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Macbeth Study Guide
Terms:
 Comedy
- girl meets boy, they fall in love get married
- cases of mistaken identity for comic affect (girls as guys); purely for entertainment
- good wins, bad lose
- disorder for comic effect  new order restored
- nobody dies
 History
- way of teaching the audience about the history of a nation
- someone is trying to usurp the throne  creates disorder  usurper dies, king restores
order
 Tragedy
- a character makes a flawed decision that leads to his doom, often death
- character brings disorder  lives lost  then king reestablishes order
- not necessarily historically accurate
 Verbal Irony
- saying the opposite of what you mean
- the person speaking is aware of the twist  the character creates the twist
 Dramatic Irony
- when the audience knows something that the character doesn’t
- the character is unaware
- playwright controls the lines and creates the twist
 Irony of Situation
- twist of events
- surprise ending that we aren’t expecting
 Blank Verse
- iambic pentameter
- without rhyming lines
- 5 iambs per line ( × / )
 Prose (vs. verse)
- nonmetered language with no qualities of poetry
- often spoken by uneducated people (like the porter in MacBeth)
- verse: metered language with feet
 Pun
- play on words
 Aside
- character turns to the side and directly faces the audience  we hear his thoughts
- other people are on stage, but they don’t hear it
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usually short, rarely a few lines
 Monologue
- 1 person does all the talking
- speech is directed at the people on stage  the others can hear him
 Soliloquy
- Character is always alone on stage
- Character expresses his/her inner thoughts
 Paradox
- figure of speech
- speaks the truth/creates an additional truth
- “Nothing can be whole which has not been rent”
 Antithesis
- 2 ideas in opposition
- a sentence written in parallel form with contrasting ideas for effect
- rhetorical device
- examples:
To be or not to be
Fair is foul and foul is fair
Man proposes God disposes
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times
 Repertory
- 10 plays in a cycle
- like Shakespeare’s troop
- Annapolis
 Anachronism
- out of place in time
- like a gun in Romeo and Juliet
 Equivocate
 Pathetic fallacy
- A phrase coined in the 19th century to denote a way of crediting nature with human
emotions
- It has evolved to mean just another version of personification by poets and writers
Folios and Quartos
 Folio = A large collection of plays published after the writer’s death
- printer’s term for “one fold”
- Published after death
- Paper was very expensive and so was labor
- The printer, not the writer, made the money
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 First Folio = the name given to the huge collection of Shakespeare’s plays published
after his death by his friends
- 36 out of his 38 plays were published in the First Folio
-There are only 230 copies left – 75 are in the Folgier Library
- No copyright back then: once you published your work, it was anyone’s game
- Many plays were pirated by other theaters:
1) Fierce competition between theatres: if a play was a big money maker, rival
theatres wanted it
2) Disgruntled actors who wanted bigger parts would snitch to other theatres
- A pirated version of Romeo and Juliet appeared in the Rose Garden theater
 Quarto = the collection of plays produced at the time the play was playing in theatre
- Printer’s term for “4 fold”
- Published during the time of the play
- Was usually smaller
- Not authorized, but was legal
- 18 quartos were published in Shakespeare’s lifetime
-some were very popular and went through many printings
-NEVER MacBeth: Macbeth was only published after his death
Four Periods of Shakespeare’s writing
1) Period I (up until 1594)
-writes most of his histories
-writes a few comedies
-dabbles in poetry
-no sonnets or tragedies yet
2) Period II (1594-1599)
-writes most of his comedies during this period
-histories were how people learned history
-most people were illiterate: plays were the bread and butter of english
-Romeo and Juliet was written: considered an experiment with form; not considered a true
tragedy
3) Period III ( 1599-1608)
-writes most of his tragedies
-written when he was middle-aged: older and wiser
4) Period IV (1608-1613)
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-writes his tragic comedies: happiness lost and found
*1623: First Folio gets officially published
About Macbeth (the play)
 The shortest play: written Christmas 1606
 Was very dark play
-because it was played indoors
-it becomes an asset to the mood
 Honored royalty and rightful, virtuous qualities of a good king
-Main focus: What makes a good king?
