Reading Log
Lamm /Colling
Act 1: Scene 1
• Setting:
Thunder and lightning on a heath (area
of land covered with grass and shrubs)
• Three witches (weird sisters) are talking to each
other and they plan to meet with Macbeth. (The
witches plan to mess with him).
• “Fair is foul, and foul is fair.” (Witches)
Act 1: Scene 2
• Setting: Camp near Forres
• King Duncan hears reports about the battle.
He finds out that the current Thane of Cawdor
is a traitor. He also finds out that Macbeth
was AWESOME in battle. Duncan decides to
have the traitor killed and Macbeth will get
the title of Thane of Cawdor.
Act 1: Scene 3
• Setting:
heath
• Macbeth and Banquo meet the three witches of make 3
predictions:
1. Macbeth will be Thane of Cawdor
2. Macbeth will be King
3. Banquo will beget kings (produce a line of kings)
• Ross and Angus, two noblemen, arrive to tell Macbeth that
he has been made Thane of Cawdor. The news causes
Macbeth to take the witches prophesies seriously, and he
begins to consider murdering King Duncan.
Act 1: Scene 4
• Setting: Forres, the palace (Scottish capital)
• Back at the royal court, Duncan names Malcolm as
the heir to the Scottish throne. Macbeth sees this
recognition of Malcolm as an obstacle that he must
overcome in order to become the King of Scotland.
The scene ends with Duncan indicating that he will
stay at Macbeth’s castle that night.
• “Stars hide your fires, let not light see my black and
deep desires.” (Macbeth)
Act 1: Scene 5
• Setting: Inverness (Macbeth’s castle)
• At Inverness, Lady Macbeth reads a letter from
Macbeth relaying the witch’s prophecies. Fearing
Macbeth is too soft-hearted to do what he must to
become king, she resolves to use her power over him
to steel his will. When she learns the king will visit
their castle that night, Lady Macbeth sees it as the
perfect opportunity to murder him.
L
• “ ook like the innocent flower, but be the serpent
under’t.” (Lady Macbeth)
Act 1: Scene 6
• Setting: Macbeth’s castle
• King Duncan arrives at Macbeth’s castle.
The
comments with dramatic irony on the
pleasant atmosphere surrounding Macbeth’s
home. Lady Macbeth graciously welcomes
the king while plotting his murder.
Act 1: Scene 7
• Setting: Macbeth’s castle
• Macbeth speaks his first important soliloquy explaining
how his ambition has lead to thoughts of murder. He is
joined by Lady Macbeth, who taunts him to show his
manliness by killing Duncan. Lady Macbeth comes up with
a plan to kill Duncan.
• The Plan:
1. Get Duncan’s guards drunk
2. Kill Duncan in his sleep
3. Smear blood on the guards
“False face must hide what the false heart doth know.” (Macbeth)
Act 1 Journal
What are your impressions of Lady Macbeth at
the end of Act 1? What is her relationship
with Macbeth (beyond being his wife)? What
details in this act support your impression?
Act 2: Scene 1
• Setting: Inverness, Macbeth’s castle
• Macbeth comes upon Banquo and Banquo’s son
•
Fleance after midnight as they make their way to
bed. Macbeth and Banquo talk of the witches’
predictions, and Macbeth again suggests a
private talk with Banquo.
After they leave, Macbeth imagines a bloodcovered dagger before him. When the bell
sounds, Macbeth steals away to commit the
murder.
Act 2: Scene 2
• Setting: Macbeth’s castle
• Lady Macbeth has drugged Duncan’s guards
but was unable to murder Duncan.
• Macbeth murders Duncan offstage and
reenters, deeply troubled and dazed.
• Lady Macbeth scolds him and places the
bloody daggers beside the guards, whom she
smears with blood.
Act 2: Scene 3
• Setting: Macbeth’s castle
• A drunken porter responds to Macduff’s and Lennox’s
knocking at the gate.
• Lennox describes strange upheavals in nature the
previous night as Macduff discovers Duncan’s body.
• Macbeth says that he killed Duncan’s grooms because
they had murdered Duncan, Lady Macbeth faints.
• Duncan’s sons Malcolm and Donalbain flee the country
fearing for their lives.
Act 2: Scene 4
• Setting: Outside Macbeth’s castle
• Ross and an Old Man speak of wild and unnatural
•
•
events that were observed during the night and
the day following Duncan’s murder.
