Macbeth
 Written
Introduction
by William
Shakespeare in 1605
 Macbeth is a man who
overthrows the rightful King of
Scotland
 Shakespeare wrote Macbeth at
the beginning of King James I
reign
 Before
James succeeded
Elizabeth I he was king of
Scotland
 Placing the play in James’
homeland probably pleased him
Will
the real Macbeth
please stand up?
 Macbeth
was a real king of
Scotland
 He did kill King Duncan
 Reigned from 1040-1057
 Unlike the Macbeth in
Shakespeare’s play
 The
real Macbeth had a
legitimate claim to the throne
 The real Macbeth was a strong
leader
 The real Macbeth’s reign was
successful
 The real Macbeth was killed at
Lumphanan as opposed to
Dunsinane
Connections
Society
for British

In November 1605 the Gunpowder
Plot was discovered



Guy Fawkes and his followers (Roman
Catholics) planned to blow up
Parliament
They wanted to bring down the
British government and put a Catholic
rulers on the throne
Shakespeare sided with the king
and seemed to think that a play
about treason and death would
find an audience at this time
S o
this is a comedy…
right?
Aside from the violent nature of
the plot Shakespeare uses
several literary devices to
enhance the feeling of evil
 He
creates a serious and sinister
mood by having most of the
play take place at night
 There is a heavy emphasis on
the supernatural (witches,
dreams, spells, and ghosts)
Macbeth
Act 1 - Scene 1
 Witches - Supernatural
influences
 “Fair being Foul” - Paradox
 King Duncan - Scotland
 Duncan’s sons- Malcolm and
Donaldbain
 Generals - Macbeth and
Banquo
 Thunder , lightning , and rain sense of doom
Macbeth
Act 1 - Scene 2
 Macdonaldwald’s rebellion
 Ross tells Duncan of Norway’s
rebellion - King of Norway Sweno
 Thane of Cawdor rebels
against Duncan
 Scotland wins - Macbeth gets
title - Thane of Cawdor - “
THE SPOILS OF WAR”
 Macbeth and Banquo - “Two
spent swimmers”
Macbeth Act 1 Scene 3
 The witches first prophesy has
come true - Thane of Cawdor
 Macbeth
- “So foul and fair a
day , I have not seen - recalls
witches first scene
 Banquo - “The instrument of
darkness tell us truths - only
to betray us”
Macbeth Act 1 Scene 4
 Execution of Cawdor
 “You can’t tell what is in a
person’s heart by looking at
his face”
 “Nothing in his life became
him like the leaving of it”
 Duncan- Malcolm to be King
 Macbeth- “Let not light see my
black and deep desires”
Macbeth
Act 1 Scene 5
 Macbeth’s home - Castle of
Inverness
 Lady Macbeth comes up with
plan to kill Duncan - Husband
weak
 “The milk of human kindness”
 Lady Macbeth - Must pour
spirits in their ear. (Hamlet
killed that way)
Macbeth Act 1 Scene 6
 Lady Macbeth - chameleon perfect hostess
 Duncan’s speech full of
dramatic irony - “castle
pleasant” - “air is sweeter”
sees a martlet (a summer
bird)
 to Duncan the castle appears
to be a paradise
Macbeth Act 1 Scene 7
 LadyMacbeth - convinces
Macbeth to do the “horrid
deed”
 Macbeth’s Soliloquy - marked
by confusion
Duncan - Kinsman and his
subject , a good King and
virtuous man , a popular King
, and death would bring
sorrow to Scotland
 Lady
Macbeth Argument“What could have been when
he can be King” - “ Would kill
her own baby to do this”
Macbeth Act 2 Scene 1
 Past midnight - Moon has set
and the “Candles” of heaven