-Shakespeare wanted to please James
 Set in the Dark Ages in Scotland in the 11th century
-harsh, dark times
-Scots were primitive and rough
 References to equivocation, witches, and treason
-these all intrigued James
-allowed scholars to time the play
 He was writing his play to honor his king, James I
-he needed to make sure that he makes all of the king’s ancestors honorable
-he twisted history a little- took poetic license to please James
True Story of Macbeth
 Shakespeare tweaked the information as to not upset the king
 Macbeth was actually the great ruler
 Duncan was actually a terrible king:
-spoiled and overzealous man who killed his grandfather to get into power
The Great Chain of Being
 It is a hierarchical system in which everyone is born into a certain rank
 People in high positions could elevate people of low positions
-Kings anointed knights; popes anointed cardinals
 Extends from god down to the lowest forms of life. Chaos is at the very bottom: chaos
symbolized evil for them, just like reason symbolized good.
 Elizabethans believed in an absolutely ordered universe
 When Macbeth kills Duncan, he violates this order, creating chaos. This order isn’t restored till
the end of the play
**Killing the king isn’t just a social action  It’s a cosmic crime and the
universe reflects the disruption
Shakespeare
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 Lived from 1564-1616
 Lived in Stratford upon Avon
-3rd of 8 children
-son of a tradesman
 Attended grammar school: learned Latin, Greek, literature, and speaking
 At age 18, he married Anne Hathaway
-6 months later, they had baby twins
-banns of marriage: published 3 months before so any objections can come forward
-She stayed behind with the family when he started working because the theatre life
was sketchy
 1588 on = the Forgotten Years
-Shakespeare in Love – focuses on this time
-no records of him at all in this gap, until he makes a name for himself
 He worked in the Globe theatre in London
-He first was an actor  became a playwright  became a part owner of the Globe
 He retired at 47, the height of his career
-built 2nd largest house in Stratford and lived comfortably
About the Witches
-James associated witches and treason
-witches = old hags invaded by spirits
-3 witches = past, present, and future
-They speak in a different rhythm:
-NOT in iambic pentameter (x /): speek in trochees (/ x)
-Everything is turned upside down
Antithetical statements
 “When the battle’s lost and won” (witches)
 “Fair is foul and foul is fair” (witches)
 “Lesser than Macbeth and greater; not so happy, yet much happier; thou shalt get kings, though
thou be none” (Witches prophecy to Banquo)
 “False face must hide what the false doth know” (Macbeth)
 “God’s benison (=blessing) go with you and with those that would make good of bad and friends
of foe” (Old Man)
 “Fathered he is, and yet he’s fatherless” (Lady Macduff)
 “The night is long that never find the day” (Malcolm)
Act 1
Page 9: Captain reports on Macbeth’s achievements on the battlefield, revealing what kind of man
Macbeth is
-Shows Macbeth is brace, almost to the point of being reckless, and ruthless and bloodthirsty
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“For brave Macbeth (well he deserves the name), Disdaining fortune, with his brandished
steel which smoked with bloody execution, like valor’s minion, carved out his passage till
he faced the slave, which ne’er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him, till he unseamed
him from the nave to th’ chops, and fixed his head upon our battlements”
Page 11: Captain reports on Macbeth and Banquo’s courage against the Norwegian king’s second
attack
-They weren’t surprised or scared at all: they charged at it like cannons and were very fierce.
“As sparrows eagles or the hare the lion. If I say sooth, I must report they were as cannons
overcharged with double cracks. So they doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe. Except they
meant to bathe in reeking would or memorize another Golgotha, I cannot tell”
Page 13: Duncan demonstrates the fate of traitors
“No more that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive our bosom interest. Go, pronounce his death”
-punishing the traitor, rewarding the loyal
-very resolute, in control, quick to make decisions, knows what he wants
Page 15: Witches are portrayed as petty, nasty, vicious, and vengeful
-Tells story of a sailor’s wife who refused to give them chestnuts, so the witch is going to take
revenge on her husband’s ship
Page 17: Banquo’s response to the witch’s prophecy shows him to be innocent and good-hearted
*FOILS Macbeth and his response
-Asks Macbeth why he’s startled: this is great!
