What happens after Macbeth’s soliloquy…..?
Language focus
Act I scene VII
Macbeth: “we will proceed no further in this
business”
How does Lady Macbeth convince her husband
to assassinate King Duncan?
Macbeth: “I am settled”
Lady Macbeth
matching exercise
Quotation
Persuasive technique used
“We fail?.....we’ll not fail!.....what cannot
you and I perform on the unguarded
Duncan?”
Calling him a coward
“When you durst do it, then you were a
man”
Questioning his manhood
“I know….how tender ‘tis to love the babe Reassurance
that milks me…..I would…dashed the
brains out, had I so sworn as you have
done this”
“Screw your courage to the sticking place” Flattery
“Wouldst thou…..live a coward?”
Suggests he’s breaking a promise
Lady Macbeth
matching exercise
Quotation
Persuasive technique used
“We fail?.....we’ll not fail!.....what cannot
you and I perform on the unguarded
Duncan?”
Flattery
“When you durst do it, then you were a
man”
Questioning his manhood
“I know….how tender ‘tis to love the babe Suggests he’s breaking a promise
that milks me…..I would…dashed the
brains out, had I so sworn as you have
done this”
“Screw your courage to the sticking place” Reassurance
“Wouldst thou…..live a coward?”
Calling him a coward
Act II, scene I: “Is this a dagger which I see
before me?”
• OBJ: to analyse a
second soliloquy and
understand how
Shakespeare uses
language to convey
Macbeth’s state of
mind.
Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let
me clutch thee.
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight? or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat-oppressed
brain?
I see thee yet, in form as palpable
As this which now I draw.
Thou marshall'st me the way that I was
going;
And such an instrument I was to use.
Mine eyes are made the fools o' the
other senses,
Or else worth all the rest; I see thee still,
And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of
blood,
Which was not so before. There's no such
thing:
It is the bloody business which informs
Thus to mine eyes. Now o'er the one
halfworld
Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams
abuse
The curtain'd sleep; witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate's offerings, and wither'd
murder,
Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf,
Whose howl's his watch, thus with his
stealthy pace.
With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards
his design
Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set
earth,
Hear not my steps, which way they walk,
for fear
Thy very stones prate of my whereabout,
And take the present horror from the time,
Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he
lives:
Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath
gives.
A bell rings
I go, and it is done; the bell invites
me.
Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell
That summons thee to heaven or to hell.
Extension: Macbeth’s soliloquy contains a number of references to evil
and the supernatural. Highlight words or phrases which refer to
witchcraft, murder and secrecy.
1. What does Macbeth imagine?
2. Why does Macbeth think he is hallucinating?
3. How does Macbeth interpret this vision?
4. What is the dagger stained with?
5. What time of day is it?
6. What strange and supernatural events does Macbeth
refer to?
7. What decision does Macbeth come to by the end of the
speech?
8. Why has the castle bell been rung?
Macbeth’s rise to power
Malcolm: “What will you do?....I’ll to England.”
Donaldbain: “To Ireland, I….where we are,
there’s daggers in men’s smiles.”
Duncan’s sons - in line to the throne - flee to
keep themselves safe as they are suspicious.
However, this makes them look suspicious, and
Macbeth is crowned King Of Scotland.
Macbeth: “To be thus is nothing;
But to be safely thus.--Our fears in Banquo
Stick deep;”
• OBJ: to analyse a
third soliloquy and
understand how
Shakespeare uses
language to convey
Macbeth’s state of
mind.
Macbeth’s paranoia
“To be thus is nothing;
But to be safely thus…..”
Macbeth remembers his first meeting with the
witches:
Witches: (to Banquo) “lesser than Macbeth, and
greater….not so happy, yet much happier…thou
shalt get Kings, though thou by none”
And becomes ever more suspicious of Banquo
Macbeth: “O, full of scorpions is my mind dear
wife! Thou know’st that Banquo and his Fleance,
lives.”
