Act 5 Scene 8

Act 5 Scene 8

1. Climax of the play

   • Macbeth and Macduff come face to face
     • Macbeth boasts that no man naturally born can kill him
       • Macduff reveals his own caesarean birth
         • Dismays Macbeth- refuses to fight
           • but in the prospect of yielding to Malcom, he recovers some courage and fights on
             • the bloody and tyrannical usurper of the throne of Scotland, meets his predestined end.

2. 'Why should I play the Roman fool?'

   • He rejects the idea of committing suicide and is determined to fight on
     • reminder of the ruthless warrior in Act 1
       • Even after the realisation of the witches' equivocation he decides to fight on
         • Recovers some courage but fights on

3. Belief in the prophecy

   • 'I bear a charmed life which must not yield to to one of woman born'
     • Confidence in the witches words- desperation
   • Macduff reveals his own caesarean birth
     • 'Macduff was from his mother's womb untimely ripped'
       • This disclosure is a shock to Macbeth
         • Almost makes him give up
       • short but powerful sentence "Despair thy charm," Macbeth must know that his struggle for survival is over. The penultimate prophecy has come true.

4. Witches Equivocation

   • 'juggling fiends no more believed'
     • Dangers of the supernatural
     • Ultimate realisation
       • Finally faced with the truth about the prophecies realising that he has been misled by the witches

5. Macbeth's death

   • 'then yield thee coward'
     • Macduff threatens he will be exhibited in captivity
   • 'I will not yield'
     • Macbeth's last line - choses life over death
       • Brave and dignified death?
         • Fights until death
           • Macduff exits with Macbeth's body
             • Public display