Analysis of a Soliloquy

MACBETH

     Thou losest labor.

As easy mayst thou the intrenchant air

With thy keen sword impress as make me bleed.

Let fall thy blade on vulnerable crests;

I bear a charmèd life, which must not yield

To one of woman born.

MACDUFF

     Despair thy charm,

And let the angel whom thou still hast served

Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother’s womb

Untimely ripped.


Power and corruption 
Blood and gore 
Supernatural 
Irony 
MacDuff is a foil to Macbeth

This soliloquy contains Blood and Gore, because it has phrases like "With thy keen sword impress as make me bleed". It also contains Irony because all along the audience and Macbeth thought that MacDuff was woman-born, but infact "MacDuff was from his mother’s womb, untimely ripped". This soliloquy contains Supernatural because Macbeth says "I bear a charmed life, which must not  yield to one of woman born" then MacDuff says in response to that "Despair thy charm". This soliloquy contains Power and Corruption because Macbeth is so corrupt he is delusional saying that he can not be killed by woman born. Macbeth and MacDuff lived the same life but chose different paths which put then against each other. 

The Theme

Blood & Gore, Supernatural, and Nature Imagery are all symbols, they symbolize the theme of Power and Corruption.

The use of dramatic irony

The use of Dramatic Irony 

Dramatic irony is when the audience knows something the characters don't. Shakespeare used a a lot of dramatic irony in his plays. Act 4 Scene 2 Page 2 is great example of dramatic irony. Here is why...

"Sirrah, your father’s dead. And what will you do now? How will you live?"This is ironic because MacDuff is alive and instead his son is going to die because he is the son of a traitor. The son of MacDuff says "If he were dead, you’d weep for him. If you would not, it were a good sign that I should quickly have a new father." Which is ironic since, MacBeth ordered murderers to wipe out everything MacDuff owns and all his relatives and loved ones, on the next page a murderer asks where is MacDuff because he is a traitor, then the murderer kills the son. 

In conclusion, Act 4 Scene 2 Page 2 has a lot of dramatic irony.

Blood & Gore

Shakespeare's plays are known to to have a lot of blood and gore in them, especially Titus Andronicus, but we're not talking about that play today. I am talking about The Scottish play, Macbeth. Act 2, Scene 1, Page 2 is a great example of blood and gore. 

In Act 2, Scene 1, Page 2 Macbeth says "I see thee still, And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood, Which was not so before.", Macbeth realizes that the dagger is a hallucination and he still sees the dagger but now it's covered in blood, this is bloody and gory because it uses the hyperbole "gouts of blood", which is sight imagery, to create a mental image of the dagger in our minds. 

In conclusion, 

Superstitions & the Supernatural

Hook: 

"Double, double toil and trouble,

Fire burn, and cauldron bubble."

Example & Explanation:

"Round about the cauldron go,

In the poisoned entrails throw." This is supernatural because a cauldron is mainly associated with the supernatural. 

"Toad, that under cold stone

Days and nights has thirty-one

Sweltered venom sleeping got,

Boil thou first i' th' charmèd pot."  This is supernatural because toads are usually a symbol of witchcraft. The "charmed pot" is the cauldron.

"Fillet of a fenny snake,

In the cauldron boil and bake.

Eye of newt and toe of frog,

Wool of bat and tongue of dog,

Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting,

Lizard’s leg and owlet’s wing,

For a charm of powerful trouble,

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble." 

Nature Imagery

 Macbeth shall never vanquished be until great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill shall come against him." One of the things you continuously see in the play Macbeth is nature imagery because Act 4 Scene 1 Page 5 is an excellent example of nature imagery. In the play nature is unsound and nature imagery is used to show how much of a wreck Macbeth's life is. The witches show him 3 apparitions, the third one says: "This means that Macbeth will never be defeated until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane Hill, where his castle is located. Macbeth's fate is in the hands of nature. 

Theme: Power & Corruption

"Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be what thou art promised."The theme of Macbeth is 'Power and Corruption.' This quote from early in the play is an excellent example because Lady Macbeth has been corrupted by Macbeth's letter, and now wants to corrupt Macbeth. "Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way:." She is afraid that Macbeth is too pure to murder the king in order to become king himself. "Thou wouldst be great, Art not without ambition, but without The illness should attend it." The 'illness' is the ruthlessness necessary to become king by any means necessary. Lady Macbeth has been corrupted and will corrupt Macbeth.