Macbeth
Guided Reading Notes
Act I
Tragedy: begins with “peace” and ends in destruction.
Tragic Hero- Protagonist. Experiences a “tragic fall” due to a “tragic flaw.”
 Tragic flaw: A quality that can be positive, but it overtakes the person. 
Setting: a Civil War. In Scotland.
The rebel = Macdonwald (he is attacking Scotland and trying to take over).
Defender of the Crown = Macbeth.
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I.i
*This act establishes the supernatural as a force within the play. The 3 witches
(weird sisters) meet.
- The Three Witches hear the battle in the background and speak about when they will meet again.
“When the hurlyburly’s done,/When the battle’s lost and won.”
The witches will meet again when the (hurlyburly = chaos) battle is over and one side has lost and the other side
has won. They will meet upon the heath (a hill with straw-like grass).
“Fair is foul, and foul is fair.”  Central idea of the play. Fair= good; Foul = bad (Appearance vs. Realitywhat is good is actually bad; what is bad is actually good)
I.ii
- King Duncan is at his castle asking for a report on the battle. King Duncan and Malcolm greet a
wounded Captain who praises Macbeth and Banquo for their valor in battle. His son, Malcolm,
performed poorly in the battle- he was almost captured.
- We learn that the Thane of Cawdor is a traitor (he will be killed). King Duncan decides to put him to
death.
- King makes Macbeth the new Thane of Cawdor. “No more that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive/Our
bosom interest: go pronounce his present death,/And with his former title greet Macbeth.” (Macbeth is
unaware of this).
“And Fortune, one his damned quarrel smiling,/Showed like a rebel’s whore…” (Fortune = fate).
- Macbeth and Macdonwald meet in battle. Macbeth salutes him with honor, and Macdonwald insults
him. Macbeth takes his sword and cuts him from belly button to jaw, “Till he unseamed him from nave
to th’ chops,/And fixed his head upon our battlements.”
****************************** How is the fight going? ******************************
 It looked like they were going to lose for a while, because Macdonwald is fierce and merciless.
 Macbeth is so fierce, he has steam coming off his sword from the blood in the morning air.
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- Just as Duncan’s Army begins to win, Norway shows up and begins to attack.
- Macbeth is so tough that watching him kill the Norwegians, was like watching a blood bath.
“…to conclude,/The victory fell on us.” – Macbeth and his army won.
What did Macbeth win?  He is now going to be greeted with the title Thane of Cawdor.
I.iii
- The witches tell Macbeth and Banquo their futures. They tell Macbeth that he will be King. They tell
Banquo that he will not be King, but his sons will. (“Lesser than Macbeth, but greater”).
- “Why do you dress me in borrowed clothes?”
- The Thane of Cawdor was caught as a traitor, he is waiting to be executed. Ross arrives to tell Macbeth
that he has been bestowed this new title. (“Why do you dress me in borrowed clothes?”- Macbeth
questions how he can have this title, if the Thane of Cawdor still lives. The Thane is waiting to be
executed.). Traitors = executed, not murdered.
*VOCABULARY- Aside- story telling began with one person telling a story. The first recorded plays had
one person on stage. A single actor would narrate the story (using different voices, etc.).
**Interesting- the witches do not reply to Macbeth, they do, however, reply to Banquo.
I.iv
QUOTE: “There’s no art/To find the mind’s construction in the face:/He was a gentleman on whom I
built/An absolute trust.”
MEANING- King Duncan thought he knew what kind of guy the Thane of Cawdor was, he trusted him
completely. King Duncan was unable to know what the Thane of Cawdor was thinking and doing. His
face mislead and fooled the King.  Fair is foul and foul is fair/ APPEARANCE VS. REALITY.
QUOTE: “Stars hide your fires./Let not light see my black and deep desires.”
ANALYSIS- I do not have pure intentions in my heart. Competition is ok in reality, but how badly do you
want it? How far will competition/ambition take you? Can it over-take you? Shakespeare digs into parts
of your souls, questioning how far you will go to get what you want. Now we look at what the outside
influences are and other factors that will play into his ambitions.  Ambition.
I.v
*Back an Iverness, Lady Macbeth is reading a letter from Macbeth.
- Lady Macbeth reads a letter from Macbeth describing the witches’ prophecy. This letter informs Lady
Macbeth what is going to happen. This letter also reminds the audience what has happened and what
will happen.
- A messenger tells her of King Duncan’s visit.
- Lady Macbeth decides she will have to help Macbeth kill Duncan that night.
QUOTE: “Yet I do fear thy nature;/ It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness/ To catch the nearest way.”
 she is questioning his manhood. Lady Macbeth thinks her husband is too nice and he won’t be able to
kill the King.
QUOTE: “Hie thee hither,/That I may pour my spirits in thine ear.” She wants Macbeth to come home so
she can help him plan King Duncan’s murder. She wants to start persuading him.
QUOTE: “Come, you spirits/That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,/And full me, from the crown
to the toe, top-full/Of direst cruelty! Make thick my blood,/Stop up th’access and passage to
remorse,/That no compunctious visitings of nature…”  IMAGERY: murdering ministers, the raven,
black, darkness, ‘nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark’ (stars hide your fires- don’t shine. 
Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are saying the same thing).
ANALYSIS: Lady Macbeth is conjuring the spirits to ‘unsex her’ so that she can have the power and
strength to do what she needs to do (kill the king). She doesn’t want any womanly fear getting in the
way. …’take my milk for gall’  Take my womanly milk and make it gall (yellow bile). She wants all parts
that are making her a woman and get rid of them.
QUOTE: “Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye,/Your hand, your tongue: look like th’innocent
flower,/But be the serpent under’t.”  Appearance vs. Reality.
I.vi
Duncan arrives at Iverness and Lady Macbeth extends her welcome to him.
- Lady Macbeth welcomes Duncan and invites him to feel comfortable at Inverness (their castle).
I.vii
Opens with Macbeth (soliloquy- lines spoken by one person, on stage, alone. This allows the audience to
know the thoughts of the character).
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If we murder Duncan, it should be done quickly.
Macbeth knows he will be damned for this murder.
Killing King is wrong because Macbeth is a kinsman/subject and his host.
King is much loved  everyone will be angered against murder.
Decides he has no reason to kill Duncan except “vaulting ambition” (Macbeth’s tragic flaw)
- Macbeth doesn’t want to kill Duncan because he has been good to him.
- Lady Macbeth bullies him into agreeing to kill the King. She questions his manhood and this is enough
to sway Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is telling Macbeth that she would kill her own child for him; yet
Macbeth is backing away and being a coward toward something they had agreed upon.
- Plan- she will get the guards drunk, kill Duncan, and blame his guards.
- Macbeth agrees and says he will do it.
“False face must hide what the false heart doth know.” Appearance vs. Reality. (Similar to look like the
innocent flower…).