Macbeth Introduction

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Macbeth Introduction

• Written by William Shakespeare in 1605
• Macbeth is a man who overthrows the rightful King
  of Scotland
• Shakespeare wrote Macbeth at the beginning of
  King James I reign
• Before James succeeded Elizabeth I he was king of
  Scotland
• Placing the play in James homeland probably
  pleased him

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Will the real Macbeth please stand up?

• Macbeth was a real king of Scotland
• He did kill King Duncan
• Reigned from 1040-1057
• Unlike the Macbeth in Shakespeares play
• The real Macbeth had a legitimate claim to the
  throne
• The real Macbeth was a strong leader
• The real Macbeths reign was successful
• The real Macbeth was killed at Lumphanan as
  opposed to Dunsinane

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Connections for British Society

• Remember, remember the fifth of November
  Gunpowder, treason and plot.I see no reason why
  gunpowder, treasonShould ever be forgot...
• In November 1605 the Gunpowder Plot was
  discovered
• Guy Fawkes and his followers (Roman Catholics)
  planned to blow up Parliament
• They wanted to bring down the British government
  and put a Catholic rulers on the throne
• The plot was discovered and the men involved were
  tried and killed as traitors
• Shakespeare sided with the king and seemed to
  think that a play about treason and death would
  find an audience at this time

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So this is a comedy right?

• Macbeth is one of Shakespeares most famous
  tragedies (it is also his shortest)
• Aside from the violent nature of the plot
  Shakespeare uses several literary devices to
  enhance the feeling of evil
• He creates a serious and sinister mood by having
  most of the play take place at night
• There is a heavy emphasis on the supernatural
  (witches, dreams, spells, and ghosts)

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A little taste of Macbeth
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Macbeth Act 1 - Scene 1

• Witches - Supernatural influences
• Fair being Foul - Paradox
• King Duncan - Scotland
• Duncans sons- Malcolm and Donaldbain
• Generals - Macbeth and Banquo
• Thunder , lightning , and rain - sense of doom

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Macbeth Act 1 - Scene 2

• Macdonaldwalds rebellion
• Ross tells Duncan of Norways rebellion - King of
  Norway - Sweno
• Thane of Cawdor rebels against Duncan
• Scotland wins - Macbeth gets title - Thane of
  Cawdor - THE SPOILS OF WAR
• Macbeth and Banquo - Two spent swimmers

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Macbeth Act 1 Scene 3

• The witches first prophesy has come true - Thane
  of Cawdor
• Macbeth - So foul and fair a day , I have not
  seen - recalls witches first scene
• Banquo - The instrument of darkness tell us
  truths - only to betray us

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Macbeth Act 1 Scene 4

• Execution of Cawdor
• You cant tell what is in a persons heart by
  looking at his face
• Nothing in his life became him like the leaving
  of it
• Duncan- Malcolm to be King
• Macbeth- Let not light see my black and deep
  desires

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Macbeth Act 1 Scene 5

• Macbeths home - Castle of Inverness
• Lady Macbeth comes up with plan to kill Duncan -
  Husband weak
• The milk of human kindness
• Lady Macbeth - Must pour spirits in their ear.
  (Hamlet killed that way)

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Macbeth Act 1 Scene 6

• Lady Macbeth - chameleon - perfect hostess
• Duncans speech full of dramatic irony - castle
  pleasant - air is sweeter sees a martlet (a
  summer bird)
• to Duncan the castle appears to be a paradise

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Macbeth Act 1 Scene 7

• LadyMacbeth - convinces Macbeth to do the horrid
  deed
• Macbeths Soliloquy - marked by confusionDuncan
  - Kinsman and his subject , a good King and
  virtuous man , a popular King , and death would
  bring sorrow to Scotland
• Lady Macbeth Argument- What could have been when
  he can be King - Would kill her own baby to do
  this

