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Macbeth Natural Order Quotes

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Macbeth Natural Order Quotes

Read the context and quote bank, then answer each question using precise evidence. When analysing, consider what seems unnatural, what it suggests about Macbeth’s actions, and how the audience might respond.

Context and quote bank

In Shakespeare’s time, many people believed that the universe had a God-given hierarchy, with the king near its top. This idea is often called the Great Chain of Being. Killing a rightful king could therefore be understood as an attack on both political and natural order. After Duncan is murdered, Macbeth takes the throne and reports of strange events spread through Scotland. The quotations below come from that aftermath.

Quotations

1. Old Man, Act 2, Scene 4: “’Tis unnatural, / Even like the deed that’s done. On Tuesday last / A falcon, tow’ring in her pride of place, / Was by a mousing owl hawk’d at and kill’d.” The Old Man describes a small owl killing a powerful falcon. 2. Ross, Act 2, Scene 4: “By th’ clock ’tis day, / And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp.” Ross observes that daylight has failed to appear as expected. 3. Ross, Act 2, Scene 4: “Duncan’s horses … turned wild in nature, broke their stalls, flung out, / Contending ’gainst obedience, as they would make / War with mankind.” Ross reports that Duncan’s horses have become uncontrollable. 4. Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 2: “Methought I heard a voice cry, ‘Sleep no more! / Macbeth does murder sleep.’” Macbeth describes hearing a voice after Duncan’s murder. Sleep is presented as a natural source of rest and renewal. 5. Donalbain, Act 2, Scene 3: “There’s daggers in men’s smiles.” Donalbain warns that friendly appearances may conceal danger.

Analyse the evidence

1.Which quotation most directly shows a creature lower in the natural hierarchy killing one regarded as powerful?

“There’s daggers in men’s smiles.”
“A falcon … / Was by a mousing owl hawk’d at and kill’d.”
“Macbeth does murder sleep.”
“Dark night strangles the travelling lamp.”

2.Match each quotation to the idea it most strongly conveys.

“Macbeth does murder sleep.”
“There’s daggers in men’s smiles.”
“Dark night strangles the travelling lamp.”

Nature behaving as though normal light has been overcome
Guilt and the loss of natural rest
Danger hidden beneath a friendly appearance

3.In the falcon quotation, what is the effect of describing the owl as “mousing” while it kills the falcon?

4.The Old Man calls the falcon and owl event “unnatural” and connects it to “the deed that’s done”.

TrueFalse

5.Complete Macbeth’s line: “Macbeth does murder .” Then explain briefly why this is an unsettling idea after Duncan’s murder.

6.Analyse the personification in Ross’s phrase “dark night strangles the travelling lamp”. What does the image suggest about the world after Duncan’s murder?

7.Compare the falcon and owl with Duncan’s horses. Identify one similarity in how these events represent disorder, and one difference in what each image emphasises.

8.In “There’s daggers in men’s smiles”, how does the contrast between “daggers” and “smiles” reinforce the play’s concern with appearance and reality?

9.Write a paragraph explaining how Shakespeare uses one natural-disorder quotation to suggest that Macbeth’s actions have consequences beyond his own mind. Include a quotation and analyse one word or image.

10.Which quotation is the strongest evidence that the play presents Duncan’s murder as a crime against natural order: the falcon and owl, the darkened day, or the wild horses? Choose one and justify your judgement by explaining what it symbolises.