Macduff reveals that Duncan’s sons are
suspected of murdering their father and that
Macbeth has gone to Scone to be installed as
king.
Macduff will not attend Macbeth’s coronation,
and he voices doubts about the new kings reign.
Act 2 Journal
• What was your reaction to the murder of
Duncan? Why do you think Shakespeare
decided to murder Duncan and his guards
offstage?
Act 3: Scene 1
• Setting: Forres: the Palace
• Banquo reveals that he now suspects Macbeth
murdered Duncan.
• To maintain normal appearances, Macbeth
invites Banquo to a banquet at court.
• Out of fear, Macbeth hires assassins to kill
Banquo and his son Fleance to ensure that
Banquo’s descendants cannot inherit the throne.
Act 3: Scene 2
• Setting: The palace
• Lady Macbeth expresses her discontent and then
scolds Macbeth for brooding about Duncan’s murder.
Macbeth responds that he envies Duncan, who no
longer needs to worry about treachery.
• He then admits that he fears Banquo and his children
and that a “deed of dreadful note” will soon be
accomplished. However, he does not specify that the
deed will be the murder of Banquo and Fleance.
Act 3: Scene 3
• Setting: Near the palace
• Three murderers set upon Banquo and
Fleance as the two approach Macbeth’s
palace.
• They kill Banquo, but Fleance escapes.
Act 3: Scene 4
• Setting: The palace
• The banquet is underway when one of the murderers calls Macbeth aside
to tell him that Banquo is dead but Fleance has escaped.
• Lady Macbeth urges Macbeth to join the table.
• Macbeth envisions Banquo’s ghost taking his seat at the banquet table
and speaks to the ghost – causing the guests to think he is unstable.
• Lady Macbeth at first says that her husband is ill and then, fearing what
he might reveal, she dismisses the guests.
• Macbeth closes the scene by saying that he will send for Macduff.
Act 3: Scene 5
• Setting: A witches haunt
• Hecate, queen of the wiches, berates the
weird sisters for leaving her out of their
previous encounters with Macbeth. She
promises to marshal magic forces to ensure
Macbeth’s ruin.
Act 3: Scene 6
• Setting: The palace
• Lennox expresses his suspicions of Macbeth to an
unnamed lord. The lord reports that Macduff,
who refused to answer Macbeth’s summons, has
gone to England to obtain the aid of King Edward
and Lord Siward in order to remove the tyrant
Macbeth and restore the Scottish crown to
Malcolm.
Act 3 Journal
• After his vision of Banquo’s ghost in Scene 4,
Macbeth finally accepts that “blood with have
blood”. What does this phrase mean? It is
relevant to today’s world? How?
Act 4: Scene 1
• Setting: A witches’ haunt
• Macbeth revisits the witches, and they show him four
apparitions that predict the future. The first apparition, an
armed head, tells Macbeth to beware Macduff. The
second, a bloody child, informs the king that no man born
of a woman will be able to kill Macbeth. The third, a
crowned child holding a tree, indicated that until Birnam
wood comes to Dunsinane Hill, he will not be conquered. A
fourth apparition depicts the initial prophecy of Banquo’s
royal descendents. Macbeth learns of Macduff’s departure
and orders the execution of Macduff’s family.
Act 4: Scene 2
• Setting: Macduff’s castle
• At Macduff’s castle, Ross tells Lady Macduff that
Macduff has gone to England. She cannot understand
why her husband left without explanation and accuses
him of betraying his marriage vows.
• When Ross exits, mother and son exchange tender
words, interrupted first by a messenger urging them to
flee for their lives and then by murderers who stab the
son and pursue Lady Macduff offstage.
Act 4: Scene 3
• Setting: England, before the king’s palace
• Macduff attempts to secure Malcolm’s aid in fighting
Macbeth, But Malcolm first tests Macduff’s loyalty to
Scotland.
• After Macduff proves his integrity, Malcolm tells him an
army is ready to attack Macbeth’s forces.
• Ross enters and tells Macduff that his wife, children, and
servants have been murdered.
• Turning his shock and grief to anger, Macduff
prays to meet Macbeth in battle.
Act 4 Journal
• What effect did the brutal murders of Lady
Macduff and her son have on you? Have your
feelings for Macbeth changed from the
opening of the play until now? How do you
account for your reaction?