Macbeth

Basic Information

Dramatis Personae• Duncan: King of Scotland• Macbeth: Decorated General• Lady Macbeth: Macbeth’s wife• Banquo: Macbeth’s best friend; general in army• Macduff: Friend of Macbeth; Nobleman• Fleance: Banquo’s son• Malcolm: Duncan’s son• Donalbain: Duncan’s son• Witches: Foreseers of future

Basic Information

• First play written under King James I• Shakespeare added a lot of things that

James would identify with:– Male rule– Heirs– An innocent Banquo– Drive:

• Determination and predestination• An unnatural force

Basic Information

• Really a history/tragedy• Holinshed wrote a similar work• If the name of the main character is in the title, it

is a history or tragedy• Moving from the Elizabethan to Jacobean rule in

England– 1603 Queen Elizabeth dies (in power 45 years)– 1604 James I takes the throne (James is Scottish)– 1616-Shakespeare dies– 1624-James I dies

Act I Scene 1

• Play opens in an “open place”– No specific setting noted

• Three witches:– Read I.1-1045– Announce their intentions to meet with

Macbeth– War between Duncan and Thane of Cawdor– Play witches scene

Act I Scene 2

• At the king’s camp:– Officer tells Duncan and Malcolm about

heroism of Macbeth and Banquo– They won the battle– They captured the current Thane of Cawdor– Duncan transfers the title to Macbeth

Act I Scene 3

• Read I.3-1046-1047• The witches meet again:

– Brag about their deeds– Wait for Macbeth and Banquo to appear

• Macbeth: “Foul and fair”:– Foreshadows the future

• Witches predict:– Macbeth will become Thane of Cawdor– Macbeth will become King of Scotland– Banquo will never rule but his kids will

• Macbeth hears that he has become Thane of Cawdor and suspects that the witches were right

• Watch movie scene

Act I Scene 4

• Read I.4-1048

• Duncan and his sons greet Macbeth and Banquo:– Duncan greets Macbeth as Thane– Duncan invites himself and company to

Macbeths new castle– Duncan then names his son, Malcolm, as his

successor

Act I Scene 5

• Read: I.5-1048-1049• Lady Macbeth reads letter from her husband:

– Named Thane– Predictions of witches

• Figures that she needs to provoke his ambition• Perfect opportunity to kill the king• Macbeth appears and they discuss a plan• Play movie scene: Letter reading/MB’s return

Act I Scene 6

• The guests arrive:– Duncan– Malcolm– Donalbain– Banquo

• Lady Macbeth welcomes them and is perfectly sweet to their faces although she plans to kill Duncan

Theme: Equivocation

• Definition:– Open to two or more interpretations and often

intended to mislead; ambiguous. – The use of words or expressions susceptible

to double signification

• The use of equivocation is the most important theme in the play

Theme: Equivocation of the Witches

• Prophecies are ambiguous• Full of paradox and confusion

– “Fair is foul and foul is fair”

• They speak with alliteration in rhymed couplets• They add elements of confusion to their words• They are able to confuse Macbeth easily• They speak of the future but are unable to affect

it directly• Banquo foreshadows on 1047:

– These witches will push Macbeth

Theme: Interpretation of Witches

• Weird comes from Old English Wyrd meaning fate

• Macbeth’s Interpretation:– Suggest future not affect it– Must act on predictions to gain truth

• Banquo’s Interpretation:– Affect the future– Must not act on their musings

• The witches add:– Mirroring– Doubling

Mirroring: Macbeth and Lady

• Mirroring heightens the differences between the characters

• Macbeth is the double for Duncan:– Macbeth is violent and cruel– Duncan is peaceable and rewarding

• Lady Macbeth is the double of Lady Macduff:– Lady Macbeth casts off her femininity and has no

problem killing even her own child– Lady Macduff is the model of a good mother and

would die to save her child

Being vs. Seeming

• Fundamental definition of equivocation• Complex differences between the inner and

outer world:– Macbeth is told to:

• “Look like th’ innocent flower/But be the serpant under’t”

– Lady Macbeth calls:• “Unsex me here”

