to Macbeth that he will name his own son Malcolm as the Prince of Cumberland. The witches had already bestowed the thought of kingship in Macbeth, but he begins to realize that it may not be granted to him so easily. He knows that he will have to kill and thinks to himself, “The eye wink at the hand, yet let that be which the eye fears, when it is done, to see.” (1.4.54-55). Macbeth will do whatever it takes to be king, yet knows killing is not morally correct. Therefore he will blame the action on his hands, rather than his conscience. Afterward, he may be frightened to look at his hands, but eventually he will realize that is was actually his hands that performed the deed and not himself. Macbeth’s hands represent his overwhelming desire and greed.
Another scene containing the hand motif is when King Duncan comes to the home of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Upon seeing his hostess he declares, “Give me your hand. Conduct me to mine host.” (1.6.28-29). In this scene, Lady Macbeth’s hands represent Duncan’s fate. These are the hands that will aid in his murder, and are currently escorting him to his future murderer (Macbeth). Later in the night, after killing Duncan, Macbeth returns with bloody hands. He glances down at them and says, “This is a sorry sight.” (2.2.20). As mentioned before, Macbeth knew that it would be a frightening sight to view his hands after the killing. He does it anyway though and experiences an overwhelming sense of shock and guilt. It is contained within his hands though, and once the blood is washed away, the guilt will be too. The disconnection of hands from conscience provides an easy motive for unjust and regrettable actions.
In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, there are many motifs that show significance and can be used as a symbolical representation. These motifs are expressed throughout act one of the play and can be defined as key details that help to tell the story. One of the motifs that is brought up a couple times is darkness. There is a lot of darkness in the story which struck me the most while reading. At act 1, scene 3 line 135 in the book, darkness is represented in a way that tricks one into telling the truth. It is displayed as something that blackmails you into saying or doing things that one may not have wanted to be previously stated. Darkness also makes him rethink the action of murder, through which the Witches had blackmailed him into doing. They did this by promising him something they knew would become true to make him believe that everything else they said would have the same fate.
ReplyDeleteAnother motif that stood out to me was that of growth and seeds. There is a point in the book at which Banquo hears the great future of Macbeth and asks to hear his own fortune as well. He asks the Witches to “look into the seeds of time”. He refers to the witches to see his future but he wants no more favors. At this point the motif is obviously represented as a seed which grows into something that was once something else and in this line, symbolizes a way of seeing one's growth over time as the future.
In the play, the motifs that stand out to me the most is growth and death, two very important symbols and ways of life that Shakespeare is able to portray and scatter throughout the story.
In Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, there are many different motifs used throughout the story. One motif that stood out a lot in Act 1 was blood. Blood seems to either appear or be brought up in a majority of the scenes within the act. For example, in scene 2 line 20, someone says “Which smoked with bloody execution.” I think that Shakespeare uses blood as a motif to signify not only death or injuries, but is also used to show deception and betrayal. There is betrayals between people of lower and higher power, just so one or the other can get what they want. Lady Macbeth appears to have no problem dealing with a little bloodshed.
ReplyDeleteAnother motif that stood out to me is a dichotomy, specifically disembodiment. There is a lot of talk about severed limbs or detachments from bodies throughout the play so far. In Act 1 scene 2 line 25, “And fixed his head upon our battlements.” is talking about a dismembered head. Those two motifs stood out most to me in Act 1 and I think they will be used and become more significant as the play progresses.
In Macbeth there are many important motifs that pop out at you when you read. One motif that especially stood out was the use of blood. In Act 1 Scene 5 Lady Macbeth is reading what Macbeth said to her in a letter. She reads, “Make thick my blood. Stop up the access and passage to remorse…” Blood is always being brought up in this play and Lady Macbeth brings it up here by basically saying clog up my veins so I don’t feel anything. Blood is represented by remorse in this line.
ReplyDeleteAnother motif that I found many times in the play was the use of the weather. When the witches’ appear there is thunder and lightning and in the beginning of the play there is thunder and lightning. It always seems to be dark and eerie which makes everything scarier. The use of darkness in the story shows how people are corrupted and do things to try and protect themselves. Lady Macbeth says in Act One Scene 5 “Come, thick, night, and pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, that my keen knife see not the wound it makes, nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark”. She is saying to cover the world in the darkest smoke of hell, so that her knife can’t see the wound it cuts open. The darkness of weather protects the evil deeds of the characters in Macbeth.
