...Macbeth: Act 3 Scene 4 ‘They say, blood will have blood’ ‘Lesser than Macbeth but greater,’ theses are the words which make Macbeth start to think about whether his bestfriend, Banqou, can be trusted. In one of the first scenes of the play the three witches tell him this after he killed King Duncan. The words start to drive him insane as he starts to believe that Banquo or his son, Fleance, may take the throne away from him. His sanity leads him to killing Banquo, making him so guilty that he breaks down at the State Banquet. Act 3 Scene 4, the Banquet scene, is one of the most significant scenes as it shows Macbeth has finally cracked as he goes insane in front of all his guests. I will be discussing how violence, the supernatural, masculinity, ambition, guilt and prophecies effect Macbeth throught the scene. The supernatural is one of the most biggest themes in the play. It starts off in Act 1 Scene 1, with the 3 witches and carries on with the prophecies given by them, which i believe make macbeth insane, believing that he can be all powerful. The supernatural links into this scene because, when Macbeth looks over the banquet he says ‘the table is full’ and sees the ghost of Banquo sitting in his chair. Macbeth speaks to the ghost, ‘Thy gory locks at me,’ the ghosts ‘locks’ of hair as described as gory because as the guest enter the first murderer tells him that Banquo diesd with twenty gashes on his head. Interestingly, if this does link into the theme of supernatural...
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...In Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, the three weird sisters, otherwise known as the witches, merely report what is destined to be for Macbeth. I believe that Macbeth would not have taken part in the same actions, if the witches hadn’t given him any predictions. He would not have had any reason to commit murder if he hadn’t known that he may become king. Throughout the play, there several instances where Macbeth approaches the witches to receive future predictions for his life. Some of the predictions may still have come true without Macbeth doing the things he did, but most of them would have been false without the murders. In Act I, Scene III, Banquo and Macbeth meet the three witches for the first time. In this scene, the witches give predictions...
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...extent is masculinity associated with evil and violence in Macbeth? Evil is a theme widely explored by Shakespeare in his plays and “Macbeth” is no exception. This play demonstrates violence in relation to evil and evil in turn is a reflection of the desperation and anxieties of the characters in “Macbeth.” The question of whether masculinity is associated with evil and violence is easily answered as the main character in this horrific tragedy is Macbeth himself, who commits a range of heinous crimes from murder to dabbling with witchcraft. However, the extent to which masculinity is related to evil is more obscure. In this essay I am going to show that evil and violence in “Macbeth” is not monopolised by masculine characters. To show this I will be analysing female characters who demonstrate strong evil qualities and personalities such as Lady Macbeth, The Witches and Hecate. I will also discuss Banquo, Macduff and King Duncan because these characters represent chivalry, nobility and honour of human characters, even though they are male. The first character I will be looking at is Macbeth himself. This is because he is the central character and focus of the entire play. From the outset Macbeth is depicted as a fierce war hero: “Till he unseamed him from the nave to the chops, And fixed his head upon our battlements.” (Act 1: Scene 1: Lines 22 – 23) The captain using the word, “Unseamed……...
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...In the play “Macbeth” written by William Shakespeare, the main character Macbeth was faced with Misplaced Ambition. Shakespeare's character Macbeth was a brave and faithful soldier. King Duncan was very fond of Macbeth who admire his bravery and consider Macbeth and outstanding general. The prediction that was preordained by witches was that one day Macbeth would be King and the mistake of confiding to Lady Macbeth about his destiny drove her to become power hungry. This mistake lead to Macbeth killing his cousin and close friend King Duncan. Macbeth’s decision to kill the king drives him mad and eventually leads to his timely demise. William Shakespeare uses Irony and Satire to show how Misplaced Ambition can lead to the rise and fall of...
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...Jekyll and Mr Hyde and William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, I will explore the struggles the main characters’ have within themselves in their fight for good over evil. How Macbeth and Dr Jekyll change throughout the stories and explore the similarities of each of them and why they came to change. These two books are worlds apart from one another. ‘Macbeth’ is about a great warrior who fights for the King and is set in medieval Scotland, while ‘The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ is set in the upper classes of Victorian England where everything is done correctly and bad behaviour or wild ways are not tolerated. Dr Jekyll is a Physician who is curious about separating the good side of a personality with the bad and begins to experiment and invent potions to control the evil side of a person. However, both of these books have mystical themes about them, the witches in ‘Macbeth’ that can see the future and plant the seed of success in Macbeth’s head and the strange disappearances of Dr Jekyll and the sudden mystical appearance of a Mr Hyde. These main characters, Macbeth and Dr Jekyll evolve from being heroic, well-respected men into twisted, ruthless killers and their nature completely changes throughout their lives. Both characters become so obsessed with ultimate control they are prepared to remove anyone who gets in their way or tries to stop them from reaching their final goal. The obsession of their ambitions make both, Macbeth and Dr Jekyll eventually turn their back on the...