• Nightmares and guilt will eat at both characters

Act II: Scene 1

• Read II.1.1050– Macbeth’s famous soliloquy– Sees a dagger in mind reminiscent of his dagger– “a false creation”: messing this murder up could

destroy the coup– “fools”: victims– “eyes worth all the rest”: must rely on his eyes, not his

heart or mind to become king– “gouts of blood”: the blood on the dagger signals that

the action must be done– “Tarquin” a character in a Shakespearean poem, an

allusion to himself, very rare– “I go and it is done”: Duncan is as good as dead

Act II: Scene 1• Read 2.1-1052

– Lady Macbeth announces that she drugged Duncan’s guards

– Macbeth comes back and says that he has done the “foul deed”

– Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth to forget “brain sickly things” like praying and God’s wrath

– Macbeth’s mistake is bringing the daggers back with him

– Lady Macbeth must take them back to plant by the guards

• Play Movie: Lady Macbeth poisoning the guards, Macbeth’s Dagger soliloquy, Duncan’s murder scene, Lady taking daggers back

Act II Scene 1

• Read II.1.1052-1053

• The clown, Porter, answers the knocking

• Lets Macduff and Lenox into the castle

• Macduff discovers the king’s body

• The real murderers blame the guards

• Malcolm and Donalbain make plans to flee Scotland

Act II Scene 2

• An old man is discussing the omens of the night with Rosse

• Macduff enters with news that the king is dead

• Macduff announces that Macbeth is the new King of Scotland

Theme: Visions and Hallucinations of Guilt

• “Dagger of the mind”

• The dagger is a physical manifestation of the guilt Macbeth feels about killing Duncan

• All of the ghostly occurrences are psychological

• Macbeth cannot pray or sleep

Metaphor: Macbeth’s lack of sleep

• “Macbeth shall sleep no more”– Freud said (centuries later) that:

• Dreams are the gateways to the waking world• By not sleeping or dreaming, Macbeth will not have

any further connection to the waking world• He is now the king of a country, in a world, he is

not part of

Pathetic Fallacy• Two of Duncan’s horse eating each other• Owl eating a falcon:

– Many birds of prey symbols• Duncan sees martlets nesting on Macbeth’s castle walls

– Martlets are lucky birds

• Lady Macbeth hears ravens when she cries to be unsexed– Ravens are birds of prey like she is– While Lady waits for Macbeth to kill Duncan she hears an owl

hooting» Owl is a metaphor for Macbeth who also hunts Duncan at

night– This owl could be the bell Macbeth hears

• These echo the slaughter of one nobleman by another

• The murder plunges the country into turmoil

Act III: Scene 1

• Read 3.1-1055-1056• Banquo puts it all together in soliloquy• Banquo recalls the prophesy of his son ruling• When Banquo leaves, Macbeth plans to have

two murderers kill Banquo and his son to prevent the witches prophesy from coming true

• Watch movie: Banquo puts it together, Macbeth talks to Banquo, Macbeth plans the murder and talks to the murderers

Act III: Scene 2

• Macbeth and Lady Macbeth discuss the threat of Banquo and Fleance

• Macbeth hints at his plan to kill them but does not tell her directly

• Many think that the lack of involvement of Lady leads to this act failing and Fleance (hence his name Flee (run) (L)ance (leaving) getting away

Act III: Scene 3

• Two murderers are joined by a third and they wait for Banquo and Fleance

• Banquo is killed and Fleeance gets away

• Play movie scene: Banquo and Fleance vs. 3 murderers

Act III: Scene 4• Banquet in Macbeth’s honor• He is informed of the news of the evening and

sees Banquo’s ghost at the table• This highly upsets Macbeth, but recovers• The ghost of Banquo returns• Lady Macbeth excuses her husband and says

that he periodically suffers from seizures• Macbeth plans to seek out the itches and learn

more about the threats against them• Play Movie Scene: Banquet with Banquo’s ghost

Act III: Scene 5

• Read III.5-1059

• We meet the demon goddess Hecate

• She scolds the witches because they did not invite her to participate in their scheme for Macbeth

• She tells them that they should make up some potent spells to share with Macbeth

