Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Language Games
Identify a significant word (not "thou," "the" or prepositions, etc.) that occurs AT LEAST three times in the play as we did today in class. Please cite the line in which the word appears and then offer both an explanation of the meaning/connotation of the word and your reason for why the word appears so often and what this means for the play. You can use the words you looked up today, BUT MAKE SURE YOU USE EXAMPLES OF THE WORD THAT YOUR GROUP DID NOT CITE PUBLICLY TODAY IN CLASS. In other words, you can use your notes, but just use examples that you didn't share with the rest of the class.
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The way in which the word “night” is used in Macbeth makes it sound like a time of uncertainty and fear. Things in the night are covered up and mysterious. Night is a time meant for rest, but for some of the characters, such as Macbeth, it is also a time to carry out the horrid deeds that must not be seen by the light of day. Night is a time when the innocent are unaware and unconscious, but sinister planning or actions occur as well. The word “night” appears in several different ways throughout Act II. “Night” first occurs when Banquo says, “How goes the night, boy?” to Fleance (p. 49 line: 1). In this line, Banquo seems to be checking in with his son to make sure all is going well. Banquo is feeling uneasy because he’s thinking about the witches’ prophesy, which makes him worry for his son. The overall unease Banquo feels about his current situation comes out towards his son in a simple question making sure he’s doing well. “Night” comes up, yet again, when Macduff says, “I believe drink gave thee the lie last night” (p. 63 line: 39). This reference to night suggests that night is when lies are found. This suggests that truths are concealed in the night. Darkness in the night hides things from public view. Literal darkness is compared to the concealment of the truth when one is lying. In this line “night” is associated with the unknown, which is a common meaning throughout this scene. Later, Lennox says, “The night has been unruly” (p. 65 line: 61). This line suggests that night is a time of chaos. This idea contrasts with the idea of sleep occurring in the night, which is generally thought of as a peaceful time. Lack of sleep has been mentioned in the past, which has been causing much of the chaos. For the characters in Macbeth, night is a time to be wary and alert to possible danger.
ReplyDeleteThe word "sleep" appears often in the play. Sleep, as it often is associated with death, has interesting connotations in this play. In Act 3, scene 2, line 20, Macbeth says, "Ere we will eat our meal in fear, and sleep in the affliction of these terrible dreams that shake us nightly." In this line, Macbeth seems afraid of sleep as it plagues his dreams nightly. Sleep for him represents a world beyond his control in which the truth is shown blatantly as he can not hide anything in his state of vulnerability. He dreads sleep because it is a time when he can not consciously distance himself from his actions; he has to face that his morality has taken a backseat to make way for his "ambitions" or his need to appear manly. Lady Macbeth, In Act 2, scene 2, line 64, says " Go, carry them [the daggers] and smear the sleepy grooms with blood." This line seems to foreshadow the death of the "grooms" by calling them sleepy. Sleepy here is closely related with death and by smearing them with blood, Macbeth would be literally condemning them to death as they would be most likely tried and killed for the "murder" of the king. In Act 2, scene 3, line 29, a porter, after being asked by Macduff what drinking provokes, says, "Marry, sir, nose-painting, sleep, and urine." To relate sleep to drinking is saying that sleep is tempting and a time in which you, or your mind, may act recklessly out of your control. This also means that you wouldn't remember what happened when you wake up. Sleep seems to be one of the great mysteries of life and the fact that this play puts and emphasis on it displays the blurred line between the real and unreal.
ReplyDeleteThe word "blood" is mentioned often in the play, and is used in a way that involves or symbolizes guilt at least three times in act 2. Lady Macbeth uses blood to incriminate the guards. In Act 2, scene 2, line 71, she states, "If he [Duncan] do bleed, I'll guild the faces of the grooms withal, for it must seem their guilt". This reasoning is reinforced when in Act 2, scene 3, line 119, it is almost immediately assumed the guards killed Duncan, and Lenox states, "Those of his chamber, it seems, have done 't. Their hands and faces were all badged with blood". It is interesting that all the characters tie blood and guilt together so strongly, including Macbeth, though Macbeth is not using blood as a tool to convince people of others guilt, but as a metaphor for his own guilt. In Act 2, scene 2, line 78, he says, "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine". Obviously, the blood will wash off, but Macbeth is turning the idea of a physical thing, blood, into something not palpable, guilt. The guilt will never leave Macbeth. Since Macbeth has made a connection between blood and guilt, perhaps seeing blood or things resembling blood will haunt him for the rest of the book. He's already going quite insane, and I think the connections he has made between his feelings and palpable objects is going to play a roll in the story.