cannot be seen - dark
brooding
 Banquo draws sword - irony
doesn’t know Macbeth is
going to kill Duncan
 Dagger Speech - Mental
disturbance
 “Is this a dagger which I see
before me,The handle toward
my hand?” —Macbeth,
2.1.42–3
Macbeth Act 2 Scene 2
 Lady Macbeth - “That which
have made them drunk, hath
made me bold, What hath
quenched them have given me
fire”
 Drunk with boldness and on
fire with passion
 Lady Macbeth -would have
murdered Duncan had he not
looked like her father
 Macbeth has two concerns he has murdered sleep ,
bloodiness of deed
 Lady
Macbeth - blood is only
like paint wash it off
Scene 2
 Knocking - knocking of their
consciences actual knock
 “With all great Neptune’s
ocean wash this blood Clean
from my hand?”—Macbeth,
2.2.78–9
Macbeth Act 2 Scene 3
 Porter - light comedy
 farmer and equivocator have
specific religious and historical
connotations
 A few months before Macbeth
performed - Gunpowder plot -
King James Guy Fawkes and
John Garnett (nickname the
farmer)
 Lennox - extraordinary
weather -unnatural events The universe and events
related
Scene 3
 Equivocation - The practice of
lying in court about one’s
religion
 Lady Macbeth faints when
Macbeth proclaims he has
killed the guards - avenge the
act of treasonous malice - not
in the plan
 Malcolm - England
 Donalbain - Ireland
Scene
3
 Macbeth says he has killed
servants - Lady Macbeth faints
 Macbeth and other Thanes
swear to meet “in manly
rediness” to avenge this act of
“treasonous malice”
 “ There’s daggers in men’s
smiles”
 Donaldbain - Ireland
 Malcolm - England
Macbeth Act 2 Scene 4
 Macbeth has become King
 Donaldbain
and Malcolm have
fled
 Old Man - Traditional figure in
lit represents what “has been”
 owl kills falcon - daylight has
been replaced by night horses of the King’s stable
have eaten each other
 The world he has known has
been turned on its head
Macbeth Act 3 Scene 1
 Banquo suspects Macbeth gains comfort from 2nd
prediction - his own children
will be Kings
 E ve n
with new title Macbeth
does not feel at ease
 calls murderers dogs but he
shows his inhumanity and
imperfections -also wants to
kill Fleance
Act 3 Scene 2
 Macbeth plans murder not
Lady Macbeth
 Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s
world not at peace
 Macbeth wants to get rid of
his bond with humanity
 “We have scorched the snake,
not killed it.”—Macbeth,
3.2.15
 “Duncan
is in his grave; After
lifeʼs fitful fever he sleeps
well.”—Macbeth, 3.2.24–5
Act 3 Scene 3
 Banquo killed - Murderers
lantern extinguished - Fleance
escapes
 Forces of darkness are at odds
with light
 Murderers capable of poetry
 Escape of Fleance turning
point - Peripeteia - sudden
reversal of fortune
 Banquo’s dying words “to
revenge”
Act 3 Scene 4
 Macbeth
has Thanes of
Scotland over - Macduff not
there
 Murderers tell Macbeth what
happened - Macbeth losses it
 Macbeth sees ghost - goes
into a fit
 Macbeth has lost control
 Macbeth will kill Macduff and
visit three sisters
 “It will have blood, they say:
blood will have blood.” —
Macbeth, 3.4.152–53
Act 3 Scene 5
 Hecate joins three sisters
 Some
say this scene was not
in the orginal play
Act 3 Scene 6
 Lennox reveals doubts about
Macbeth - Did he kill the
guards hastily?
