Macbeth Loyalty and Betrayal Quotes

Loyalty
1. 'The service and the loyalty I owe, In doing it pays itself.'
  1. This could show that Macbeth wants to be loyal with continuous thoughts of treachery
    1. This is Dramatic Irony
  2. This could show that Macbeth wants Duncan to think he is still loyal but is thinking about killing him
    1. This is further backed up because he says it as soon as he enters
  3. Macbeth believes he does owe Duncan, so before he kills him, he has to get rid of this debt
    1. He does this by inviting Duncan to his castle
2. 'He was a gentlemen on whom I built an absolute trust'
  1. This shows Duncan has trusted someone in the past who has betrayed him
    1. As soon as Duncan says this, Macbeth enters
      1. This foreshadows Macbeth being Duncan's Hamartia (Downfall)
      2. Prolecptic Irony shows Macbeth is going to betray him
    2. From Abstract noun 'trust'
  2. This could tell us that Duncan expects Macbeth to be a better Thane of Cawdor
Betrayal
1. 'Look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under't'
  1. After the Gunpowder Plot, a medal was made to commemorate the discovery. It pictured a Serpent under some flowers
  2. The Abstract noun 'Innocent' could show that this innocence slowly disappears
    1. This is shown when Lady Macbeth starts sleepwalking in Act 5 Scene 1
2. 'That is a step on which I must fall down, or else o'er leap, for in my way it lies
  1. Shows betrayal because it means Macbeth will have to break the Divine Right of Kings
    1. The Divine Right of Kings was heavily believed in at the time
      1. The Divine Right of Kings stated that a King or Queen was chosen by God
        So to break it meant going against God
      2. Jacobean audiences would be shocked by this
3. 'Come you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, Unsex me here'
  1. Lady Macbeth is betraying her femininity
    1. This would have shocked the Jacobean audience of shakespeare's time
  2. The abstract noun 'Mortal' could foreshadow when Macbeth thinks he is immortal in Act 4 Scene 1

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Macbeth Loyalty and Betrayal Quotes

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	Created by Noah Martin over 6 years ago