ReplyDeleteThe word "Hand" is used in a lot of the scenes in the play, I never noticed how much it is used until i actually started looking for the word in the text. "Like valor's minion, carved out his passage Till he faced the slave; Which ne'er shook his hands nor bade farewell to him..." (Pg 9, L 21) In this instance, Macbeth's hand represents truce or peace, or giving up. "A drum, a drum! Macbeth doth come. The weird sisters hand in hand..." (Pg 15, L 33) This is a sign of connection between the witches, and its part of their mysterious physique. "One cried "God bless us" and "Amen" the other, As they had seen me with those hangman's hands..." (Pg 57, L 37.) We already talked about this one in class, but I think this was the best I could find that we haven't talked about. This one macbeth is saying that the people saw him red handed, with those killers hands. In Macbeth, when they talk about hands, it is usually referred to as dangerous or muder or alliance.
ReplyDeleteThe play Macbeth frequently uses the word, “hand(s).” As noted in act 2. Scene 1, lines 44 and 45 “Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand? Macbeth seems both anxious, but vigilant simultaneously, which seems like an oxymoron, however it must be remembered that he is just about to kill Duncan in the next scene. It indicates this fact and means as well he has strength with the knife in his hands. Act 2. Scene 2, lines 79 and 80 “No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red.” Macbeth seems to realize that the murder has a domino effect on a large amount of people. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s selfish hunger for power is similar to watching a drop of red food coloring, quickly turn a glass of water pink. Act 2. Scene 3, lines 119 and 120 “Those of his chamber, as it seemed, had done’t. Their hands and faces were all badged with blood.” I found these particular lines fascinating, because Macbeth is putting the blame on some innocent chamberlains, to erase suspicion from others and his own guilt. If you solely think of the word badged for a moment, it comes to mind that Macbeth was well renowned on the battlefield and as Thane of Glamis meaning he was well decorated with metaphorical badges of honor.Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are making more enemies and loosing comrades with each scene, a helpful hand pulling them back into sanity would be ideal right now.
ReplyDeleteThe word blood is not the most common word in Macbeth, but it appears a lot. It often
ReplyDeletehas a negative connotation and can represent more than just literal blood in the story
(although there is a lot of literal blood too). In 2.2, line 78 says, "Will all great Neptune's
ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?" In this line, we thought the blood
represented guilt, and Macbeth is saying that even an ocean cannot rid him of guilt over
what he did. Also, the blood is evidence that he committed the murder, and he wants to
wash away the evidence so no one will find out. Lastly, it could be the memory of the
event that he wants to wash away. Another line with blood is in 2.3, line 131, which says
"Here lay Duncan, his silver skin laced with his golden blood." I though that the golden
blood represented Duncan's goodness and purity. It could also be that he is royal, and
that's why his blood is golden. Lastly, in 2.3, line 150 says, "let us meet and question
this most bloody piece of work." The bloody piece of work could be referring to Duncan's
body. It could also more generally just be the crime or the scene of the crime.
The word "blood" is used in Macbeth to refer many times to acts committed by people such as Banquo and Macbeth in times of war, or to describe the murderous acts upon people such as Duncan and the guards. Although blood almost always refers to something dark and ominous in Macbeth, the types of emotion it evokes are different depending on how the word is used. For example, in Act 2, Sc. 3 Ln.120, Lennox convays a sense of betrayal from the acts he believes were committed by the guards, when in reality, we know they were committed by Macbeth. He says "Their hands and faces were all badged with blood so were their daggers, which unwiped we found upon their pillows. The use of a description of blood as a badge also implies that through murder, the guards had lost the badge of honor. Later on in Act2, Sc.4 Ln.7-8, Ross uses blood as a representation of a lost world the old man pictures. He states "Thou seest the heavens, as troubled with man's act, Threatens his bloody stage." To Lennox, the old man believes that the heavens are threatening earth with because of how people have abused it. Because of this, the two characters convey a sense of the foreboding times that have slipped up the kingdom because of the death of Duncan. Finally, in Act2, Sc.2 Ln78, Macbeth describes his wishes to be washed away of both the guilt and the pain that was brought about from the murders he has committed. He states, "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?" The feelings of guilt he has for the murder also show that he is searching for a way to feel better, yet still does not feel the joy of accomplishment.
