Terms
This is attributing human characteristics to something that is not living.
What is personification?
This character obsessively washed her hands, trying to remove an imagined drop of blood.
Who is Lady Macbeth?
During the banquet scene, this represents Macbeth's guilty conscience.
What is Banquo's ghost?
"Is this a dagger I see before me?"
Who is Macbeth?
The lack of this is connected to a cursed life.
What is sleep?
This is an apparent contradiction that proves to be true upon closer inspection. The Weird Sisters favored the use of this literary device. "Fair is foul, foul is fair."
What is a paradox?
She is killed by a hired murderer while her husband is in England.
Who is lady Macduff?
Before murdering Duncan, this represents Macbeth's inner turmoil: should I kill the king or not? This leads him to Duncan's chamber.
What is the floating dagger?
"Out, damned spot! Out, I say!"
Who is Lady Macbeth?
He ironically imagines himself as the gate-keeper to hell.
Who is the drunken porter?
This is figurative language that compares two unlike things in an interesting way by saying one thing is the other. An example is "Life's but a walking shadow."
What is a metaphor?
He is the one who gets away from the hired murderers in the attack upon Banquo.
Who is Fleance?
This motif is repeated throughout the play in association with Macbeth and his titles. His titles never seem to "fit" him well.
What is clothing?
"By the pricking of my thumbs. Something wicked this way comes."
Who is a Weird Sister/witch?
This is the Old English word for "fate."
What is wyrd? (weird)
This is a repeated symbol, theme, or idea in a piece of literature.
What is a motif?
Malcolm attempts to ascertain his loyalty by pretending to be utterly vile and wicked.
Who is Macduff?
These often appear or are mentioned when anything violent is about to happen. The king and Banquo ironically mention their presence as they are entering Macbeth's castle.
What are birds?
"Turn, hell-hound, turn!"
Who is Macduff?
Macbeth tells his wife that his mind is full of these, meaning that he is tormented by guilt and inner conflict.
What are scorpions?
This is the term for a speech given by a character who is onstage alone so that we can hear their thoughts.
What is a soliloquy?
He said, "Where we are, there's daggers in men's smiles."
Who is Donalbain?
These ingredients in the Weird Sisters' brew represent the chaos and evil in Scotland under Macbeth's rule.
What are dismembered body parts?
"Be this the whetstone of your sword. Let grief/Convert to anger; blunt not the heart, enrage it."
Who is Malcolm?
These strange things discussed by Ross and and Old Man represent the evil of Macbeth's deeds during the night.
What are storms and natural disturbances?