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Macbeth Act 2 Scene 1

• Past midnight - Moon has set and the Candles of
  heaven cannot be seen - dark brooding
• Banquo draws sword - irony doesnt know Macbeth
  is going to kill Duncan
• Dagger Speech - Mental disturbance
• Is this a dagger which I see before me,The
  handle toward my hand? Macbeth, 2.1.423

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Macbeth Act 2 Scene 2

• Lady Macbeth - That which have made them drunk,
  hath made me bold, What hath quenched them have
  given me fire
• Drunk with boldness and on fire with passion
• Lady Macbeth -would have murdered Duncan had he
  not looked like her father
• Macbeth has two concerns - he has murdered sleep
  , bloodiness of deed
• Lady Macbeth - blood is only like paint wash it
  off

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Scene 2

• Knocking - knocking of their consciences actual
  knock
• With all great Neptunes ocean wash this blood
  Clean from my hand?Macbeth, 2.2.789

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Macbeth Act 2 Scene 3

• Porter - light comedy
• farmer and equivocator have specific religious
  and historical connotations
• A few months before Macbeth performed - Gunpowder
  plot - King James Guy Fawkes and John Garnett
  (nickname the farmer)
• Lennox - extraordinary weather -unnatural events
  - The universe and events related

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Scene 3

• Equivocation - The practice of lying in court
  about ones religion
• Lady Macbeth faints when Macbeth proclaims he has
  killed the guards - avenge the act of treasonous
  malice - not in the plan
• Malcolm - England
• Donalbain - Ireland

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Scene 3

• Macbeth says he has killed servants - Lady
  Macbeth faints
• Macbeth and other Thanes swear to meet in manly
  rediness to avenge this act of treasonous
  malice
• Theres daggers in mens smiles
• Donaldbain - Ireland
• Malcolm - England

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Macbeth Act 2 Scene 4

• Macbeth has become King
• Donaldbain and Malcolm have fled
• Old Man - Traditional figure in lit represents
  what has been
• owl kills falcon - daylight has been replaced by
  night - horses of the Kings stable have eaten
  each other
• The world he has known has been turned on its head

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Macbeth Act 3 Scene 1

• Banquo suspects Macbeth - gains comfort from 2nd
  prediction - his own children will be Kings
• Even with new title Macbeth does not feel at ease
• calls murderers dogs but he shows his inhumanity
  and imperfections -also wants to kill Fleance

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Act 3 Scene 2

• Macbeth plans murder not Lady Macbeth
• Macbeth and Lady Macbeths world not at peace
• Macbeth wants to get rid of his bond with
  humanity
• We have scorched the snake, not killed
  it.Macbeth, 3.2.15
• Duncan is in his grave After life's fitful
  fever he sleeps well.Macbeth, 3.2.245

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Act 3 Scene 3

• Banquo killed - Murderers lantern extinguished -
  Fleance escapes
• Forces of darkness are at odds with light
• Murderers capable of poetry
• Escape of Fleance turning point - Peripeteia -
  sudden reversal of fortune
• Banquos dying words to revenge

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Act 3 Scene 4

• Macbeth has Thanes of Scotland over - Macduff not
  there
• Murderers tell Macbeth what happened - Macbeth
  losses it
• Macbeth sees ghost - goes into a fit
• Macbeth has lost control
• Macbeth will kill Macduff and visit three sisters
• It will have blood, they say blood will have
  blood. Macbeth, 3.4.15253

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Act 3 Scene 5

• Hecate joins three sisters
• Some say this scene was not in the orginal play

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Act 3 Scene 6

• Lennox reveals doubts about Macbeth - Did he kill
  the guards hastily?
• Macduff has fled to England to join forces with
  Malcolm also asks help from King Edward of England

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Macbeth Act 4 Scene 1

• Double, double, toil and trouble Fire burn, and
  cauldron bubble.Witches, 4.1.101
• Macbeth goes to weird sisters and demands to be
  shown apparitions of the future
• 1. disembodied head of a warrior who warns
  Macbeth of revenge
• 2. blood-covered child who cannot be killed by
  any man of woman born