ReplyDeleteShakespeare uses the word “sleep” many times. It usually is used around eeriness or death, but can also be used for joy or innocence. In Act 2 Scene 1 Lines 62 through 63 there was a certain darkness or eeriness to the feeling of the story. It said “Now o’er the one-half world nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse the curtained sleep.” I thought this was almost nightmarish, it seemed to me that it could mean hidden sleep or the ability to not control your thoughts in your sleep. It seemed in a way dark, eerie, and haunting. In Act 2 Scene 2 Line 48 “the innocent sleep, sleep that knits up the raveled sleave of care”. I took the first sleep to mean peaceful, sad, or innocent. It seemed like Shakespeare was trying to show the reader the feeling Macbeth had of doing something that was not needed. I felt like Macbeth was going on a ramble to his wife about how the guards were so innocent, they were so scared when he was killing Duncan. I thought that the second sleep was somewhat relieving, or worry-free. I thought that it could mean that sleep is part of life and when you disrupt sleep, you are disrupting life. I thought that having sleep appear so many times in the play could mean that Macbeth as well as the other characters disrupt sleep many times in the play. Like we talked about in class, sleep could resemble life or death. By saying that Macbeth was “killing sleep” we could mean that Macbeth was killing life or ensuring that people do not wake up from the dark/evil world around them.
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ReplyDeleteI apologize for my previous deleted comment.
ReplyDeleteThe word "sleep" is one of significant importance in Shakespeare's "Macbeth." In act 2, the word first appears in scene 1, line 9: "A heavy summons lies like lead upon me, And yet I would not sleep." In this scene, Banquo is describing his fear toward the prophecies of the witches that have appeared in his dreams. Sleep reflects a sense of nervousness or non-focus on the part of Banquo. Sleep is again mentioned later in the scene in line 63: "Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse The curtained sleep." Macbeth is contemplating the murder and expressing his fear toward the idea of murder. Therefore, sleep represents dark, evil, a feeling of nightmarishness, and haunting. Also, later in the act, sleep is mentioned in scene 2, line 69. Lady Macbeth is taking over the idea of the murder from Macbeth and is somewhat reassuring him: "The sleeping and the dead Are but as pictures." In this case, sleep reflects the idea of reassurance or calming.
Sleep is obviously a theme that occurs throughout the play, beginning even in act 1 with the witches' description of the sailor. As we discussed today, sleep can represent multiple meanings. One key idea that sleep reflects in the play is the conflict between life and death. Sleep can suggest life through the idea of rejuvenation or refreshment but can also suggest death (think "eternal sleep"). We also discussed the idea that when someone goes to sleep, they may never wake up, an experience that, quite unfortunately, one character has had to experience so far in the play. Therefore, sleep serves as a metaphor for the ultimate conflict between life and death.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete(I can't believe i just deleted my comment...here goes round 2)
ReplyDeleteThe word night is used repeatedly throughout the play. In Act 2 Scene 1, Banquo asks, "How goes the night, boy?" In this reference to night Banquo is using night as a time where things may happen. It used to start a conversation as a common connotation. In Act 2 Scene, Lennox says, "The night has been unruly." Night has a negative connotation. It has an eerie, unknown and murder filled connotation. The context it's used in makes the connotation of "night" seem dark and unpredictable. In Act 2 Scene 4, the Old Man says, "Threescore and ten I can remember well, within the volume of which time I have seen hours dreadful and things strange, but this sore night hath trifled former knowings." The night has a connotation of chaos and traumatic death. The old man is saying that out of all the nights he has been around to see, this is the worst. In the text, especially in Act 2, night eludes to being another world from day.
I think night appears so often in the text because night often carries a negative connotation of darkness and mischief. In the play, all chaos happens and night, and that is the dedicated slot to all the murders taking place. As the play goes on, the chaos from night starts spilling into the daytime hours and chaos is happening 24/7. The blurring of days and nights also carries into the theme of lost sleep and Macbeth not being able to sleep.
The word blood, or anything relating to blood, appears a various number of times in "The Tragedy of Macbeth." In general, when one thinks of blood, he thinks of violence, especially when Shakespeare names his play, "The Tragedy of Macbeth," but in this play, the word 'blood' has a variety of meanings. In Act 1.2, line 1, Duncan asks, "what bloody man is that?" Right after Duncan speaks, Malcolm responds with, "This is the sergeant who, like a good and hardly soldier, fought against my captivity." I believe that in this line, the word 'bloody' literally meant that the captain was cut up and full of wounds. I also think that the blood makes him look brave and loyal in some way. Later on in Act 1.5, line 50, Lady Macbeth says, "make thick my blood." In this line, Lady Macbeth basically does not want to feel any remorse at all for the murder of Duncan. She acts brave and wants to not feel any regret or anything. In Act 1.7, line 85, Macbeth asks, "will it not be received, when we have marked with blood those sleepy two of his own chamber and used their very daggers, that they have done 't." In this line, the word 'blood' serves as a symbol of death and/or murder.