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...Act 1 - Scene 1 + 2 The play opens up by introducing the witches as a quick method to build up suspense. In eerie chanting tones they make plans to meet upon the heath after the battle to confront Macbeth. We hear about Macbeth before we meet him. It is reported that he kills the traitorous Macdonwald by cutting him open from his belly button to his throat, because he betrayed Scotland. The king hears of Macbeth’s victory and decides to give him the title of thane of Cawdor. - Scene 3 + 4 The witches meet Macbeth and Banquo on a heath and give them a prediction of the future. They predict that Macbeth will become Thane of Glamis (his current title at the time of meeting with the witches), Thane of Cawdor, and eventually King. For Banquo, the witches say he will be lesser and greater than Macbeth, not as fortunate, but happier, and his sons will be king. Macbeth inquires more, but the witches dismiss him. Macbeth can’t believe that it comes true when he becomes Thane of Cawdor, and wants to become King but Malcolm, the prince of Cumberland, stands in his way. - Scene 5, 6 + 7 Macbeth sends a letter to his wife, Lady Macbeth, and after she reads it, she fears that his nature “is too full of the milk of human kindness.” She believes that Macbeth will not take the actions necessary to become King without her help. She plans on killing Duncan that very night and tells Macbeth to “look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it”. When Macbeth becomes reluctant, Lady...
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...The downfall of a central character is common in a Shakespearean tragedy. Examine how Macbeth’s actions led to his own downfall. Macbeth is a play that adheres to a typical Elizabethan tragedy, which follows the journey of a noble protagonist, who is flawed in some way, placed in a demanding situation, ending with a fatal conclusion. On the same note, hamartia and hubris qualities deem Macbeth himself to be the ultimate tragic hero, flawed with erupting ambition. Macbeth is an ever evolving character who loses his nobility to acts of murder. ‘The higher you are the harder you fall’ governs Macbeth his fall is a result of his own actions. Paradoxical themes of Ambition Vs. Power, Appearance Vs. Reality and Fate vs. Free Will, dictate the future and irrational decisions made by the tragic hero. It is evident that through Macbeth’s murderous actions, in Act 2 Scene 1, Act 3 Scene 4 and Act 5 Scene 8 that he finds it hard to restrain himself, causing him to escape his moral compass. Macbeth’s insanity manifests his downfall which is plagued by his love for Lady Macbeth, his belief in the prophecy, fate and ultimately his tragic flaw of ambition. Undoubtedly, Macbeth’s own actions lead to psychological torment and the degradation of his moral sensibilities. In Act 2 Scene 1, Macbeth’s soliloquy reveals his true thoughts and feelings to the audience. Antithesis is used at the commencement and conclusion of this monologue to emphasise the idea of contrast...
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...A TEACHER’S GUIDE TO THE SIGNET CLASSIC EDITION OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S MACBETH LINDA NEAL UNDERWOOD S E R I E S E D I T O R S : W. GEIGER ELLIS, ED.D., ARTHEA J. S. REED, PH.D., UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA, EMERITUS and UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, RETIRED A Teacher’s Guide to the Signet Classic Edition of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth 2 INTRODUCTION William Shakespeare developed many stories into excellent dramatizations for the Elizabethan stage. Shakespeare knew how to entertain and involve an audience with fast-paced plots, creative imagery, and multi-faceted characters. Macbeth is an action-packed, psychological thriller that has not lost its impact in nearly four hundred years. The politically ambitious character of Macbeth is as timely today as he was to Shakespeare's audience. Mary McCarthy says in her essay about Macbeth, "It is a troubling thought that Macbeth, of all Shakespeare's characters, should seem the most 'modern,' the only one you could transpose into contemporary battle dress or a sport shirt and slacks." (Signet Classic Macbeth) Audiences today quickly become interested in the plot of a blindly ambitious general with a strong-willed wife who must try to cope with the guilt engendered by their murder of an innocent king in order to further their power. The elements of superstition, ghosts, and witchcraft, though more readily a part of everyday life for the Renaissance audience, remain intriguing to modern teenagers. The action-packed...
