Characters

Duncan

Three words describing Duncan

Noble, Kind, Nurturing

Noble:: %%‘so clear in his great office that his virtues will pleade like angels,%% trumpet tongued, against the deep damnation of his taking off’ Macbeth 1.7, acknowledging that Duncan was a good king. Emphasising the role of divine judgement and the great chain of being in the reign of a monarch.

Kind:: %%‘signs of nobleness like stars shall shine on all deservers’%% Duncan 1.4 simile connotes divine power implying a reward for ‘deserves’

Nurturing:: %%‘if I grow the harvest is yours’%% Duncan 1.4 showing his dedication to other.

Macbeth

Macbeth is first introduced at a ,point of prosperity, as a military hero ‘valiant cousin, worthy gentleman’ and he ends with a reversal of fortune as a tyrant being viewed as a ‘dead butcher’

Noble/ Moral

‘ too full of the milk of human kindness’

‘ I do dare all that may become a man. to do more is none’

‘be not the innocent flower but the serpent beneath it’ Lady Macbeth describing Macbeth.

Ambition

‘vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself’

‘to be thus is nothing but to be thus safely’

Cruel / violent

‘ this dead butcher’

‘ I will never shag with doubt nor shake with fear’

Tragic Hero

‘Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps this petty pace from day to day to the last syllable of recorded time’

‘life is but a walking shadow, a poor player that that struts and frets his hour upon the stage’ - Act 5.5 Metaphors emphasize the fleeting nature of life. Shadows are temporary, actors are only their characters for a short while, everything is impermanent.

‘ A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing’ - 5.5 Macbeth Pessimmistic

Macduff

Macduff acts as a foil for Macbeth, exposing Macbeth’s lack of loyalty, lack of courage, righteous.