Excerpt 1: Read the excerpt from act 5, scene 2 of The Tragedy of Macbeth. The Scottish nobles leading the army against Macbeth discuss Macbeth’s mental state and the fortification of Macbeth’s castle.
Menteith. What does the tyrant?
Caithness. Great Dunsinane he strongly fortifies:
Some say he’s mad; others that lesser hate him
Do call it valiant fury; but, for certain,
He cannot buckle his distemper’d cause
Within the belt of rule.
Angus. Now does he feel
His secret murders sticking on his hands;
Now minutely revolts upbraid his faith-breach;
Those he commands move only in command,
Nothing in love: now does he feel his title
Hang loose about him, like a giant’s robe
Upon a dwarfish thief.
Excerpt 2: Read the excerpt from act 5, scene 7 of The Tragedy of Macbeth. Macduff is on the battlefield, looking for Macbeth.
Macduff. That way the noise is. Tyrant, show thy face!
If thou be’st slain and with no stroke of mine,
My wife and children’s ghosts will haunt me still.
I cannot strike at wretched kerns, whose arms
Are hired to bear their staves: either thou, Macbeth,
Or else my sword with an unbatter’d edge
I sheathe again undeeded. There thou shouldst be;
By this great clatter, one of greatest note
Seems bruited. Let me find him, fortune!
And more I beg not.
How does Shakespeare most develop the universal themes "the abuse of power” and "the inescapability of justice” in these excerpts?
A. through the allusions to Macbeth’s crimes
B. through the bravery of Macbeth’s enemies
C. through the contrasts of Macbeth to other men
D. through the connection of Macbeth to the supernatural