Macbeth

Macbeth

1. Plot

   • Act 1
     • Macbeth +Banquo meet witches upon the heath. Witches give Macbeth and Banquo their profecies and then vanish. Macbeth becomes Thane Of Cawdor. Lady Macbeth recieves Macbeths letter. She then summons evil spirits to make her evil and have no remorse after her plan to kill the king so Macbeth can be King.Macbeth arrives and tells Lady Macbeth that duncan will arive tonight.
   • Act 2
     • Macbeth agrees to kill the King but starts to see imaginary daggers "dagger of the mind". He then kills the King who is found dead by Macduff. King's sons flee in fear and as a result Macbeth is crowned King.
   • Act 3
     • Banquo suspects Macbeth and Macbeth fearing Banquo plans to have him and his son killed. Banquo is killed but Fleance gets away. Goast of Banquo haunts Macbeth and guests become suspicious of Macbeth as he freaks out at the goast only he can see.
   • Act 4
     • Macbeth becomes scared and goes to the witches and gets 3 more predictions: 1. Beware Macduff, beware the Thane of Fife, 2. None of woman born can harm Macbeth, 3. Macbeth shall never be beaten until Birnam Woods moves towards the castle. Maduff fled Scotland. He orders the execution of Macduff's family.
   • Act 5
     • Lady Macbeth starts sleepwalking and becomes burdened with the feelings of guilt as she starts to imagine blood on her hands that she cannot get rid of. Duncan's so Malcom returns with English army and Macduff who chop down branches of the forest as disguise. Macbeth does not fear as no woman born man can kill him but Macduff announces that he was "ripp'd" from his mothers womb. Macduff kills Macbeth and Malcom becomes the nect King of Scotland.

2. Historical Context

   • 11th Century Scottish novel based on a true event. In 1604, Gunpowder plot attempted. The play is about political propaganda, warning that regicide leads to eternal damnation. King James believed in the Divine Right of Kings (God chose him to be King). The Great Chain Of Being: Belief in social hierachy, planned by God. God-Angels-Demons-Humans-Beasts-Plants-Rocks. When Macbeth kills Duncan, this dirupts the natural order that is refered to in the play: storms, earthquakes,chimmneys blown down, a solar eclipse.

3. Characters

   • Macbeth
     • A "brave" and loyal warrior whose valting ambition leads him to commit regicide.
   • Lady Macbeth
     • Mabeth's wife. Coerces Macbeth into commtting regicide. Loses control and commits suicide at the end due to guilt.
   • Banquo
     • Close friend to Macbeth. batrayed and killed by Macbeth beause he was feared by him. Ghost haunts Macbeth at a feast.
   • Fleane
     • Banquo's son and in the witches prediction will become King one day. Ordered to be killed along with his father but escapes.
   • King Duncan
     • A fair and generous King who is killed by Macbeth because of his vaulting ambition.
   • Malcom
     • Duncan's eldest son, the prince of Cumberland who fleas when finds out his father is killed.
   • The witches
     • Presented by Shakespeare as supernatural beings who can tell the future, messengers of fate.

4. Key Quotes

   • "Fair is foul and foul is fair"
     • Act 1 Scene 3 said by the witches and means what is considered good is bad and the other way around.
   • "Stars hide your fires. Let not light see my black and deep desires"
     • Personification and metaphor said by Macbeth in Act 1 Scene 4.
   • "Come you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here and fill me from the crown to the toe top full of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood."
     • Said by Lady Macbeth in Act 1 Scene 5 she wants to be more evil and manly so she is asking the spirits to take away her feminine qualities.
   • "Look like the flower but be the serpent under't"
     • Said by Lady Macbeth to Macbeth as she tries to convince him to commit regicide in Act 1 Scene 5
   • "A little water clears us of this deed. How easy is it then"
     • Said by Lady Macbeth as she believes water will clean them off this wrong doing. Act 2 Scene 2.
   • "Thou hast it now: King, Cawdor, Glamis, all as the weird women promised. And I fear thou playds't most foully for it"
     • Said by Banquo showing he thinks Macbeth killed the King so the profecy came true. Act 3 Scene 1.
   • "Nought's had, all's spent, where our desire is got without content"
     • Said by Lady Macbeth in Act 3 Scene 2. It means she recongises they have put all this effort in and all there kindness is spent.
   • "Our fears in Banquo stick deep" and "Every moment he's alive stabs me to the heart."
     • Shows Macbeth feeels remourse for killing one of his best friends and that he keeps seeing his ghost haunting him. Act 3 Scene 1.
   • "Macbeth shall never vanquished be until Great Birnam Woods to High Dunsinane hill shall come against him"
     • Said by the witches meaning that Macbeth cannot die unless the woods surrounding his castle move.

5. Dramatic Devices

   • Aside
     • When a character talks to the side so the auidence can hear but no other characters. Not directed at audience though.
   • Dramatic Irony
     • The audiece knows something the characters don't.
   • Soliloquy
     • When a character speaks their most inner thoughts outloud.
   • Rhyming Couplets
     • A word at the end of a line that rhymes with the next.

6. Key vocab

   • Aside, Soliloquy, Tragedy, Prophecy, Guilt, Regicide, Metaphor, Imagery, Symbolism, Rhymed Verse, Supernatural, Dramatic Irony
   • One's I don't know.
     • Protagonist
       • Leading character e.g. Macbeth
     • Deuteragonist
       • Second most important character e.g. Lady Macbeth
     • Hamartia
       • Fatal flaw e.g. Macbeth's hamartia is his vaulting ambition.
     • Blank Verse
       • Verse without rhyme, usually uses Iambic Pentameter.
         • Iambic Pentameter is short syllables followed by a long syllable.