directory
home contact

Macbeth Soliloquy Glossary: If it were done when 'tis done... (1.7.1-29)

trammel up (3)
If the assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch,
With his surcease, success;
trammel up] i.e., to entangle in a net from which nothing can break free.

surcease ] stop or conclude

To paraphrase: If the assassination could net up the consequence and catch success by Duncan's demise (his surcease).

However, Shakespeare often used his to mean its and so many editors argue his does not refer to Duncan, but to consequence. 1 Then we have: If the murder could prevent its own consequence, and catch success by the stop of that consequence. Here his = the consequence's. This reading seems unnecessarily convoluted.


Notes

1. Furness, Rolfe and Elwin believe his refers to consequence, Hudson believes his refers to the assassination and Chambers takes his to mean Duncan's.

Back to Soliloquy Annotations



How to cite this article:
Mabillard, Amanda. Macbeth Soliloquy Glossary. Shakespeare Online. 20 Aug. 2008. < http://shakespeare-online.com/plays/macbeth/soliloquies/trammel.html >.

References
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth. Ed. Edmund Kerchever Chambers. Boston: D. C. Heath, 1905.
Shakespeare, William. A new variorum edition of Shakespeare: Macbeth revised edition. Ed. Horace Howard Furness. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1915.
Shakespeare, William. Shakespeare's Tragedy of Macbeth. Ed. Henry Norman Hudson. Boston. Ginn, 1899.
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth Ed. William James Rolfe. New York: American Book Company, 1898.



______________

Even More

 Explanatory Notes for Lady Macbeth's Soliloquy (1.5)
 The Psychoanalysis of Lady Macbeth (Sleepwalking Scene)
 Is Lady Macbeth's Swoon Real?

 Explanatory Notes for the Witches' Chants (4.1)
 Macbeth Plot Summary (Acts 1 and 2)
 Macbeth Plot Summary (Acts 3, 4 and 5)
 How to Stage a Production of Macbeth (Scene Suggestions)

 Soliloquy Analysis: If it were done when 'tis done (1.7.1-29)
 Soliloquy Analysis: Is this a dagger (2.1.33-61)
 Soliloquy Analysis: To be thus is nothing (3.1.47-71)
 Soliloquy Analysis: She should have died hereafter (5.5.17-28)

 A Comparison of Macbeth and Hamlet
 The Effect of Lady Macbeth's Death on Macbeth
 The Curse of Macbeth
 On the Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth

 Macbeth Q & A
 Essay Topics on Macbeth
 Aesthetic Examination Questions on Macbeth
 What is Tragic Irony?

 Stages of Plot Development in Macbeth
 Time Analysis of the Action in Macbeth
 Macbeth Study Quiz (with detailed answers)
 Quotations from Macbeth (Full)
 Top 10 Quotations from Macbeth

 Shakespeare's Workmanship: Crafting a Sympathetic Macbeth
 Origin of the Weird Sisters
 Temptation, Sin, Retribution: Lecture Notes on Macbeth
 Alchemy and Astrology in Shakespeare's Day

 Characteristics of Elizabethan Tragedy
 Why Shakespeare is so Important
 Shakespeare's Language
 Shakespeare's Influence on Other Writers

 Daily Life in Shakespeare's London
 Life in Stratford (structures and guilds)
 Life in Stratford (trades, laws, furniture, hygiene)
 Stratford School Days: What Did Shakespeare Read?

 Games in Shakespeare's England [A-L]
 Games in Shakespeare's England [M-Z]
 An Elizabethan Christmas
 Clothing in Elizabethan England

 Queen Elizabeth: Shakespeare's Patron
 King James I of England: Shakespeare's Patron
 The Earl of Southampton: Shakespeare's Patron
 Going to a Play in Elizabethan London

 Ben Jonson and the Decline of the Drama
 Publishing in Elizabethan England
 Shakespeare's Audience
 Religion in Shakespeare's England

 Entertainment in Elizabethan England
 London's First Public Playhouse
 Shakespeare Hits the Big Time

Playbill for the Coburn Players production of Macbeth


More to Explore

 Macbeth: The Complete Play with Annotations and Commentary
 The Metre of Macbeth: Blank Verse and Rhymed Lines
 Macbeth Character Introduction
 Metaphors in Macbeth (Biblical)
 Figures of Speech in Macbeth

 The Three Apparitions in Macbeth
 Supernatural Solicitings in Shakespeare
 Shakespeare on Omens

 Macbeth, Duncan and Shakespeare's Changes
 Contemporary References to King James I in Macbeth
 The Royal Patent that Changed Shakespeare's Life

_____


On the Theme of Macbeth ... "With unmistakable clearness [Shakespeare] shows that the real punishment of the criminal is not that which is meted out to him by the hand of man. This may be painful, humiliating, terrible, but it is soon over. His true punishment is that which is worked by his own hand into his own life and character for all eternity; a degradation and perversion of nature which he can never struggle against successfully. A man who yields to temptation and commits a crime may conceal it from all human knowledge; but he has planted the seeds of a retribution in his own breast from which he cannot escape." Charles W. French. Read on...

_____