Read the passage from act 1, scene 4 of The Tragedy of Macbeth. Macbeth: [ Aside .] The Prince of Cumberland! that is a step On which I must fall down, or else o’er-leap, For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires! Let not light see my black and deep desires; The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see. Which character does the synecdoche in the underlined text refer to?
The phrase “The eye wink at the hand” uses body parts to represent a person: “the eye” and “the hand” stand for Macbeth himself. He wants his conscience to ignore the actions he is considering, even though he fears seeing the results afterward. The synecdoche therefore refers to Macbeth.
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