Key Quotes act 4

something wicked this way comes (4:1)

• indefinite pronoun → dehumanises Macbeth

• witches are the embodiment of wicked yet they perceive Macbeth to be wicked himself

“The very firstlings of my heart shall be / The firstlings of my hand"

• The noun “firstlings” evokes an image of children — his thoughts and acts are being born — which is cruelly ironic considering the thought he has had is to murder the children of Macduff

• The alliterative juxtaposition of “heart” and “hand” is used to metonymically represent desires and actions — but this too is ironic since “heart” is normally associated with goodness and emotion, neither of which Macbeth seems to possess any longer

• These lines show another way in which Macbeth has changed dramatically since Act 1 Scene 7 when Shakespeare used a lengthy soliloquy to stage Macbeth weighing up the reasons for and against killing Duncan the Macbeth of Act 4 is a man of pure instinct and of utter selfishness

Wisdom? To leave his wife, to leave his babes … He loves us not (4:2)

• babes → helpless/vulnerable

• parallel to lady macbeth

• different views of masculinity

• neglecting his parental duties

All my pretty ones? Did you say all? O hell-kite! All? What, all my

pretty chickens and their dam at one fell swoop? (4:3

• The repetition of the quantifier ‘all’ emphasises the extent of Macduff’s loss — he has lost everything

• The repeated interrogatives show his continued disbelief, his inability to accept the reality of his family’s slaughter — he just can’t accept that it could possibly be true

• The short sentences help to convey how frantically his mind is working to process his grief

• The final metaphor reveals the paternal affection he felt — and still feels — for his lost family: the image of chickens presents the family as fragile, innocent and harmless — as mere chickens, slaughtered by the villainous, predatory Macbeth, a kite (a bird of prey) from Hell

I shall do so; But I must also feel it as a man (4:3)

• a man can take feel emotion and still be masculine

• sensitivity is not unbecoming of a man