GLOSSARY FOR MACBETH

LANGUAGE (to convey sound)

Alliteration is the use of the same consonant sound at the beginning of nearby words. Example:
"Fair is foul, and foul is fair."

Assonance is the use of the same vowel sound in nearby words. Examples (there are two in the
following line): "He's here in double trust" (1.7.12).

Shakespeare uses sound devices like alliteration and assonance to affect the tone of his characters’
speeches. Eg. “Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble”. Witches (4.1.1)
Repetition of sounds through alliteration and assonance can be pleasing to the ear and can be used
to emphasize certain words. Sometimes the repeated sound may help to emphasize the meaning of
the text as well. For example, in the witches' quote, the shared F-sound reflects the content: the
words sound similar, just as the witches are saying these concepts are similar.

TECHNIQUE (to create images)

Figures of speech such as metaphor, simile and personification are often used by Shakespeare to
describe themes and aspects of character visually to the audience. Eg. “This is the very painting of
your fear”.

Sense Imagery:
tactile imagery: related to sense of touch
olfactory imagery: related to sense of smell
visual imagery: related to sense of sight
gustatory imagery: related to sense of taste
auditory imagery: related to sense of hearing
kinesthetic imagery: related to the position of a body
organic imagery: related to internal feelings: nausea . . .

Juxtaposition is a poetic and rhetorical device which places normally unassociated ideas, words, or
phrases next to one another, creating an effect of surprise or wit. E.g The Porter's scene juxtaposes
Duncan's death.

Allusion is an indirect or passing reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural,
literary or political significance. In Macbeth, Shakespeare uses many allusions, but especially
mythological and biblical ones. In one of the earliest descriptions of Macbeth, Ross describes him as
the bridegroom of Bellona, the Roman goddess of war. The gods Hecate and Neptune, as well as the
Roman ruler Tarquin, are also referenced.

Symbolism is the use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities, by giving them symbolic meanings
that are different from their literal sense. Eg. Light and darkness represent good and evil
respectively. Blood represents Macbeth's and his wife's guilt about Duncan's murder.

A double entendre is a literary device that can be defined as a phrase or a figure of speech that
might have multiple senses, interpretations or two different meanings or that could be understood
in two different ways.

For example: Act 2, Scene 3 begins with a drunken Porter knocking and saying “If a man were porter
of hell-gate, he should have old turning the key. Knock, knock, knock.”(l. 1-3). This is very comical but
also ironic. He talks about being the keeper to the gate of Hell and perhaps he is, with the door to
Macbeth’s castle being the gate of Hell. The Porter seems to be waking everybody up and bringing
them back to reality after last night’s murder. When he is pretending to admit the farmer to Hell,
there is double meaning when he says “Have napkins enough about you, here you’ll sweat for’t.”(l.
5-6) The farmer will not only be sweating because of nervousness but because of the heat. When the
Porter invited in the Talor he tells him “here you may roast your goose.”(l.14), meaning he can heat
his iron in the flames. The other meaning is that his goose will be cooked or he’ll have to suffer the
consequences of ripping people off. It is ironic when the Porter says “this place is too cold for
Hell”(l.15-16) since Hell is known to be the hottest place!

STYLE
Dramatic irony occurs when the audience understands the true significance of what is said on stage
while the characters do not. Dramatic irony creates tension in the build up to tragedy and also helps
to illustrate the theme of appearance and reality.

A Paradox is a contradictory statement. Eg. "Fair is foul, and foul is fair".

Further examples: "So from that spring whence comfort seemed to come, discomfort swells" (I.ii.27-
28) They were originally satisfied with the murder of Macdonwald, but now it has caused further
problems.
"Lesser than Macbeth, and greater. Not so happy, yet much happier. Thou shalt get kings, though thou
be none" (I.iii.66-68). Banquo's future will be better and worse than Macbeth's. He will be happy, but
there will be times where there is no happiness. Banquo will never become king, but he will have many
descendants that will be king.
"This supernatural soliciting cannot be ill, cannot be good" (I.iii.133-134) The witches’ predictions must
be good because the first one came true, but they also may not be good because now he's
contemplating murdering Duncan to become king.
"To know my deed 'twere best not know myself" (II.ii.760). Knowing what I have done, I don't want to
live with myself.
"Fathered he is, and yet he's fatherless" (IV.ii.27) Macduff’s son does have a father, but considering
how Macduff just left them like a coward, he might as well not have a father.

An oxymoron is a figure of speech that has two words that are right by each other that can mean
exactly opposite things like: big shrimp, pretty ugly. Macbeth Eg. "When the battle's lost and won."