In the play "Macbeth", written by Shakespeare, there are numerous amount of motifs that are present in the dialogue of the play, especially in Act I. One motif that popped out to me during Act I was “blood”. During Act I, Scene II, Line 1, Duncans says to Malcolm, “What bloody man is that?”. During this scene, Duncan who has not battled in the war is curious about it and wonders what is going on and assumes that the Sergeant is from the war. The motif “blood” comes up numerous of times in this play especially in Act I. I believe that Shakespeare uses blood throughout the play a lot due to the fact that blood symbolizes death, evilness, and killing, which could be described as a hidden trait in the story. Another motif that Shakespeare has sprinkled into the story is “darkness”. In Act 1, Scene 5, Line 53, Lady Macbeth talks about a knife followed by the reference of the dark “Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark”. During this scene, Lady Macbeth has some murderous thoughts, and begins to think that she is a killer. I believe that Shakespeare uses motifs like blood and dark to tie in death, killing, and evil due to the fact that darkness resembles evil, and blood resembles death and killing, therefore there is no doubt that Shakespeare tries to tie in these motifs.
DeleteOne of the many significant motifs of Shakespeare's "Macbeth" is the recurrence of food. In different situations, it may have different meanings, but ultimately one theme. An indirect example of food is presented in Act 1, Scene 3, and lines 39-45. "By each at once her choppy finger laying Upon her skinny lips.." Which is not the complete quotation but is the most important part, referring to malnourishment. The second example I've come across that is more direct and noticeable is in Act 1, Scene 3, and lines 4-7. "A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap,
ReplyDeleteAnd munch'd, and munch'd, and munch'd - 'Give me', quoth I : 'Aroint thee, witch!' the rump-fed ronyon cries." This could possibly symbolize the selfishness within Macbeth
and other characters. Motifs such as this one, and many others are outstandingly meaningful to the play Macbeth it gets the reader thinking to what Shakespeare's frame story ideas are alluding to in the big picture.
In Macbeth there are many significant motifs that suggest major ideas in the within the book. These motifs tend to recapitulate, specifically in the first act I was a recurring point made about clothing. “unseamed him from the nave to the chops.” (1.2.24) stated by the captain when addressing the King immediately after the last battle of the war against Norway had been won. Again clothing was used later in act I “Why do you dress me in borrowed robes?” (1.3.112) When Macbeth is being awarded for his valiant efforts in the war with Norway and is told of how he has acquired the Thane of Cawdor’s title. The way Shakespeare uses the motifs relating garments into the theme of the book is very interesting, Especially the way he relates them to connection to acquiring power. When Macbeth says “Why do you dress me in borrowed robes?” he is using the robes as a symbol of power. The robes represent the power that one attains in their title and landownings. I find it ironic that Macbeth seems to not want to take ownership of the Thane of Cawdor’s title, when later on he plots to kill his own king. I think Shakespeare makes it clear by using many different motifs that Macbeth is a very complex character and he never fails to make a decision that will ultimately dig him deeper into the large hole he has already dug for himself.
ReplyDeleteThe play Macbeth is famous for its violence. There are many different motifs, or recurring actions in the play. Some that i have been able to pick up on are hallucination and visions, blood, and manliness and femininity. Macbeth hallucinates two major times during this play. He imagines a knife in front of him which shows him that his fate is to murder people to get what he needs, which is power. The dagger guided Macbeth to kill and he sees it as his fate when he imagines it. The witches or “weird sisters” have many visions throughout the play, they see macbeth being killed and tell him the woods will attack Dunsinane and most importantly they say “Beware of Macduff.” Blood is a major recurring motif in this play. Blood is a dark symbol and is a great example of why it is such a grimm play. Blood is continually talked about with the witches and with Lady Macbeth when she needs her blood to be thickened so she has the strength to murder duncan. She imagines blood on her hands when she is starting to feel regretful about murdering all the people she did, which leads to her suicide. Lady Macbeth asks for strength and to be “unsexed” so she will have the strength to murder. This shows talk about how females are weak and men are dominant. Macbeth has told Lady Macbeth that a real man would not commit murder but she says a man is strong and does what is needed. There were many specific motifs that symbolized different recurring scenes throughout Macbeth.
ReplyDeleteIn Macbeth there are many motifs which are important to the story and its characters.Throughout the book there are many places in which the motif darkness is very obvious and relevant. When Macbeth wife is alone in the cellar talking to spirits about how she wishes to be filled with evil and darkness. Another time Darkness is prevalent is when Macbeth murders Duncan in his chambers, he is alone in the darkness and hears an ominous voice when he murders the king. A third time where the motif of darkness is scene is when Macbeth confronts the death of his wife. He has almost no emotion. All of this is important to the story and its development because it shows just how insensitive he has become to the death and darkness around him.
ReplyDeleteSorry if this is awful i have written this twice and had it not submit. im done trying to do it