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...story. The events that occur after the main character makes the key decision in the story. The resolution is where all the questions are answered and loose ends are tied, providing a clear ending. ACT in the play ACT 1 First 2 scenes Rising action: ACT 2, 3rd scene - Act 3, 3rd scene Climax: ACT 3, 3rd scene Falling Action: ACT 3, 4th scene Resolution: ACT 3 Last scenes ! ! ! ! ! ! Event ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Text support MACBETH. Your children shall be kings. BANQUO. You shall be king. MACBETH. And Thane of Cawdor too; went it not so? Ring the alarum bell:—murder and treason! Banquo and Donalbain! Malcolm! awake! Shake off this downy sleep, death's counterfeit, And look on death itself! up, up, and see The great doom's image! Malcolm! Banquo! As from your graves rise up, and walk like sprites To countenance this horror! royal master's murder'd! MACBETH. Thou canst not say I did it: never shake Thy gory locks at me. Why is it important to the story? I think that this is one of the most important scenes in the story because this i where Macbeth gets that idea that he could be king. That idea gives the plot of the story. ACT 1, scene 3 When Macbeth meets the weird sisters, and they tell him their prophecy. Act 2 When they find the body of King Duncan, and wake the village. This is the Rising action of the play, the king is dead and they had to try and find who killed him. The...
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...How does the comic banter of the porter (II/iii/lines 1-37) and the comic banter between Lady Macduff and Ross and her son (IV/ii/lines 1-61) enhance the plays theatricality and reinforce the central ideas of the play? Shakespeare has included comic banter in the porter scene and Lady Macduff, Ross and her son’s scene in order to enhance the play’s theatricality through comic relief in between intense, suspenseful scenes and reinforce the central ideas of the play of evil and the supernatural, ambition, reality masked by appearances underlining the dissimulated society and inversion of values and desire and achievement. The comic banter of the porter in Act 2 Scene 3, lines 1-37 produces comic relief and therefore enhances the plays theatricality and underlines the main ideas of the play by releasing the tension the audience has built up in the previous, contrastive scene. The change from high drama to low comedy creates black humour and irony through the metaphor “porter of hell-gate” given the recent horrific events within the castle. Moreover, the imagery of ‘hell’ is continued in the porter’s prose: “Who’s there I’th’name of Beelzebub?” the analogy hell becomes imperturbably strongly as instead of receiving a welcome to Macbeth’s castle, guests are cautioned as they put themselves in the devil’s land. The porter is unlike all the characters of noble birth and this is portrayed through his speech in prose and not iambic verse. Despite his casual banter, the porter ironically...
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...Act 5 Scene 1 1.This scene takes place in Macbeth`s castle Dunsinane at a Ante-room in the castle. 2. A doctor and a gentlewoman discuss Lady Macbeth’s strange habit of sleepwalking. Suddenly, Lady Macbeth enters in a trance with a candle in her hand. Bemoaning the murders of Lady Macduff and Banquo, she seems to see blood on her hands and claims that nothing will ever wash it off. She leaves, and the doctor and gentlewoman marvel at her descent into madness. 3. Lady Macbeth has gone mad. Like her husband, she cannot find any rest, but she is suffering more clearly from a psychological disorder that causes her, as she sleepwalks, to recall fragments of the events of the murders of Duncan, Banquo, and Lady Macduff. These incriminating words are overheard by the Doctor and a lady-in-waiting.(Lady Macbeth - Queen/Macbeth-King) Act 5 Scene 2 1.This scene takes place in the country near Dunsinane. There is Menteith, Caithness, Angus, Lennox, and Soldiers. 2. The thanes Menteith, Caithness, Angus, and Lennox march with a company of soldiers toward Birnam Wood, where they will join Malcolm and the English army. Macbeth is fortifying his castle at Dunsinane with heavy defenses. They claim that they will "purge" the country of Macbeth's sickening influence. 3. Macbeth is a lousy king and needs to go. Thos who hate him call it brave anger. One thing is certain that he is out of control. He now feels the blood of his murdered enemies to his hands. Now, rebel armies punish him...
