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William Shakespeare

Macbeth

Act 1, Scene 7:
Easier questions to cut your teeth on!

Keith Tankard
Knowledge4Africa.com
Updated: 23 January 2014
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We are now inside Macbeth's castle. Some hours have passed.

There is, however, a dramatic contrast to the last time we saw Macbeth. The good side of him is again momentarily revealed before Lady Macbeth takes command once more, both persuading and bullying him to her point of view.



NATURE vs EVIL

In Shakespearian times, nature was considered to be God's playground, a place of peace and holiness.

Within this holiness lies human nature itself. A holy king -- like Duncan or Edward of England -- was seen to have had the gift of healing in his hands.

Evil, however, can destroy all of this -- and evil comes into human nature through the devil. Once corrupted, human nature will then wreak havoc in nature itself.

Shakespeare uses a clever counterbalance of good and evil in these scenes. While Act 1, Scene 6 presents the holiness of nature, Act 1, Scene 7 reveals the exact opposite: the triumph of evil in the person of Lady Macbeth.

Macbeth has thought out the logic of his loyalty to Duncan and how he should be defending the king and not murdering him. He is then confronted with a bullying wife who humiliates him into submission.

Lady Macbeth takes the perfect example of woman's nature -- a mother's natural instinct while suckling her baby -- and overturns it: "I would, while it was smiling in my face, have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums, and dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you have done to this."

The audience is left aghast at this barefaced barbarity -- and then one witnesses Macbeth crumble to become Lady Macbeth's lapdog once again.

Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:



"If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well
It were done quickly."
  • What does Macbeth mean by these words? (2)

[Need help?]




"If th'assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch,
With his surcease, success; that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all . . . here,
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
We'd jump the life to come
."
  • What is Macbeth's main concern as expressed in these words? (2)

[Need help?]

  • What does Macbeth mean when he says "We'd jump the life to come"? (2)

[Need help?]




"That we but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
To plague th'inventor."
  • What is Macbeth's main concern as is shown by these words? (4)

[Need help?]




Macbeth puts up a good argument as to why he should not be murdering Duncan.
  • What are the main points in this argument? (5)

[Need help?]




"I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself,
And falls on th'other - "
  • Rewrite Macbeth's argument in your own words. (2)

[Need help?]

  • Explain the use of the apostrophe in "o'erleaps" and "th'other". (2)

[Need help?]




Macbeth explains to his wife that he will no longer proceed with the murder. "We will proceed no further . . . "
  • What reasons does Macbeth give Lady Macbeth for this decision? (4)

[Need help?]

  • What is Lady Macbeth's reaction to his decision? Explain fully. (2)

[Need help?]




Lady Macbeth decides to participate in the murder herself.
  • What does she intend to do? (3)

[Need help?]




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