Act III: Scene 6

• Lenox talks to another Lord about the deaths of Duncan and Banquo

• Malcolm is in England gathering an army to overthrow Macbeth

• Macduff and the King of England are also in the army

Theme: Stains

• The Macbeths are obsessed with stains:– Lady Macbeth’s “out damn spot speech”– As early as Act II we see them struggling with stains:

• “All great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood/Clean from his hand…”

• “A little water clears us of this deed” (II.2-77-87)

– The stain of blood seems to follow them:• Banquo’s blood even comes back to the castle on the

murderer’s face– “There’s blood upon thy face” (III.4 13-14)

– Blood stains are also used by Lady Macbeth to setup the guards for Duncan’s murder

Theme: Be a man

• When Macbeth asks the murders if they had the courage to kill Banquo they reply:– “We are men my liege” (III.1.102)

• This answer is less than acceptable to Macbeth• Lady Macbeth and Macbeth have opposing viewpoints

on this issue:– Lady says a man:

• Uses whatever means necessary (I.7 55-60)• Must cast away kindness, tenderness and affection (I.5 45-60)

• Even Duncan rewards tasks like Macbeth’s slaying from “stern to chops” in Act 1

• Macbeth is therefore confronted with a paradox:– As his ability to shed more blood grows to please his wife, his

men desert him

Theme: Light vs. Dark

• The murder observes that the sun is setting as Banquo and Fleance approach– Banquo is a bright and noble light in contrast

to Macbeth’s darkness– It is highly symbolic that the last light of day

goes out as he dies

The Problem of the 3rd Murderer

• Who is this 3rd murderer that appears?• Many critics have hypothesized that it is:

– Macbeth himself• Recall that Macbeth did not trust the murderer’s “we are men” reply

– Lady Macbeth• Recall that she had great interest in what Macbeth was planning

next

– A thane or servant– The three witches in disguise

• The 3rd murderer means one of two things:– If Macbeth knew about this it would back up the fact that he does

not trust anyone– Also it rounds out the next theme, the power of 3’s

Theme: The Power of 3’s

• Throughout this course you will see the significance of this theme:– Applied to Macbeth:

• There are three witches• Three murderer’s• Three murders by Macbeth• Three apparitions appear in castle

– There is power in the number three dating back to Grimm’s Fairy Tales where characters received three wishes

Act IV: Scene 1• Read IV.1-1061-1062• The three witches conjure three spirits to answer

Macbeth’s questions:– An Armed Head: warns Macbeth against Macduff– Blood-stained Child: tells Macbeth that no man born

of a woman can stop him– Child wearing a crown: tells Macbeth that he will rule

Scotland until Birnam Wood matches on Dunsinane

• Macbeth asks if Banquo’s children will rule and Banquo appears heading a table of eight kings

• The apparitions and witches disappear and Macbeth vows to slay Macduff and his family

Act IV: Scene 2

• Lady Macduff cries over her husband’s departure

• She tells her son that his father is dead (women did that back then just in case) but the boy doesn’t believe it

• Macbeth’s murderers arrive and slay Macduff’s young son and chase his wife off stage to her death

• Play movie scene: Lady Macduff and son death scene

Act IV: Scene 3

• Read IV.3-1065• In England Malcolm tests Macduff’s loyalty

– He says that he has committed a crime– Macduff is saddened that a criminal will rule

Scotland– Malcolm knows that Macduff is for real

• Macduff finds out that his family was killed• He is sad and vows vengeance on

Macbeth

Theme: Doubling

• The witches prepare for Macbeth’s visit:– “double, double, toil and trouble” (IV.1-10)

• Through equivocation we know that Macbeth will only listen to, or comprehend half of their message

• When he hears the apparitions muses, he realizes that “stones have been known to move and trees to speak” (III.4-154) but he never considers the possibility that he may be defeated

Theme: Doubling

• The “show of kings”– Doubling to the extreme– Each king is a descendant of Banquo– The 8th king is actually James I (who was an

actual ruler and watched the play)– This king holds up a mirror and at one time or

another reflected the real James I face in it– This carries the effect of doubling into the

audience as well

Theme: Doubling

• There are also doubled characters in the play:– Banquo is the mirror image of Macbeth in

reverse– Lady Macbeth is the foil of Macbeth– Malcolm’s leadership style is contrasted to