To be thus is nothing;
But to be safely thus.--Our fears in Banquo
Stick deep; and in his royalty of nature
Reigns that which would be fear'd: 'tis much he dares;
And, to that dauntless temper of his mind,
He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour
To act in safety. There is none but he
Whose being I do fear: and, under him,
My Genius is rebuked; as, it is said,
Mark Antony's was by Caesar. He chid the sisters
When first they put the name of king upon me,
And bade them speak to him: then prophet-like
They hail'd him father to a line of kings:
Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown,
And put a barren sceptre in my gripe,
Thence to be wrench'd with an unlineal hand,
No son of mine succeeding. If 't be so,
For Banquo's issue have I filed my mind;
For them the gracious Duncan have I murder'd;
Put rancours in the vessel of my peace
Only for them; and mine eternal jewel
Given to the common enemy of man,
To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings!
Rather than so, come fate into the list.
And champion me to the utterance! Who's there!
Fear of
Banquo?
He feels
inferior to
Banquo?
He feels
unstable as
King?
He fears fate?
What is his
plan?
Act III, scene IV: Banquo’s ghost at the
banquet “blood will have blood”
Watch the scene:
1.How were you feeling when the banquet
began?
2.How did you feel when Macbeth began to shout
and scream?
3.How did you feel when Lady Macbeth sent
everyone home?
4.What were your thoughts and feelings at the
end of the scene?
5.What is Macbeth’s state of mind now?
Act IV A return visit to the witches:
“Something wicked this way comes….tis Macbeth”
Watch the scene:
1.What reasons could Macbeth have to
return to the witches?
2. What does he ask of the witches?
3. The three apparitions tell Macbeth….?
4. How do you think Macbeth will feel
now he has heard from the witches?
The witches’ prophecies
1. “Beware Macduff”
2. “none of woman born shall harm Macbeth”
3. “Macbeth shall never vanquis’d be, until
Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill
shall come against him”
Act IV: Macbeth and Lady Macbeth
• Macduff flees to England to try and build an army
against Macbeth with Malcolm.
• Macbeth; suspicious and paranoid, orders the
slaughter of Macduff’s wife and family.
• What can you conclude about Macbeth from his
recent actions?
• Seeing Banquo’s ghost
• Returning to the witches
• Ordering the slaughter of Macduff’s family
Act V: Macbeth and Lady Macbeth
• Lady Macbeth has been sleep walking and a
Doctor is looking after her.
• She continually washes her hands in her sleep,
and relives the night of Duncan’s murder.
• Watch the scene:
• What parts of the murder does she relive?
• What do her actions tell you about how she
feels about what has been done?
Act V scene V: Macbeth: “she should have died
hereafter”
• OBJ: to analyse a
fourth soliloquy
and understand
how Shakespeare
uses language to
convey Macbeth’s
state of mind.
Lady Macbeth takes her own life
What is Macbeth’s reaction?
She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word.
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
The final battle
• Malcolm and Macduff’s army march on to
Macbeth.
• Macbeth goes into the battle confident due to
the witches’ prophecies.
• BUT…….
Malcolm: “Let every soldier hew him down a
bough and bear’t before him. Thereby shall we
shadow the numbers”
Messenger: “As I did stand watch upon the hill,
I looked toward Birnam, and anon methought
the wood began to move”
Macbeth: “If thou speak’st false, upon the next
tree shall thou hang!”
Macbeth: “swords I smile at, weapons laugh to
scorn brandished by man that’s of woman born”
Macduff: “Turn, hellhound, turn! I have no words.
My voice is my sword”
Macbeth: “Thou losest…I bear a charmed life,
which must not yield to one of woman born”
Macduff: “I tell thee…(I) was from his mother’s
womb untimely ripped….yield, coward!”
Macbeth is killed, and Malcolm is hailed
King Of Scotland.
Questions to discuss
1. Is justice served at the end of Macbeth?
2. Who gets vengeance?
3. Is Macbeth mostly about greed, ambition or
how power can corrupt anyone? (remember,
Macbeth began as a loyal soldier!)
4. Can you understand Macbeth’s faith in what
the witches tell him?
5. Who or what do you blame for Macbeth’s
downfall?