Scene1-Macbeth is not present and the witches are just foreshadowing and setting up major themes

Scene 2-Macbeth is not present, but the audience gets an impression of him based on other character's descriptions

Quotes:
'Brave Macbeth'
'like valour's minion'
'Eagles...Lions'
'valiant cousin'
'Bellona's bridegroom'
'fix'd his head to the battlements'

Scene 2 portrays Macbeth as a valiant war hero and his actions are brutally described.
The captain compares Macbeth and Banquo to lions and eagles, with the Norwegians as sparrows and hawks, which shows that their comrades saw their actions as heroic, as eagles and lions are near the top of the great chain of being. It also shows that they were seen as superior to the Norwegians.

Shakespeare uses this scene as dramatic irony, as later in the play you realise that Macbeth is not as loyal as he is made out to be (what with him planning to kill Duncan duh). Duncan has also decided to give Macbeth the title of thane of Cawdor. The previous thane of Cawdor was a traitor, and so will be Macbeth.

Scene 3-Macbeth is first introduced and seen interacting with witches

Quotes:
'so foul and fair a day I have not seen'
'speak if you can, what are you?'
'speak', 'say', 'speak'---(imperatives)
'Why do you dress me in borrowed robes?'
'My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical'
'My dull brain was wrought with things forgotten'
'All hail Macbeth'

Macbeth's first line, 'so foul and fair a day I have not seen', mirrors the witches foul and fair speech in scene 1.

Scene 3 shows how Macbeth reacts to witches, and compared to Banquo his response is calm, suggesting he is used to the supernatural and therefore is someone to be suspicious of in the audience's mind. The witches give their prophecy, and Macbeth is curious, using imperatives (stay, speak) to make the witches explain them. Imperatives show that Macbeth sees himself as superior to the witches.

When Ross announces Macbeth has become the Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth says 'Why do you dress me in borrowed robes?'. Clothing becomes a key theme in the play.

When Macbeth realises the prophecies told by the witches are true, he has an aside where he expresses his thoughts to the audience. He realises that he could become king, so thoughts of murdering Duncan enter his mind-'whose murder yet is but fantastical'. The wording here is complicated, showing his confusion about the prophecies and what to do. 'Nothing is but what is not' also shows his confusion. He talks about the 'supernatural soliciting' (witch persuasion) and how it 'cannot be ill, cannot be good'. The paradoxical language Macbeth uses reflects how the witches speak, showing how big an impact they had on him.

Macbeth saying 'my brain is wrought with things forgot' shows the audience how Macbeth is lying to his friends ,as they just heard him in his aside, and the audience are suspicious of him and what he's going to do next for the first time in the play.

Scene 4-Duncan greeting and congratulating Macbeth

Quotes:
'the service and loyalty i owe, in doing, pays itself.'
'that is a step on which I must fall down or else o'erleap'
'stars hide your fires let not light see my black and deep desires'
'the eye wink at the hand'

When Macbeth speaks to Ducan he is excessively loyal, saying it is his duty to do everything he can to protect the king. This is dramatic irony, as the audience knows Macbeth is debating killing Duncan.
In Macbeth's second aside, the lines:
that is a step
on which I must fall down, or else o'erleap'
This is a half rhyme here could show Macbeth's uncertainty about usurping the king.
'Let not....the eye wink at the hand' means don't let me see what my hand is doing (when he's murdering Duncan) showing he's reluctant to actually commit the crime, despite his 'deep' desire to be king.

Scene 5-Macbeth from Lady Macbeth's perspective

Quotes:
'too full o'th'milk of human kindness'
'art not without ambition'
'but without the illness should attend it'
'Your face, my Thane, is a book where men may read strange matters'
'look like th'innocent flower but be the serpent under't.'

From Lady Macbeth you learn that Macbeth is too compassionate to kill the king, despite having great ambitions. This contradicts what you hear about Macbeth in scene 2 as being a great warrior. He doesn't have the wickedness needed to murder Duncan. She says that Macbeth's face is like a book, which shows how unfamiliar Macbeth is too lying-he's not very good at it. That also shows how strong the relationship between them is.

Lady Macbeth's soliloquy shows how she is superior in their relationship, as she's the one who has to persuade Macbeth to do the murder (pour my spirits in thine ear'),and the way she asks the spirits to 'unsex her here' could show that she wants the masculinity/bravery to assassinate Duncan that her husband lacks.

Scene 6-Lady Macbeth greets Duncan and Macbeth isn't present

Quotes:
'Where's the Thane of Cawdor?'

This shows that Lady Macbeth is the dominant one in the relationship, as she's the one greeting the king. Duncan is surprised by this, as that wasn't normally the case in Shakespearean/old Scottish times. This could also imply Macbeth's uneasiness at lying and committing treason, so he's not comfortable in front of the king and his company.

Scene 7-Macbeth is reluctant to kill Duncan and lady Macbeth attacks his masculinity

Macbeth's soliloquy:
Macbeth is reluctant to actually say that he's going to murder Duncan-using 'it' and 'this blow' as euphemisms. This shows his unwillingness to kill Duncan-if he has trouble saying it out loud he's going to have trouble doing it. At the beginning of his soliloquy he talks about being able to do 'it' without any consequences and that he would 'jump the life to come'-skip over the stuff about t happen. Next Macbeth goes on to talk about if he did this he would be teaching Scotland that killing the king is okay, which could lead to his death or something similar--'return to plague the inventor'. He then goes on to say that as Duncan's host he should protect Duncan from assassins, not be the assassin himself.
Basically, Macbeth is listing reasons not to kill Duncan.

He moves on to talk about what a good king Duncan is, 'borne with faculties so meek', and that killing him would cause people to feel so much pity for him that Duncan would never be forgotten. He's talking about the effects of Duncan's death, and how sad people would be to hear about it.

Macbeth says he has 'no spurs to prick the sides of my intent', nothing to spur him on, only 'vaulting ambition'. Macbeth's use of horse metaphors shows that he feel if he aims too high in his ambition he will fall like a horse jumping too high.

Macbeth's soliloquy serves to show us how reluctant Macbeth is about killing the king, and by the end of it he has persuaded himself not to do it.

Talking with Lady Macbeth:
'Was the hope drunk werein you dress'd yourseld?'
'From this time such I account thy love'
'I dare do all that may become a man, who dares do more is none'
'then you were a man'
'be so much more than a man'

Lady Macbeth accuses Macbeth of being a coward for not wanting to do it asking if the hope was drunk. She says that if he really loved herhe would do it.
Macbeth responds by saying to commit this crime would make him inhuman,as it's such a cruel act.
Lady Macbeth, in desperation, attacks Macbeth's masculinity-'then you were a man'-and this is where Macbeth changes his mind, and says he must hide what he knows 'fake face must hide what the false heart doth know.'

The confrontation with Lady Macbeth shows how easily Macbeth can be manipulated, like he was with the witches. Macbeth's pride is hurt, o he turns to murder in order to prove himself to her.

	Created by Caitlin Neville about 7 years ago

Note on Macbeth's character Act 1, created by Caitlin Neville on 18/02/2017.