Macbeth’s– Macduff is a double for Macbeth

Theme: Doubling

• Plot points and scenes also double:– The two scenes where the witches talk with

Macbeth– Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have

troubled sleep– Two murders committed on stage and two

committed offstage– Two scenes of mother and child

Act V: Scene 1

• Read V.1-1066

• Lady Macbeth is ill

• She mumbles and walks in her sleep

• She confesses of crimes against Banquo, Duncan, and Lady Macduff

• Play movie scene: Lady Macbeth

Act V: Scene 2

• Military Discussion of:– Macduff and Malcolm have made progress

against Macbeth’s troops– They plan to meet with the Scottish rebels in

Birnam Wood and march on Dunsinane to overthrow Macbeth

Act V: Scene 3

• Read V.3-1067• Macbeth and Doctor talk:

– Macbeth does not fear the invasion– He relates that he cannot be killed by a man born of a woman– He also mentions that the woods must march on him in order to

defeat him– Ironic that Seyton (pronounced Satan) should appear here as a

servant to Macbeth– Macbeth will begin to see his death through Seyton– Seyton will live on, but not Macbeth– Seyton will also report death, very ironic

• Watch movie scene

Act V: Scene 4

• Read V.4-1068

• Macduff and Malcolm meet the Scottish rebels at Birnam

• Malcolm has the idea to camouflage themselves with branches before they march on Macbeth’s castle

Act V: Scene 5

• Read: V.5-1068• Macbeth told that his wife is dead• Macbeth’s famous soliloquy comes• Macbeth is informed that Birnam Wood is

marching towards his castle• Macbeth realizes what this means but still

fights on believing that no man born of a woman can stop him

• Watch movie scene

Allusion to Cain and Abel

• Lady Macbeth’s washing of her hands is an attempt to wash the blood off her– This alludes to Cane and Abel and the mark

that God placed on Cane after he killed his brother

– The difference is that Cane’s mark prevents revenge and Lady Macbeth will die a few scenes later

Allusion to future psychological thought

• The doctor in Act V plays an important role:– He observes that Lady Macbeth’s dreams are used to

infer the cause of her distress– He declares that it is the result of an “infected mind”

(V.1-76)– Freud said, centuries later, that the dreams are the

gateways to the waking world, Macbeth cannot dream, and Lady Macbeth has nightmares

– According to Freud’s assumptions, then, both have lost their link to the real world and must be removed from it

Macbeth soliloquy

Act V: Scene 6

• Malcolm and Macduff prepare to assualt the castle walls

Act V: Scene 7

• Read V.7-1069

• Macbeth is now in armor

• He kills some noblemen

• He meets Macduff and the two duel throughout the remainder of the scene

• Watch duel

Act V: Scene 8

• Read V.8-1069-1070• Macduff says that he is not naturally born of a

woman• “Lay on Macduff”

– Macbeth taunts Macduff to keep fighting

• Macduff kills Macbeth and appears to the warriors with his severed head

• Malcolm is the new king of Scotland• Watch Macbeth death scene

The Problem of the Witches

• Are they real, or like the dagger, are the figments of Macbeth’s mind

• They only voice ambitions that Macbeth already has

• The problem with the witches not being real is that Banquo sees them too

• They appear to Macbeth because he is a hollow man devoid of the ambition needed

Audience Relations

• The audience relates to Macbeth– Macbeth’s dying is less of a release than Romeo’s or

Brutus’s– Audiences identify with Macbeth’s imagination– We are Macbeth:

• People who know that they are doing wrong but sometimes do it anyway

– The play works because audiences have all thought about committing a crime and becoming him- This frightens and grips the attention

Problem of the Secondary Characters

• Macbeth dominate the play that is why the audience relates to him– Lady Macbeth leaves in III.4 except for a short return in

madness in V.1– Duncan, Banquo, Macduff, and Malcolm are not individualized to

the audience does not relate to them– Porter, Macduff’s son, and Lady Macduff are vivid yet only

appear briefly

• Shakespeare does this a lot to ensure that the audience relates to the character he desires:– Mercutio is killed before he can eclipse Romeo– Falstaff’s death takes place offstage so as to keep the focus on

