“We have scorched the snake not killed it.”
The word snake is a metaphor for Banquo and Fleance. A snake is usually portrayed as being sly and venomous. This means that Macbeth who is says this is making out that they are sly and venomous. This is reinforced by a sibilance “scorched the snake” which makes the line seem more controlling and powerful. We is a pronoun, this is careful manipulation by Macbeth. He is saying instead of himself killing Banquo he is elevating his wife to the same level. This line uses imagery in the scorching of the snake.
May 23, 2014 at 12:47 pm
Analyse:
A very detailed unpacking of meaning from just one quote! Well done for considering the words you feel are most important and the effect they have on our understanding.
To develop: Make your point about the character and then provide evidence, in which you then analyse. This will help your essay flow better and follow your argument.
Try to make sure all your ideas (of analysis) are linked together so that they are all adding to the same idea. i.e.g the imagery of the snake part at the end seems like it doesn’t have a purpose – what idea is it linking back to? Don’t just name devices, it is more important to look closely at the effect of the language, whether you know it is imagery of not (consider: what is imagery? Why do we use it, for what effect?)