ReplyDeleteThe word 'blood' has a very significant role in Shakespeare's play, Macbeth. I think that Macbeth purposely used the word in a variety of forms because he wanted to be creative. It would sound extremely repetitive if he always used the actual words that he meant. I believe it appears so often not only to symbolize violence and murder, but also to represent life and death.
Act 2 Scene 1 Lines 44-45 "is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand?" I believe that the connotation for hand is referring to what his hand will do in the future. This means that he will murder more people in the future. It could also refer to his actions, showing that his actions will require him to go and take the dagger himself because he is not already touching it.
ReplyDeleteAct 2 Scene 2 Line 77 "What hands are here!" In this instance, Macbeth is referring to his actions. He may be looking at his bloody hands, but he means that he is shocked at his actions that have occurred.
Act 2 Scene 3 Line 120 "Their hands and faces were all badged with blood." In this, I believe the connotation of the word hand is related the connotation of the world blood in the way that both involve guilt. The little definition on the side says that badged means marked or stained, like badges, I take this to mean that the blood is a badge of guilt. They killed someone and the blood got on them and marks them as guilty, though they aren't really guilty. Hands refers once again to their actions that are badged with blood and guilt.
Along with murder, betrayal, and power, a very strong, and yet perhaps more subtle, theme in Macbeth, is night. Night, and night time activities, such as whispering, plotting, murdering your king, and more predominantly, sleep. It is through sleep that Shakespeare is able to enrich the plot and characters from his famous play, both through obvious actions, and the more subtle, but perhaps more menacing, details. Ever since Act 1, when the witches prophecized to Banquo "Lesser than Macbeth and greater. Not so happy, yet much happier," it has been apparent that Shakespeare was very fond of paradox, and what better paradox to use than the familiar and yet totally foreign act of sleep? The most obvious paradoxical aspect of sleep presents itself in Act 2 Scene 2, line 30. Macbeth is in the room of the two men he plans to frame for murder. Both are asleep in their beds, Macbeth recounts to Lady Macbeth, and "one did laugh in 's sleep, and one cried 'Murder!'" Although it is not clear whether or not this truly happened, this perfectly exemplifies the way in with sleep is both viewed as an enjoyable and therapeutic act, as well as a foreboding and potentially dangerous one.
ReplyDeleteBlood is used a lot in Macbeth. I think it is used so much because it has many different connotations. One of these connotations is expressed on line 120 in act 2 scenes 3. In this scene blood is used as a way to say who is guilty by saying who has the blood on them. Also in act 2 scene 2 lines 64 blood is used differently. In this line Macbeth uses blood as a framing tool. What is interesting in these lines however is even though Macbeth successfully frames the guards; there is still the blood on him. If blood represents the guilt Macbeth has then in this scene there is another representation, which is how Macbeth carries a huge guilt. One more representation occurred in the same scene on line 78. In this line he says Neptune’s oceans couldn’t clean his hands. This is another part where blood is representing the huge burden that Macbeth feels and in this part he even says all of the water in the world could clean his guilt away.
ReplyDeleteWhen trying to decide which word to use for this blog post, I looked at the list we received today. The word 'time' jumped out at me immediately. I find the subject of time to be very interesting, and I think that the word itself can have many different meanings. Such as it can be used as a form of currency or something to barter with. In 2:1, when Macbeth is telling Banquo he no longer remembers the witches, he says, "We would spend it in some words upon that business, if you would grant us the time." Here he is asking for Banquo's time as if it were money. I know this is a common use for the word time, but I think Macbeth is using it for a darker purpose. He is using flattering words, such as that the word time makes it seem that he thinks Banquo is important, to trick Banquo into thinking he won't murder Duncan. In 1:5, Lady Macbeth says, "To beguile the time, look like the time". This quote also has to do with trickery, but in a different way. The word time in this sentence is saying that she wants him to act like he is grateful to Duncan for naming him Thane of Cawdor. He must act like he should because of the current events. Then in 1:7, Macbeth says, "But here, upon this bank and shoal of time, we'ld jump the life to come." In this case, Macbeth is saying that he would murder Duncan, if he lived in a different time. The time is a bad thing, (in Macbeth's case, anyways), because the time that Macbeth lives in makes it so it would be hard to kill the king without getting caught. This also gives time a negative connotation, which I find interesting because time has really only been used negatively throughout the whole story.
