MACBETH

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MACBETH
William Shakespeare
Alex Pavlakis, Caryl Brunner, Joan Burger, Jaimee
Crossan, Ariana Incao, Emily Lemen
2
Setting

• Macbeth is set mainly around Scotland. The
  story starts off with the fighting near Duncans
  castle, and then shifts to Macbeths castle on
  Dunsinane Hill. Fife is where Macduff lives and
  where his family is killed. Macbeth meets the
  witches in a desert place. There is one scene in
  England as well when Macduff meets Malcolm. The
  time period is in the 11th century.

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Macbeth Plot Summary

• Play opens with the three witches scrounging the
  battlefield
• Kind Duncan receives news of the victories of
  Macbeth and Banquo against the armies of Ireland
  and Norway
• Macbeth and Banquo encounter the witches, who
  prophesize Macbeth will be made Thane of Cawdor
  and eventually King of Scotland
• The Witches also prophesize that Banquos sons
  will be kings, however he will never receive the
  title
• Macbeth and Banquo are skeptical but soon after
  Ross arrives bringing Macbeth news of the traitor
  thane of Cawdor, Macbeths new title
• At this point, Macbeth begins to wonder if he
  could ever become King and he writes to his wife
• Lady Macbeth wants her husband to obtain the
  throne and convinces him to commit regicide or
  the murder of a King
• Macbeth and Lady Macbeth devise a plan to kill
  King Duncan in his sleep which includes
• Lady Macbeth drugging the guards (they will think
  theyre responsible for the murder)
• Macbeth must stab Kind Duncan (also must overcome
  fear of regicide, guilt, and hallucinations)
• Lady Macbeth plants the bloody daggers with the
  unconscious guards

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Plot Summary Continued

• As King, Macbeth is not content for he is
  constantly fearful his power will come to an end
  
• Macbeth organizes the murder of his friend
  Banquo, and Banquos son Fleance
• Banquo is killed however Fleance escapes further
  preventing Macbeth from resting
• At the banquet, Macbeth envisions the blood
  bolstered ghost of Banquo, causing a dramatic
  scene and essentially making everyone question
  Macbeths sanity as King
• Macbeth visits the witches who show him four
  apparitions
• First, an armed head- warns Macbeth of Macduff
  (this Macbeth already knew)
• Second, a bloody child- No mortal will ever harm
  Macbeth
• Third, a child with a crown and tree- Macbeth
  will never be defeated until Birnam wood walk to
  Dunsinane Hill
• Fourth, 8 Kings all resembling Banquo and his
  bloody ghost (Macbeth becomes outraged at this
  sight)
• Macbeth is slightly relieved but he learns that
  Macduff has fled to England to join Malcolm
• Macbeth orders Macduffs castle seized and his
  family murdered
• Lady Macbeth grows sick with guilt and eventually
  commits suicide
• At this news Macbeth becomes very pessimistic yet
  continues to fight
• Eventually, the English forces arrive, disguised
  in the branches of Birnam wood, and Macduff, who
  was not born of woman, beheads Macbeth
• Malcolm becomes the new, and rightful, King of
  Scotland

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Main Character Descriptions

• Macbeth- Thane of Cawdor and Glamis, eventually
  King, easily tempted into murder to fulfill his
  vaulting ambition, violent, ambitious, lacks
  ruling skills.
• Lady Macbeth- strong and ruthless, ambitious, has
  a lust for power, conscious to the point she
  commits suicide, manipulative.
• Banquo- brave, noble, his children will inherit
  the throne (according to witchs prophecies),
  murdered by Macbeth
• Three Witches- prophecies prompt Macbeth to
  murder Duncan, comical, supernatural, could be
  independent agents toying with human lives or
  agents of fate
• King Duncan- King of Scotland, murdered by Macbeth

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Major Conflict

• Protagonist Macbeth
• Antagonist Macbeth
• The internal conflict with Macbeth was his
  vaulting ambition to become and remain king,
  which was his tragic flaw. His internal
  conflicts led to the external conflicts, which
  was war. Macduff and the witches were outside
  conflicting forces, resulting in the decisions
  that Macbeth had made. Lady Macbeth helped her
  husband realize his goal by pushing him into
  committing the murder of King Duncan.

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Conflict Resolution
After Macbeth gains power, he becomes paranoid
with the thought that somebody will attempt to
conquer the throne. In order to protect his
Kingship, Macbeth organizes the murders of
numerous people he views as threats. In doing so,
Macbeth wades further and further into a
murderous despotism that he cannot escape. In the
end, Macbeth is killed in battle by his enemy,
Macduff. Macbeth is beheaded, thus ending his
reign of tyranny. As a result, Malcolm is crowned
King and Scotland returns to normal.
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The Corrupting Power and Vaulting Ambition

• The main theme of Macbeth is the destruction that
  results when ambition goes unrestrained by moral
  restrictions. This is most evident in the plays
  two main characters. Macbeth is a courageous
  Scottish general who is not naturally inclined to
  commit evil deeds, yet he deeply desires power
  and advancement. He kills King Duncan against his
  better judgment and afterward is beside himself
  with guilt and paranoia. Toward the end of the
  play he descends into a kind of frantic, arrogant
  madness. Lady Macbeth pursues her goals with
  greater determination, yet she is less capable of
  enduring the repercussions of her immoral acts.
  She convinces her husband to kill King Duncan and
  urges him to be strong in the events following
  the regicide, but she is eventually driven to
  suicide by the effect of Macbeths repeated
  bloodshed on her conscience. In each case,
  ambition is what drives the couple to ever more
  terrible atrocities. The problem that the play
  suggests is that once one decides to use violence
  to further ones quest for power, it is difficult
  to stop. There are always potential threats to
  the throne, Banquo, Fleance, Macduffand it is
  always tempting to use violent means to dispose
  of them.

