PREMIÈRE · UPPER SECONDARY · B1+ towards B2

Figures of speech

Toolbox

Figures of speech: metaphor, simile, personification, apostrophe, paradox, chiasmus, hyperbole, alliteration, repetition, rhetorical question, allusion

Identify the figure of speech

Name the main figure of speech in each line and explain its effect in one sentence.

  1. Fair is foul, and foul is fair (Act I, Scene 1)
  2. Stars, hide your fires (Act I, Scene 4)
  3. look like the innocent flower, / But be the serpent under't (Act I, Scene 5)
  4. Is this a dagger which I see before me (Act II, Scene 1)
  5. Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand? (Act II, Scene 2)
  6. Macbeth does murder sleep (Act II, Scene 2)
  7. O, full of scorpions is my mind (Act III, Scene 2)
  8. Double, double toil and trouble (Act IV, Scene 1)
  9. To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow (Act V, Scene 5)
  10. Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player (Act V, Scene 5)
Sentence starters
Answer key
  1. Paradox and chiasmus: opposites joined and reversed; the moral order is upside down.
  2. Apostrophe and personification: Macbeth speaks to the stars; he wants darkness to hide his desires.
  3. Simile and metaphor with a biblical echo: hide evil under innocence.
  4. Rhetorical question: doubt and hallucination.
  5. Hyperbole and mythological allusion: guilt too great to wash away.
  6. Personification: sleep becomes a victim; Macbeth will never rest.
  7. Metaphor: his thoughts are poisonous and painful.
  8. Repetition, rhyme and alliteration: the sound of a spell.
  9. Repetition: the slow, empty passing of time.
  10. Metaphor (life as theatre): life is unreal and meaningless.

Links reminder