-Asks the witches if they’re for real and then asks for some information too.
“Good sir, why do you start and seem to fear things that do sound so fair – I’ th’ name of truth,
Are you fantastical, or that indeed which outwardly you show?”
-Banquo: thinks their prophecy is hilarious and funny
-Macbeth: is too curious and demands more information
Page 23: Banquo’s reluctance to trust the witches depicts his integrity of character
-knows that they will tempt you with truth but destroy you
“Tis strange and oftentimes, to win us to our harm, the instruments of darkness tell us truths,
win us with honest trifles, to betray’s in deepest consequence”
Page 31-35: Lady Macbeth’s letter soliloquy reveals a lot about her character
*Lots of good quotes – see page*
-She fears Macbeth’s kind nature and thinks he doesn’t have the ruthlessness to accomplish this
-thinks he would only do things approved by god, and is too afraid to do what he really wants
-She thinks she needs to step in so he can get his fated crown
-likens her persuasion to poison and sees herself as evil
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Page 33: Lady Macbeth invokes evil spirits
*Lots of good quotes – see page*
-Asks to be transformed from her loving sex (as a female)
-Asks to be filled with cruelty and to block all remorse so nothing is in her way
-Asks to not think, but just to act
Page 35: Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth to hide his true feelings from the world
“Look like th’ innocent flower”
-Macbeth looks scared and terrified
Purpose of Act 1 Scene 6: to show how Banquo and Duncan are clueless and how Lady Macbeth is able
to act innocent and fool them
Page 39: Macbeth gives an important soliloquy that exemplifies his uncertainty and doubts about
committing the murder
“If it were done when tis done, then twere well it were done quickly. If the assassination could
trammel up the consequence and catch with surcease success….We still have judgment here
which being taught return to plague the inventor”
-If there were no consequences to my actions, I would do the murder right away
-images of scooping the murder and its consequences up with a net
-we have judgment that will plague us after the murder
-we’ll feel so guilty it’ll destroy us
-I’m betraying Duncan: I’m his subject and relative, I’m his host, and Duncan has been
such a good king with such good virtues
Page 41: Lady Macbeth attacks Macbeth once he calls off the murder, attacking his manhood
-Page 43: She demonstrates how far she’ll go to keep her word- would have killed her own kid
“Was the hope drunk wherein you dressed yourself? Hath it slept since? And wakes it now, to
look so green and pale…Art thou afeared to be the same in thine oft and valor?”
“When you durst do it, you were a man”
Page 45: Macbeth is overpowered by Lady Macbeth and agrees to the murder
“False face must hid what the false heart doth know”
-Macbeth is very aware of the wrongness of what they’re doing
-Lady Macbeth asked to act without thinking or guilt, so she is ignoring the immorality
“Bring forth men-children only for they undaunted mettle should compose nothing but males.”
Act 2
Page 49: Banquo FOILS Macbeth as he resists temptation and invokes the heavens
“A heavy summons lies upon me and yet I would not sleep. Merciful powers, restrain in me the
cursed thoughts that nature gives way to in repose
-idea of sleep
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Page 51-53: Macbeth’s dagger soliloquy
*IMPORTANT: see pages*
Page 55: Lady Macbeth has been drinking, suggesting that she needs to build her courage and isn’t as
strong and vicious as she seems
-She’s a nervous wreck before Macbeth comes back
-afraid it didn’t work
-makes excuses: I would have done it, but Duncan reminds me of my dad
Page 57-59: Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth not to think about the murder
-Macbeth couldn’t say Amen, so he realizes that he’s been damned
-She tells him to go wash the blood of his hands  get rid of all of the guilt
-She has to go take the daggers back because he is unable too
-She tells him to calm down; he’s acting like a spooked child
Page 57: “Macbeth does murder sleep”
Page 59: Lady Macbeth continually belittles the event
-Don’t think about it; otherwise you’ll realize how serious it is, will feel guilty, and won’t be able
to move on
“A little water clears us of this deed. How easy is it, then!”
