500
What two literary devices are used in the following quotation?
"that but this blow
Might be the be-all and end-all here,
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
We'd jump the life to come."
--Act 1, Scene 7, Lines 4-7
What is METAPHOR- Macbeth compares his indecision about killing Duncan to being on the bank of a river.
and ALLUSION- it is implied that this is the River Styx, the river that in Greek mythology that the damned had to cross over to enter hell. Macbeth is thus likening his murderous thoughts to a damned soul. He says that if it were sure that King Duncan's death would have no dire consequences, Macbeth would gladly "jump" (cross) the river (Styx) for the "life to come" (hell) in return for mortal pleasure.