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...William Shakespeare's Macbeth, is a tragic story that centers around a brave Scottish general named Macbeth; whose motives and actions were driven by the need and/or want of power. This was greatly shown when Macbeth's life changed when he was given his prophecy from the three witches, his sociopathic tendencies throughout the play, and how he takes extreme measures to protect his crown. In the beginning of the play, they describe Macbeth as a brave and worthy soldier, whom King Duncan thanks for his heroic service in the battle. As it states in Act 1, Scene 2: Duncan. "O valiant cousin! Worthy Gentleman!" Proving at one point, Macbeth was an intelligent, and dignified man who deserved everyone's respect. However, when both generals Macbeth...
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...Compare the techniques used by Shakespeare to develop the theme of guilt in key scenes in both Macbeth and Hamlet. Guilt is defined as the remorseful awareness of having done something wrong. It was not unusual for Shakespeare to feature a lot of conflicted emotion in his plays, a favourite emotion for Shakespeare to right was guilt and therefore features heavily in his plays; Hamelt and Macbeth included. The use of guilt is often used to make the audience feel sympathy for the character or to change their perspective on the character as a whole; it is also used to drive the plot of the play and to create an atmosphere within the play. Macbeth showcases a lot of guilt to change the tone and atmosphere of the scene and to show how guilt affects religion and beliefs. For example in Act 2 Scene, after Macbeth has killed King Duncan, the audience finds him struggling with the guilt he feels. Shakespeare shows Macbeths guilt through his inability to say ‘Amen’ which would have previously come easily from him. But after killing Duncan Macbeth believes God has turned his back on him because he committed the biggest sin- Regicide- and have gone against the divine right of kings and so would no longer be under the protection of God. Furthermore, in his mini-soliloquy in Act 3 Scene 1 Macbeths says the murder of King Duncan “put rancours in the vessel of my peace”. This shows he is being tormented with a constant reminder of his crime and sins and this can be perceived as guilt coming...
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...Macbeth at the start of the play At the start of the play, Macbeth is a good man who knows his place. He is a loyal servant of the King. God appoints the King to rule. If the King rules well, then his subjects will love him and he will reward their love with gratitude and generosity. This is the ideal state of affairs at the start of Macbeth, though just before it, there has been a rebellion, and the play opens with an account of the defeat of the rebels. Although God appoints the ruler, it is possible for a gross disturbance of the natural order of things to happen. And this may allow a rebel (usurper) to overthrow the rightful monarch. In Macbeth, this is what happens when the witches dabble in the affairs of men. But Hecate, who must obey the higher powers of the universe, shows the witches that order must be restored, and Macbeth removed from power. Macbeth is very loyal to begin with, so his treachery against Duncan is especially shocking. It is only believable (plausible) because of the way the witches arouse powerful ambition in him. But though they suggest things to him, the witches do not force Macbeth to kill Duncan. His evil action is freely chosen and (as we say today) premeditated. In fact Macbeth sees very good arguments against Duncan's murder but is stung into firmness by his wife's scorn. She says that if she had made a promise like her husband's, she could even have dashed out the brains of her own child. (Perhaps, though, this is bravado - later she admits...
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...Summary: Act 2, scene 3 A porter stumbles through the hallway to answer the knocking, grumbling comically about the noise and mocking whoever is on the other side of the door. He compares himself to a porter at the gates of hell and asks, “Who’s there, i’ th’ name of Beelzebub?” (2.3.3). Macduff and Lennox enter, and Macduff complains about the porter’s slow response to his knock. The porter says that he was up late carousing and rambles on humorously about the effects of alcohol, which he says provokes red noses, sleepiness, and urination. He adds that drink also “provokes and unprovokes” lechery—it inclines one to be lustful but takes away the ability to have sex (2.3.27). Macbeth enters, and Macduff asks him if the king is awake, saying that Duncan asked to see him early that morning. In short, clipped sentences, Macbeth says that Duncan is still asleep. He offers to take Macduff to the king. As Macduff enters the king’s chamber, Lennox describes the storms that raged the previous night, asserting that he cannot remember anything like it in all his years. With a cry of “O horror, horror, horror!” Macduff comes running from the room, shouting that the king has been murdered (2.3.59). Macbeth and Lennox rush in to look, while Lady Macbeth appears and expresses her horror that such a deed could be done under her roof. General chaos ensues as the other nobles and their servants come streaming in. As Macbeth and Lennox emerge from the bedroom, Malcolm and Donalbain arrive on the...
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