Act 2 Scene 3 (Page 61-63): the porter
-ONLY humorous scene in the whole book
-The porter pretends to be the gatekeeper at the gates of hell
**CASTLE = HELL (evil and chaos)**
-He pretends to let in all sorts of people, most importantly an equivocator
*link between equivocation and treason  would have pleased James
-He asks for a tip and talks about how “drink may be said to be an equivocator with lechery”
**SYMBOLICALLY**
1) The porter is symbolic of the state the castle is in
2) The porter himself symbolizes chaos
*chaotic mess that has been unleashed
-moral laws have been broken and the Great Chain of Being has been disrupted
-The English hated chaos and wanted peace
Page 65: An account of nature’s condition (by Lennox) implies that nature responds to disruptions of
order on earth with chaos
-Lennox describes how terrible the night has been – “The night has been unruly”
-given by Lennox: objective and unbiased
Page 65: Macduff, finding Duncan dead, likens him to a holy temple
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Page 69: Macbeth responds oddly to Duncan’s death, and we recognize that he is expressing regret
-Suggesting that he wished he had died before he could have committed the murder so he
wouldn’t be damned
-He says that nothing has meaning and life is trifling, not serious
-“Renown and grace is dead”
-grace = king, honor, his own salvation, and forgiveness and mercy
Act 2 Scene 4 (Pages 73-77): the purpose of this scene is to portray what happened in nature when
Duncan was killed, implying that nature responds to the actions of men
-told by Ross and the Old Man: lets us know about the condition of Scotland from an objective
viewpoint (Old Man is 70 years old and has never seen anything like this before)
-Nature is reversed
-It’s the middle of day, but it looks like night (eclipse)
-A falcon (a regal bird associated with royalty and kings) was killed by an owl (associated
with evil)  symbolizes Duncan killed by Macbeth
-Duncan’s horses have eaten each other
**Nature responds to actions of men and chaos in unleashed**
Page 75: Macduff subtly expresses his suspicions about Macbeth to Ross and the Old Man
-he refuses to go to Macbeth’s coronation because he doesn’t approve
-he goes home to Fife
Act 3
Page 81: Banquo is lured and tempted by what the witches said, but he doesn’t take action
-“I fear thou played’st most foully for it” – I’m afraid Macbeth played foully for king
-Reflects on his own prophecy and starts to gain hope in what the witches aid
-FOILS Macbeth: Macbeth acts without thinking, but Banquo doesn’t take any action
**Banquo controls his response
Page 85: Macbeth gives an important soliloquy in which he reveals his fears of Banquo
-He’s afraid of his noble character: his royal nature, courage, and kingly braveness
-only fears Banquo
-reflects back: he egged on the witches for information  he’s paranoid about being usurped
-thinks he’s done all the dirty work for Banquo’s kids, who will just take the crown
-He’s given his soul to the devil and damned himself for them
-He didn’t wait for fate: he acted on it and killed Duncan
-before he was apprehensively weighing things
-now he’s trying to control fate
Page 87: Macbeth manipulates the murderers into going after Banquo by reminding them of all the
reasons they have to hate Banquo and appealing to their manhood
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Page 91: In private, Lady Macbeth expresses regret and dissatisfaction
“Naught’s had, all’s spent where our desire is got without content”
“Tis safer to be that which we destroy than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy”
-we’ve gained nothing, but have wasted everything because we don’t have happiness
-She’s wasted her security, peace of mind, intimacy and relationship with Macbeth
Page 93: In public to Macbeth, Lady Macbeth changes faces
-She asks him to accept the murder and move on and to not dwell on it
-Ironically, she hasn’t gotten over it and was just dwelling on it.
“Things without all remedy should be without regard. What’s done is done.”
Page 93: Macbeth admits that he is guilt-driven and going crazy and shuts Lady Macbeth out.