Hal

Theme: Marriage

• In each play, Shakespeare deals with the concept of marriage, though differently in comedy, tragedy, and history– Comedy: resolution of problems– Tragedy: cause for concern or trouble– History: Based upon faith and nobility

• Through irony, the Macbeths are presented as a very happy couple at the play’s start

• They are in love, happy, and share the good news (through a letter) of Macbeth’s assent to Thane of Cawdor

The Problem of the Post-Christian Setting

• The setting is medieval Catholic• Seems less set in Scotland and more of a kenoma, a

cosmological emptiness described by heretics• We have been thrown into a post-Christian world with

very little reference to Christian revelation• Although Macbeth’s crimes are not specifically anti-

Christian, the tragedy is so universal it could reach many audiences

• There is no spiritual comfort to gain here:– God did not defeat Macbeth– There is no guarantee that this will not happen again

Characterization of Macbeth

• Very ambiguous• Unlike any other Shakespearean character• Knows his acts are wrong but swears to do them

anyway• He is not entirely committed to evil• He lacks motivation to carry out his deeds• Unlike Hamlet or other characters, Macbeth

does not have a good reason to kill• The audience still sympathizes with him because

of his soliloquies of agony

Characterization of Macbeth

• When Macbeth kills Duncan he:– Eliminates the only sane nurturer left in his life– He cuts the very root that feeds him– He disrupts the natural course of history– Macbeth even states later:

• If it were done when, then well it were done quickly• He wants to hurry time along

The Problem of “The Child”

• Shakespeare never clarified the childlessness of the Macbeths

• Lady speaks of having nursed a child, now dead, even hints to having killed the child herself

• We are not told that Macbeth is her second husband, but this can be assumed

• They seem to expect no heirs, nor do the witches, even though Macbeth boasts, “bring forth men children only”

• Lady seems to be Macbeth’s mother as much as his wife• It is difficult to imagine Macbeth as a father• Freud even commented that their childlessness could be

the reason Macbeth kills

Theme: Time

• Time dominates this play

• It is devouring time, only death is regarded as the finality

• Death, time, and nature are fused together

• We see Macbeth pushing time forward

• Lady also helps him with this by not allowing any possible opportunity to slip by

Theme: Murder

• The play is a night piece in a Northland of cosmos

• The setting is darker than the origin of any audience member

• Every person in the play, including the audience, is a target for Macbeth

• Each is susceptible to Macbeth’s contamination and able to surmise a murder

The need for Porter the Clown

• Read II.3-1052:• Keeper of the gates of hell admits Macduff and

Lennox• Cheerful• Meant to contrast Porter with Macbeth• Porter sends out the idea of equivocation within

the play• Macbeth remembers his lines “To doubt th’

equivocation of the fiend/That lies like truth” in Act V

• All of the witched predictions were lies that sounded true, yet the Porter’s lines are truth that sound like lies

Irony

• Macbeth is an ironic masterpiece– Macbeth constantly says more than he knows

in soliloquy– He imagines more than he says, sometimes

through soliloquy– This raises a gap between consciousness and

imaginative powers

Characterization of Lady Macbeth

• Lady Macbeth provides all of the drive that Macbeth lacks

• She casts off her femininity to help– I.5-1049– Remorse and peace are weak and feminine to

her– She even calls Macbeth womanish– Not a man, she is devoid of all sentimentality– She no longer fits into natural world

Characterization of Lady Macbeth

• Reread I.6.1049 “All our service…”– Metaphor: “Duncan’s honor is deep and broad”– Metonymy: “he honors our house” (the Macbeths

themselves)– Hyperbole: “in every point twice done, then done

double”– Her syntax is complex– Her rhythm is smooth– She uses the iambic pentameter of Shakespearean

nobility

Characterization of Lady Macbeth

• Reread V.1-1066– This speech is in direct contrast to the

previous one• Choppy• Shows a deranged and fragmented state of mind• Short and unpolished sentences• Reflects a mind too disturbed to speak eloquently• Now speaks in prose, denoting that she has lost

her noble ranking