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The Absurdity Irony

• The witches chorus Act I, Scene I, line 10
  "Fair is foul, and foul is fair." This is a
  paradox. It is also a prophecy, where one thing
  seems like another, or about how things will
  change through the story like the characters. It
  is easier to grasp the meaning of this line as
  you progress through this book. This theme is a
  subtle theme, but with significant meaning. This
  theme is referenced many times throughout the
  play.The first thing that Macbeth says when he
  enters scene three (line 38) is, "So foul and
  fair a day I have not seen. When the witches
  said "Fair is foul, and foul is fair," during
  scene one, they were referring to the condition
  of the day when they meet Macbeth, though

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Characterization

• One of Shakespeare's greatest skills as a
  dramatic playwright was his ability to create a
  strong interest in major characters very quickly
  and to set those major characters in relation to
  the play's minor characters, events, and themes.
  Shakespeare's skill in characterization is
  distinctly shown through his presentation of
  both, the minor and major characters.
• Lady Macbeth is one of Shakespeares most famous
  and frightening female characters. When she is
  first introduced in the play she is already
  plotting the regicide of King Duncan. Lady
  Macbeth is stronger, more ruthless, and more
  ambitious than her husband. She seems fully aware
  of this and knows that she will have to convince
  Macbeth into committing regicide. At one point,
  she wishes that she were unsexed of all her
  womanly qualities (Act I, scene v, lines 3652),
  and that she were not a woman so that she could
  commit the murder herself. Shakespeare, however,
  seems to use her, and the witches, to emasculate
  Macbeths idea that undaunted mettle should
  compose / Nothing but males (Act 1. vii.7374).
  These women use female methods of achieving
  power, which is, manipulation to further their
  supposedly male ambitions. Women in the play
  can be as ambitious and cruel as men, yet social
  constrictions deny them the means to pursue these
  ambitions by themselves.

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Quotation 1

• Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
• Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
• To the last syllable of recorded time.
• And all of our yesterdays have lighted fools
• The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle.
• Lifes but a walking shadow, a poor player
• That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
• And then is heard no more. It is a tale
• Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
• Signifying nothing.
• Act V, Scene V

• In this quote, Macbeth has just found out about
  the death of his wife and the attackers
  approaching his house. This quote really shows
  the growth of Macbeth as a character and
  demonstrates how his life was ruined by his
  vaulting ambition. This quote can be summed up to
  meaning that life has no meaning at all and that
  everyone is insignificant in the big picture.
  This statement by Macbeth can be seen as a way to
  justify his horrible actions because since life
  itself is truly meaningless, he can not feel
  guilty about the awful things he has done.

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Quotation 2

• Out, damned spot out, I say. One, two why,
  then tis time to dot. Hell is murky. Fie, my
  lord, fie, a soldier and afeard? What need we
  fear who knows it when none can call our power to
  account? Yet who would have thought the old man
  to have had so much blood in him?
• Act V, Scene I

• In this quote, Lady Macbeth is sleep walking and
  is trying to rub off the imaginary blood that has
  stained her from the murdering of the King. This
  quote shows Lady Macbeths conscience about the
  murders even though she had called her husband a
  coward earlier in the work because of these same
  thoughts. For the first time in the play we see
  remorse from Lady Macbeth. This quote is
  significant because we see that Lady Macbeth has
  gone crazy just as Macbeth has because of the
  paranoia of being convicted. The reader learns a
  lot about Lady Macbeth through this scene and
  specifically the quote mentioned.

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DRAMATIC IRONY

• William Shakespeare uses irony in Macbeth to add
  to the ambiguous nature of the play, to keep the
  audience interested and to add to suspense and
  anticipation.
• Right before he enters Macbeths castle, where he
  is brutally murdered, King Duncan remarks on the
  good natured, welcoming feeling he gets as he
  approaches the castle.
• This castle hath a pleasant seat the air
  nimbly and sweetly recommends itself unto
  out gentle senses.
• Near the end of the play, as tensions rise,
  Macbeth bases all of his decisions on the
  apparitions of the witches, and clings to them as
  his only source of reason this is ironic as his
  trust in them is based only on faith the polar
  opposite of reason. At the very end of the play,
  the apparitions end up hurting him rather than
  helping him. Ironically, what he relied on to
  save him ended up contributing to his collapse.

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The presence of supernatural forces

• Macbeth provides for much of the plays dramatic
  tension and suspense. Several supernatural
  apparitions throughout the play profoundly affect
  Macbeth and the evil forces eventually claim
  Macbeth and destroy his morals. Macbeths
  ambition was driven by the prophecies of the
  three witches and he was willing to do anything
  to assure that they actually transpire. Macbeth
  is horrified at the notion of committing
  regicide, but he eventually succumbs to the evil
  forces and this leads to his downfall. Macbeth
  further compromises his honor by arranging the
  murder of his best friend, Banquo. Banquo places
  Macbeth in a precarious situation he is deeply
  entrenched in suspicion and there is no way out.
  Macbeths vision of Banquos ghost at a royal
  banquet only drives him closer to insanity.