Macbeth

The raven himself is Hoarse

ACT 1 Scene 5

EXEMPLAR WORK
December 10 2016
LA 4 Semester 1
The raven himself is hoarse
That croaks the fatal entrance of
Duncan
Under my battlements. Come, you
spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex
me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe
top-full
Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood;
Stop up the access and passage to
remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of
nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace
between
The effect and it! Come to my
woman's breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you
murdering ministers,
The raven is short of breath
As it croaks Duncan’s entrance
Enter spirits into my home
Feed off my thoughts and rid me of my
womanhood,
Fill me from head to toe of cruelty
And thicken my blood
Block my morals and any sense of
remorse,
Strengthen me so that I may accomplish
my purpose without delay
Take the milk from my breasts, you
murdering spirits,
Wherever in your sightless substances Wherever you hide
You wait on nature's mischief! Come, You wait on evil! And come during late
thick night, night,
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of And enter through the thick smokes of
hell, hell,
That my keen knife see not the wound The knife is unable to see its work in
it makes, the thick smoke
Nor heaven peep through the blanket Not even heaven can peep through the
of the dark, darkness
To cry 'Hold, hold!’ To cry stop
Great Glamis! worthy Cawdor! Great thane of Glamis! Great thane of
Greater than both, by the all-hail Cawdor!
hereafter Greater than both titles, once you’re
Thy letters have transported me beyond crowned
This ignorant present, and I feel now Your letters have brought me far
The future in the instant. Far from the present
That I now feel the future is already
here.
 Literary device:
• The literary device personification is used on lines 39-40 as Lady
Macbeth addresses the raven with human like qualities, “the
raven himself is hoarse that croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan.”
In addition to this ravens were often thought to be harbingers of
doom.
• Personification is used once again on line 51 as she states that her
“keen knife see not the wound it makes.” Giving it the human
quality of vision as well as thoughts and actions.
• Both uses of personification seem to be in relation to what Lady Macbeth
seems to be feeling and what she intends to do, coming down to her
wanting Duncan dead.
 SYMBOLISM
• I find the greatest symbol in this particular section is Lady
Macbeth’s femininity. On lines 40-41 she brings attention to her
breasts and its milk stating, “The effect and it! Come to my
woman's breasts, And take my milk for gall, you murdering
ministers.” Previously and further in the story she makes great
reference to man and womanhood. In her perspective a man is
more capable of murder than a women so by asking spirits to
“unsex” her and rid her of her womanhood she believes she will
achieve what makes a man more capable of murder.
• Her womanhood represented by her breasts and milk are a symbolism of
nurture. It is probably what stops her from engaging in acts of violence
and cruelty.
Analyze the Impact literary devices have within
your excerpt
• I think that literary devices greatly impact anything it’s in but I
believe it was especially vital in this excerpt because it really
revealed how ambition hungry Lady Macbeth was. Her views of
the raven, knife, and her femininity revealed the lengths she’d go
to gain power. I mean she practically begged spirits to “unsex” her
and rid her of her morals just so she’d be able to kill Duncan
without any problems. I think if no literary device was used in this
excerpt we wouldn’t know the character’s true intentions and
mindset, without it we might not have known or understood just
who really steers the wheel in Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s
relationship.