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"bend up"
Metaphor
Act 1,
Scene 7
Lines 80a-81

An explanation of Macbeth’s metaphor of a bow and arrow in Act 1, Scene 7 of myShakespeare’s Macbeth.

Lady Macbeth

Upon his death?

Macbeth

                           I am settled, and bend up
Each corporal agent to this terrible feat.

In these lines, Macbeth metaphorically compares himself to an archer. He’s going to “bend up each corporal agent,” or prepare every part of himself to commit the murder (“this terrible feat”), just as an archer bends the bow when preparing to shoot an arrow.