Final Review: "Macbeth" Passage (1.7.1-26) by Britta Grayman

"If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well
It were done quickly. If th' assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch
With his surcease success, that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all--here,
But here upon this bank and shoal of time,
We'd jump the life to come. But in these cases
We still have judgment here, that we but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
To plague th' inventor. This evenhanded justice
Commends th' ingredience of our poisoned chalice
To our own lips. He's here in double trust:
First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,
Strop both against the deed; then, as his host,
Who should against his murderer shut the door,
Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan
Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been
So clear in his great office, that his virtues
Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued against
The deep damnation of his taking-off;
And pity, like a naked newborn babe
Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubin horsed
Upon the sightless couriers of the air,
Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye
That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself
And falls on th' other--"

The repetition of "done" signifies the need to complete this deed, yet all the consequences leave the killing of Duncan reveal the deed is not really done. "Success" refers to the motif of "succession." Macbeth imagines the consequences because he is a moral character; he puts opinions on just as he puts on borrowed clothing. This passage also articulates the relationship between act and desire. Macbeth struggles to define masculinity as Lady Macbeth attempts to deconstruct it, for she defines manhood as seizing power. This passage also illustrates the rhetoric device known as polyptoton, that is, the repetition of words that derive from the same root, ie.) "make" and "unmake."

Posted by: Britta Grayman (Discussion 1H)