 Macduff has fled to England to
join forces with Malcolm also
asks help from King Edward of
England
Macbeth Act 4 Scene 1
 “Double, double, toil and
trouble; Fire burn, and
cauldron bubble.”—Witches,
4.1.10–1
 Macbeth
goes to weird sisters
and demands to be shown
apparitions of the future
 1. disembodied head of a
warrior who warns Macbeth of
revenge
 2. blood-covered child who
cannot be killed by any man “
of woman born”
 3.
a child wearing a crown
promises Macbeth cannot lose
in battle until Birnam wood
moves to Dunsinane
 Macbeth
asks about Banquo’s
sons and sees a procession of
Banquo and future kings
 Macbethless future
 Macduff has fled to England
and Macbeth announces
revenge of Macduff’s wife and
children
 “I’ll make assurance double
sure.”—Macbeth, 4.1.93
Act 4 Scene 2
 Lady Macduff feels Macduff
has acted dishonestly
 Son says the world is full of
dishonest men
Act 4 Scene 3
 “At
one fell swoop.”—Macduff,
4.3.256
 Malcolm tests Macduff’s
loyalty - says he would be a
great tyrant - reverse
psychology
 Macduff still hates Macbeth Malcolm has gotten what he
wants Macduff’s loyalty
 Ross tells him of the slaughter
of wife and child - Macduff
vows revenge
Macbeth Act 5 Scene 1
 “Out, damned spot! out, I
say!”—Lady Macbeth, 5.1.31
 “All
the perfumes of Arabia
will not sweeten this little
hand.” —Lady Macbeth,
5.1.46–7
 “What’s done cannot be
undone.”—Lady Macbeth,
5.1.62–3
 Played in dark except one
candle
 Lady Macbeth has gone mad sleepwalks and tells fragments
of events
 overheard
in-waiting
by doctor and lady-
 Lady
Macbeth is seen rubbing
her hands - (quotes at the
beginning)
 Lady Macbeth needs a “divine”
 Spiritual darkness - 1 candle
Macbeth
Act 5 Scene 2
 Four lords of Scotland Lennox, Mentith, Angus, and
Caithness resolve to join
Malcolm and English forces
who are at Birnam Wood
 Caithness speech - warrior
hero - valiant fury - but not
righteous - “ Distemper’d
Cause”
Macbeth Act 5 Scene 3
 Macbeth dismisses reports of
invasion ( confident tyrant)
 Trusts the prophecies
 Servant ( cream faced lilly
livered) announces huge army
 Doctor tells of Lady Macbeth
 “ yellow leaf” - fall of his own
reputation
Macbeth Act 5 Scene 4
 English and Scotish armies
under leadership of Malcolm
meet at Birnam Wood
 Malcolm
orders soldiers to cut
a branch and carry it in front
of them as camouflage “To
shadow the number of our
host”
 taken from Holinshed’s
Chronicles - 1577
Macbeth Act 5 Scene 5
 Macbeth fully armed - brave
rhetoric
 shriek offstage - The queen is
dead
 Birnam Wood appears to have
uprooted itself advancing
towards Dunsinane
 Shakespeare
- Power-seeking
tyrants tend toward selfdestruction
 “I have supped full with
horrors.”—Macbeth, 5.5.14 Banquo’s ghost
 “Tomorrow, and tomorrow,
and tomorrow.”—Macbeth,
5.5.21
Macbeth Act 5 Scene 6
 Malcolm and his troops have
reached Dunsinane
 Siward first to advance - age
 Macduff order of troopsdiscipline - harbinger or sign
of what is to come
Macbeth
Act 5 Scene 7
 Macbeth challenged by son of
Siward
 Macbeth’s forces have
surrendered Dunsinane Castle
 “They have tied me to a
stake: I cannot fly”
 kills young Siward - “Thou
wast born of woman”
 Macduff - ironic timing- takes
place of Siward
Macbeth Act 5 Scene 8
 Macbeth and Macduff finally
face to face
 words are tossed
 Macbeth
ponders suicide but
hey I can’t die
 Macduff tells him he entered
the world “Untimely ripp’d”
from mothers womb
 Macbeth realizes witches are
“imperfect speakers”
 Macbeth dies
Macbeth Act 5 Scene 9
 Malcolm proclaimed new king
of Scotland
 true friends “we miss” loyalty
he will rule with graciousness
and humility
 Macduff enters with Macbeth’s
head