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• 3. a child wearing a crown promises Macbeth
  cannot lose in battle until Birnam wood moves to
  Dunsinane
• Macbeth asks about Banquos sons and sees a
  procession of Banquo and future kings
• Macbethless future
• Macduff has fled to England and Macbeth announces
  revenge of Macduffs wife and children
• Ill make assurance double sure.Macbeth, 4.1.93

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Act 4 Scene 2

• Lady Macduff feels Macduff has acted dishonestly
• Son says the world is full of dishonest men

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Act 4 Scene 3

• At one fell swoop.Macduff, 4.3.256
• Malcolm tests Macduffs loyalty - says he would
  be a great tyrant - reverse psychology
• Macduff still hates Macbeth - Malcolm has gotten
  what he wants Macduffs loyalty
• Ross tells him of the slaughter of wife and child
  - Macduff vows revenge

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Macbeth Act 5 Scene 1

• Out, damned spot! out, I say!Lady Macbeth,
  5.1.31
• All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten
  this little hand. Lady Macbeth, 5.1.467
• Whats done cannot be undone.Lady Macbeth,
  5.1.623
• Played in dark except one candle
• Lady Macbeth has gone mad - sleepwalks and tells
  fragments of events

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• overheard by doctor and lady-in-waiting
• Lady Macbeth is seen rubbing her hands - (quotes
  at the beginning)
• Lady Macbeth needs a divine
• Spiritual darkness - 1 candle

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Macbeth Act 5 Scene 2

• Four lords of Scotland - Lennox, Mentith, Angus,
  and Caithness resolve to join Malcolm and English
  forces who are at Birnam Wood
• Caithness speech - warrior hero - valiant fury -
  but not righteous - Distemperd Cause

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Macbeth Act 5 Scene 3

• Macbeth dismisses reports of invasion ( confident
  tyrant)
• Trusts the prophecies
• Servant ( cream faced lilly livered) announces
  huge army
• Doctor tells of Lady Macbeth
• yellow leaf - fall of his own reputation

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Macbeth Act 5 Scene 4

• English and Scotish armies under leadership of
  Malcolm meet at Birnam Wood
• Malcolm orders soldiers to cut a branch and carry
  it in front of them as camouflage To shadow the
  number of our host
• taken from Holinsheds Chronicles - 1577

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Macbeth Act 5 Scene 5

• Macbeth fully armed - brave rhetoric
• shriek offstage - The queen is dead
• Birnam Wood appears to have uprooted itself
  advancing towards Dunsinane
• Shakespeare - Power-seeking tyrants tend toward
  self-destruction
• I have supped full with horrors.Macbeth,
  5.5.14 - Banquos ghost
• Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow.Macbeth,
  5.5.21

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Macbeth Act 5 Scene 6

• Malcolm and his troops have reached Dunsinane
• Siward first to advance - age
• Macduff order of troops- discipline - harbinger
  or sign of what is to come

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Macbeth Act 5 Scene 7

• Macbeth challenged by son of Siward
• Macbeths forces have surrendered Dunsinane
  Castle
• They have tied me to a stake I cannot fly
• kills young Siward - Thou wast born of woman
• Macduff - ironic timing- takes place of Siward

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Macbeth Act 5 Scene 8

• Macbeth and Macduff finally face to face
• words are tossed
• Macbeth ponders suicide but hey I cant die
• Macduff tells him he entered the world Untimely
  rippd from mothers womb
• Macbeth realizes witches are imperfect
  speakers
• Macbeth dies

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Macbeth Act 5 Scene 9

• Malcolm proclaimed new king of Scotland
• true friends we miss loyalty he will rule with
  graciousness and humility
• Macduff enters with Macbeths head

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