Exploring the theme of betrayal in Macbeth through three key characters; Lady Macbeth through her betrayal of conventional gender stereotypes, Macbeth through his betrayal of King Duncan along with his betrayal of religion, and the Three Witches through their betrayal of nature, and thereby, the be...
“Let not light see my black and deep desires.” - Act 1, Scene 4
- “Desires” - knows regicide is wrong, yet he’s fuelled by his ambition - like a
drug
- “Black” - colour imagery foreshadows the death of Duncan
- “Black” - oxymoronic and religious language, intends to warn the deeply
religious Jacobean audience of the consequences of regicide
“Amen stuck in my throat.” - Act 2, Scene 2
- Betrayal of religion as he’s fully embraced by the supernatural and disrupts
the Divine Rights of Kings
- “Amen” - God has rejected Macbeth from using religious language, has
effectively committed blasphemy
“Our faces vizards to our hearts, disguising what they are” - Act 3, Scene 2
- Betrayal of appearance and reality as a result of his ambition
“I am cabined, confined, cribbed” - Act 3, Scene 4
- Betrayal of gender roles, not “valiant” Macbeth from Act 1
- Use of alliteration exemplifies the unnaturalness of Macbeth
- The use of “c” replicates a rough sound, represents the extent of Macbeth’s
violent regicide
“Weapons laugh to scorn,” Act 5, Scene 7
- Highlights the interference of higher powers in Macbeth’s hamartia
- Speaking in trochaic tetrameter like the Witches, betrayal of nature
WANT TOP MARKS? HAVE AN ALTERNATIVE INTERPRETATION:
“Yet I will try the very last” - Act 5, Scene 7
- Macbeth parallels his earlier courage from Act 1, no change in his
characteristics
The Three Witches
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