A motif is a recurrent thematic element in a literary work. Diction is the choice and use of words. In
the same way Shakespeare uses diction to illustrate character and themes in the play, he also uses
motifs to emphasise important ideas.

For example: the motif of the value of masculinity. Lady Macbeth begs the evil spirits to "unsex" her,
and "take [her] milk for gall." She also ridicules Macbeth for going back on the plan to kill King Duncan,
mocking his masculinity and stating that by killing Duncan, Macbeth will become more of a man. Finally,
the value of masculinity is demonstrated when Macbeth states, "Bring forth men-children only;/ for
thy undaunted meddle should compose/ nothing but males." This means that Macbeth sees Lady
Macbeth as so powerfully masculine that it seems she will only give birth to males.

Pathetic fallacy is a literary device that attributes human qualities and emotions to inanimate objects
of nature. Pathetic fallacy is a kind of personification that gives human emotions to inanimate objects
of nature for example referring to weather features reflecting a mood. Personification, on the other
hand, is a broader term. It gives human attributes to abstract ideas, animate objects of nature or
inanimate non-natural objects.

In Act 2 Scene 3 Lennox describes the ominous atmosphere on the night of the murder of Duncan.
The “unruly” night, the “screams of death” in the air, and the “feverous” earth depict the “evil” act
of murder that happened a night before.

STRUCTURE
Repetition is a device in which words, sounds, and ideas are used more than once for the purpose of
enhancing rhythm and creating emphasis, e.g. “Double, double toil and trouble”

The deliberate repetition of the first part of the sentence in order to achieve an artistic effect is
known as Anaphora. Apart from the function of giving prominence to certain ideas, the use of
anaphora adds rhythm, thus making it more pleasurable to read, and easier to remember. The
witches use anaphora in the opening scene. Eg. ‘What I believe I'll wail, What know believe, and
what I can redress, As I shall find the time to friend, I will.’ (4,iii)

A Rhetorical question is a question which expects no answer. It is used to draw attention to a point
and is generally stronger than a direct statement, e.g. Lady Macbeth: "We fail?" (Act 1, Scene 7)

Prose, blank verse and rhyming couplets

Shakespeare’s plays are written mainly in blank verse – lines of unrhymed iambic pentameter.
Sometimes characters speak in prose – usually to reflect lower status, greater familiarity in their
relationship or lower moral standards. Rarely a character will use rhyming couplets – this is the highest
form of the three and rhyming couplets are used by characters of high social station and/or to
particularly emphasise the importance of something being said. Often they are used at the end of a
scene to ‘round the scene off’ with a dramatic flourish.
The dialogue between Lady Macduff and her son is written in prose vs. blank verse to show the
personal nature of the relationship and her anger at her husband.

Soliloquy is a character talking to him/herself or the audience – allows the audience greater insight
into the motives/plans of the character.
Lady Macbeth’s soliloquy in Act 1 Scene 5 “The raven himself is hoarse/ That croaks the fatal
entrance of Duncan/ Under my battlements. Come, you spirits/ That tend on mortal thoughts…”
gives us some insight into her character and her motives – makes the relationship between herself
and Macbeth clear.

Elision is when certain actions/events take place off-stage – can serve to heighten drama/direct the
audience’s focus. Eg. Duncan is murdered offstage. This takes the focus off the murder itself and
directs us to focus on Macbeth’s action and the effects.

Different elements of Syntax:

A declarative (assertive) sentence makes a statement, e.g. ‘The queen, my lord, is dead.’

An imperative sentence gives a command, e.g. ‘unsex me here/ And fill me, from the crown to the
toe, top-full Of direst cruelty!" (I.v. 42-44)

An interrogative sentence asks a question, e.g. ‘Why have you left the chamber?’ (1.vii)
Parallelism is the use of components in a sentence that are grammatically the same; or similar in
their construction, sound, meaning, or meter. Antithesis is a kind of parallelism in which two
opposite ideas are put together in parallel structures. Eg. Fair is foul, foul is fair.

Inversion, also known as anastrophe, is a literary technique in which the normal order of words is
reversed in order to achieve a particular effect of emphasis or meter.

MACBETH: “If’t be so, For Banquo’s issue have I fil’d my mind,

For them the gracious Duncan have I murther’d,
Put rancors in the vessel of my peace
Only for them, and mine eternal jewel
Given to the common enemy of man,
To make them kings -the seed of Banquo kings!
Rather than so, come, Fate, into the list,
And champion me to the utterance!”

The inversions in the above lines serve to highlight the conflict in Macbeth’s mind after he killed
Duncan.