Question

read the passage from act 3, scene 1 of the tragedy of macbeth. macbeth. upon my head they placd a fruitless crown, and put a barren sceptre in my gripe, thence to be wrenchd with an unlineal hand, no son of mine succeeding. if t be so, for banquos issue have i fild my mind; for them the gracious duncan have i murderd; put rancours in the vessel of my peace only for them; and mine eternal jewel given to the common enemy of man, to make them kings, the seed of banquo kings! the underlined text is an example of

• antithesis.
• asyndeton.
• irony.
• metonymy.

Explanation:

Metonymy is a figure of speech where a word is used to represent something related to it. In the underlined text "fruitless crown" and "barren sceptre", "crown" represents kingship (and the associated power, authority, and the line of succession) and "sceptre" also represents royal power/authority. The adjectives "fruitless" and "barren" imply that Macbeth's kingship will not produce a successor (his own line won't continue). Antithesis is a contrast, asyndeton is omission of conjunctions, and irony is a contrast between expectation and reality, which don't fit here as well as metonymy.

Answer:

The underlined text is an example of metonymy.