ReplyDeleteThe times of days are key in the tragedy of Macbeth. Night is especially important because it is mentioned many times throughout the play. On (2-1-25) Banquo dreams of the weird sisters at night. This means that night is sort of vulnerability to ideas as well as anxiety from them. Also on (2-3-39) Macduff describes the Porter's drinking the previous night. In this night is a sort of weakness and succeptibility to things. Also it could be a connotation for loss of control of your mind and a weak mind. Lastly on (2-3-61) Lennox describes to Macbeth how the night has been unruly. I interpreted this as being uncertain of what may happen. Also it could mean that the night everything is a separate world not attatched to the Earth. Night along with blood and sleep are some of the repeating themes in this book.
ReplyDeleteIn Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the word “night” is often repeated throughout different scenes. While paying a little more attention to detail in class today, it is clear that each way “night” is used and what it means is slightly different each time. In Act 2, Scene 4, the old man says: “Threescore and ten I can remember well, within the volume of which time I have seen hours dreadful and things strange but this sore night hate trifled former knowledge.” In this line, night have a feeling of fear, creepiness, and the supernatural (things strange.) When he says, “but this sore night hath trifled former knowledge,” there is a strong connotation with unruliness and tumult during the night.
ReplyDeleteIn Act 2, Scene 1 when Banquo says to Fleance: “How goes the night boy?” The meaning is that the night is creepy, uncertain, and might even be foreshadowing.
Overall, I think that night represents uncertainty, weakness, and fear. These overall meanings are why the word is scattered throughout, because there is an a feeling of all of the meanings above throughout the play, and especially scary and destructive things have happened at night
Macbeth is himself not much of a character except for his guilt, but guilt manifests in another way as well. "And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood" he says, while describing the visions he is receiving due to what he is going to do. It is after he has actually done the deed that this guilt manifests into real blood on real daggers. Blood is practically synonymous with guilt, used as a prop when it comes to feeling guilt, sharing guilt, or even transferring it like when he literally puts the guilt on the guards by framing them with Duncan's blood. The expressions "their blood is on your hands" literally means "it's your fault, the guilt is your burden to bear", so Macbeth is not the only work to use the word in such a way, but perhaps one of the most famous. However, the tangibility of blood makes it a little easier to get rid of or move than actual guilt, unless you're Lady Macbeth in which case "A little water clears us of this deed."
ReplyDelete"If he do bleed,I’ll gild the faces of the grooms withal,
ReplyDeleteFor it must seem their guilt."
In this instance blood is being used as something that is proof of someone being guilty.
Macbeth is saying he will make it seem like the grooms killed Duncan by smearing blood on them.
"And question this most bloody piece if work"
Right here bloody is used to describe the scene at which Macbeth's murder took place.
The fact that it says most bloody shows that Macbeth carried a violent passion when he killed Duncan and that it was a very messy scene.
"It is the bloody business which informs thus to mine eyes."
The bloody business is referring to Duncan's murder. It is called the bloody business because the whole purpose is for Duncan's blood to spill. Blood is usually messy which could represent planning Duncan's murder is very tumultuous.
The word appears so often so the reader doesn't think of the murder of Duncan as a painless and cut and dry process. Like the permeating liquid, Duncan's spilled blood will permeate through different areas of different people's lives. For the play blood made synonymous with guilt, Duncan's blood, and kinship.
Blood is typically associated with murder and plotting, which is evident in Act 2 of Macbeth. In Scene 1 line 60, Macbeth describes how he wants to murder Duncan, and how sinister and evil the act would be. He says, "It is the bloody business which informs thus to mine eyes," (Shakespeare 53). In an almost twisted manor, Macbeth is thinking about assassinating King Duncan for power. The darkness of Macbeth's plot unfolds as he describes it in his soliloquies. However, blood can be associated with sadness and vengeance in line 115 of Scene 3. When Macbeth tells Duncan's sons that their father was murdered, their first question is, "By whom?" Macbeth delivers the news in a melancholy and sincere fashion, which makes the particular conversation describe blood as sadness and plots for revenge. In the same scene, line 165, Donalbain explains how he wants to find Duncan's mysterious murderer: "Where we are, there's daggers in men's smiles. The near in blood, the nearer bloody," (Shakespeare 73). Although rather confusing, I interpreted the line to mean Donalbain could easily find the murderer. If a dagger (the murder weapon) is as easy to identify as a man's smile, finding the assassin should be easy for the two sons. He describes it in an evil and plotting tone, which suggests he wants to avenge his father's death.
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