example exam question(a)Read the extract.
How does Shakespeare present the different feelings and attitudes of Lady Macbeth and Macbeth at this point in the play? Refer closely to details from the extract to support your answer. [15] MACBETH: One cried ‘God bless us!’ and ‘Amen’ the other- As they had seen me with these hangman’s hands. List’ning their fear, I could not say ‘Amen’, When they did say ‘God bless us!’ LADY MACBETH: Consider it not so deeply. MACBETH: But wherefore could not I pronounce ‘Amen’? I had most need of blessing and ‘Amen’ Stuck in my throat. LADY MACBETH: These deeds must not be thought After these ways; so, it will make us mad. MACBETH: Methought I heard a voice cry, ‘Sleep no more: Macbeth does murder sleep’, the innocent sleep- Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care, The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath, Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course, Chief nourisher in life’s feast. LADY MACBETH: What do you mean? MACBETH: Still it cried, ‘Sleep no more’ to all the house; ‘Glamis hath murdered sleep’, and therefore Cawdor Shall sleep no more: Macbeth shall sleep no more. |
summaryLady Macbeth waits fitfully for Macbeth to return from killing Duncan. Upon hearing a noise within, she worries that the bodyguards have awakened before Macbeth has had a chance to plant the evidence on them.
Macbeth enters, still carrying the bloody daggers with which he killed Duncan. He is deeply shaken: as he entered Duncan's chamber, he heard the bodyguards praying and could not say "Amen" when they finished their prayers. Lady Macbeth’s counsels to think "after these ways” as “it will make [them] mad" (32). Nonetheless, Macbeth also tells her that he also thought he heard a voice saying, "’sleep no more, / Macbeth does murder sleep. . . Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor / Shall sleep no more, Macbeth shall sleep no more" (33-41). Lady Macbeth again warns him not to think of such "brain-sickly of things" and tells him to wash the blood from his hands (44). Seeing the daggers he carries, she chastises him for bringing them in and tells him to plant them on the bodyguards according to the plan. When Macbeth, still horrified by the crime he has just committed, refuses to reenter Duncan’s chamber, Lady Macbeth herself brings the daggers back in. While she is gone, Macbeth hears a knocking and imagines that he sees hands plucking at his eyes. He is guilt-stricken and mourns: “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood / clean from my hand?” (58-59)? When Lady Macbeth hears his words upon reentering, she states that her hands are of the same color but her heart remains shamelessly unstained. “A little water,” she continues, “will clear [them] of th[e] deed” (65). As the knocking persists, the two retire to put on their nightgowns so as not to arouse suspicion when others arrive. Key quotes Macbeth
But wherefore could not I pronounce 'Amen'? I had most need of blessing, and 'Amen' stuck in my throat. Analysis Macbeth can't say "amen" to the prayers because he feels guilty about the murder. He also feels he needs a blessing. Macbeth Methought I heard a voice cry 'Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep' Analysis Here Shakespeare is using sleep as a metaphor for peace of mind. He is saying that Macbeth will never more be at peace. Macbeth Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? Analysis Blood is being used as a metaphor for guilt, Macbeth realises that he must carry this guilt around with him forever. |