Macbeth, Part 6: Figurative Language and Rhetoric — Unit test Answers

Read the excerpt from act 5, scene 8 of The Tragedy of Macbeth. Then, review the photo, which shows this scene being acted out in a 1946 production of the play. Macbeth is on the left, and Macduff is on the right.Macbeth. Accursed be that tongue that tells me so,For it hath cow’d my better part of man!And be these juggling fiends no more believed,That palter with us in a double sense;That keep the word of promise to our ear,And break it to our hope. I’ll not fight with thee.Macduff. Then yield thee, coward,And live to be the show and gaze o’ the time:We’ll have thee, as our rarer monsters are,Painted on a pole, and underwrit,‘Here may you see the tyrant.’Macbeth. I will not yield,To kiss the ground before young Malcolm’s feet,And to be baited with the rabble’s curse.Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane,And thou opposed, being of no woman born,Yet I will try the last. Before my bodyI throw my warlike shield. Lay on, Macduff,And damn’d be him that first cries, ‘Hold, enough!’Photo by Angus McBean (c) RSC

Read the excerpt from act 5, scene 5 of The Tragedy of Macbeth. Macbeth has just received news of his wife’s death. In this excerpt, "signifying” means "representing.”Macbeth. She should have died hereafter;There would have been a time for such a word.To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,Creeps in this petty pace from day to dayTo the last syllable of recorded time,And all our yesterdays have lighted foolsThe way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor playerThat struts and frets his hour upon the stageAnd then is heard no more: it is a taleTold by an idiot, full of sound and fury,Signifying nothing.

Read the excerpt from act 4, scene 2 of The Tragedy of Macbeth. Ross and Lady Macduff have just discussed Macduff’s flight from their kingdom, and Ross is ending their conversation.[Ross.] I take my leave of you:Shall not be long but I’ll be here again:Things at the worst will cease, or else climb upwardTo what they were before. [To Macduff’s Son.] My pretty cousin,Blessing upon you!

What is a universal theme?

Read the excerpt from act 4, scene 3 of The Tragedy of Macbeth. Malcolm is explaining to Macduff what makes him grieve and what he believes in.Malcolm. What I believe I’ll wail,What know believe, and what I can redress,As I shall find the time to friend, I will.

What is blocking?

Read the passage from act 2, scene 3 of The Tragedy of Macbeth.Malcolm. [Aside to DONALBAIN.] Why do we hold our tongues, That most may claim this argument for ours:Donalbain. [Aside to MALCOLM.] What should be spokenHere where our fate, hid in an auger-hole,May rush and seize us? Let’s away: our tearsAre not yet brew’d.

Which sentence contains an example of meiosis?

Read the passage from act 2, scene 3 of The Tragedy of Macbeth.Macduff. Confusion now hath made his masterpiece!Most sacrilegious murder hath broke opeThe Lord’s anointed temple, and stole thenceThe life o’ the building!

What is irony?

Read the excerpt from act 1, scene 3, of The Tragedy of Macbeth. Angus. We are sentTo give thee from our royal master thanks;Only to herald thee into his sight,Not pay thee. Ross. And, for an earnest of a greater honour,He bade me, from him, call thee Thane of Cawdor:In which addition, hail, most worthy thane!For it is thine.Banquo. What! can the devil speak true? Macbeth. The Thane of Cawdor lives: why do you dress meIn borrow’d robes?

What is the definition of "allusion”?

Read the sentence.The drought-ridden ground gratefully drank in the rain.

What are props?

Excerpt 1: Read the excerpt from act 3, scene 1 of The Tragedy of Macbeth. Macbeth is thinking about killing Banquo. He remembers the witches’ prophecy that Banquo’s sons will be king after Macbeth. In this excerpt, "seed” means "descendants.”[Macbeth.] He chid the sistersWhen first they put the name of king upon me,And bade them speak to him; then, prophet-like,They hail’d him father to a line of kings.Upon my head they plac’d a fruitless crown,And put a barren sceptre in my gripe,Thence to be wrench’d with an unlineal hand,No son of mine succeeding. If ’t be so,For Banquo’s issue have I fil’d my mind;For them the gracious Duncan have I murder’d;Put rancours in the vessel of my peaceOnly for them; and mine eternal jewelGiven to the common enemy of man,To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings!Excerpt 2: Read the excerpt from act 3, scene 2 of The Tragedy of Macbeth. Macbeth is speaking with Lady Macbeth. He suggests that something terrible will happen to Banquo and to Banquo’s son, Fleance, tonight.Macbeth. Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck,Till thou applaud the deed. Come, seeling night,Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day, And with thy bloody and invisible handCancel and tear to pieces that great bondWhich keeps me pale! Light thickens, and the crowMakes wing to the rooky wood;Good things of day begin to droop and drowse,[While] night’s black agents to their preys do rouse.Thou marvell’st at my words: but hold thee still;Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill:So, prithee, go with me.