-He has no sleep or peace of mind
“Better to be with the dead, whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace, than on the
torture of the mind to lie in restless ecstasy”
-Better to be Duncan: he has eternal sleep
-He doesn’t let her in on his plan to kill Banquo.
-He tells her “Make our faces vizads to our hearts, disguising what they are”
*before she said this to him  roles are reversed
“Full of scorpions is my mind!”
-He’s tortured
-NOW Macbeth calls on images of evil and darkness
-Asks the heavens not to see
-reversed roles with Lady Macbeth
“Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill.”
-The way to make bad things good is to do more bad – right bad deeds with bad actions
**He initiates the action- he could stop at any point
Page 99: Macbeth is relieved to hear of Banquo’s death, but terrified when he hears Fleance escaped
“Then comes my fit again. I had else been perfect…but now I am cabined, cribbed, confined,
bound in to saucy doubts and fears”
Page 99: Lady Macbeth plays the mediator and public face while Macbeth has his fits
-“Sit worthy friends. My lord is often thus and hath been from his youth. The fit is momentary.”
Page 109: Macbeth talks of how ghosts will avenge and murder will have revenge after seeing the
ghost of Banquo.
“It will have blood, they say; blood will have blood”
Page 109: Macbeth is suspicious of Macduff and decides to visit the witches
-Macduff wasn’t at their feast or the coronation
-He’s going to send a spy to Macduff’s house
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**Now he’s seeking the witches instead of the witches seeking him
Page 109: Macbeth says that even though he’s new to it, he has got to get used to killing people
“My strange and self-abuse is the initiate fear that wants hard use. We are yet but young in
deed”
Act 3 Scene 5: People think that Shakespeare didn’t write this part with the witches and Hecate
-It has a different rhythm
-The witches were very popular, so people added more in after his death
Page 113: Lennox’s sarcastic tone shows that he is very hostile towards Macbeth
-He doesn’t just say that he doesn’t like him because the lord might be a spy
“The gracious Duncan was pitied of Macbeth…and the right valiant Banquo walked too late.”
“How it did grieve Macbeth! Did he not straight in pious rage the two delinquents tear?”
Page 115: the lord gives Lennox news about Scotland
-Reports and recounts the awful things happening in the kingdom
-Says that a group is gathering against Macbeth in England and Macduff has joined
-Macbeth’s response to Macduff going to England = war
Act 4
Page 121: The witches throw stuff into their cauldron for their spell as each thing gets increasingly evil
-starts off with ordinary animals but then to evil things (are all outcasts in society)
**Child imagery**
-sacrificing innocence
-but not traditional innocence: a prostitute’s baby born in a ditch
Page 125: First Apparition = an armed head
“Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! Beware Macduff! Beware the Thane of Fife!”
-it could have been his own head coming back to warn him
Page 125: Second Apparition = a bloody child
“Laugh to scorn the power of man, for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth!”
-no man born of a woman shall kill you
Page 127: Third Apparition = a crowned child with a tree in his hand
“Macbeth shall never vanquished be until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill shall come
against him.”
Act 4 Scene 1: Macbeth acts like he’s better than the witches
-He demands guidance and is controlling and bossy
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-He feels really confident after the first 3 apparitions, but then he even goes after another’s
prophecy (Banquo’s)  goes way past his boundaries
Page 129: A show of 8 kings, the 8th with a glass in his hand, and Banquo last
-Macbeth realizes that Banquo’s descendents will be kings
-Shows an uninterrupted line of kings, all the way down to James
Page 131: Macbeth decides to kill all of Macduff’s family
-he has no compassion and does the unthinkable
-more child imagery: going to sacrifice Macduff’s kids (Macbeth doesn’t have any himself)
**now he’s killing innocents**
Page 133: Lady Macduff is angry at her husband for leaving them
-thinks he lacks humanity and a paternal touch
-She tells her son that his father is dead
**lots of images of birds throughout the whole scene**
Page 133: Ross insists that Macduff is noble and he had to do what was right
-He can’t say too much because there are spies in the house
Page 135: Shakespeare adds the conversation of traitors between Lady Macduff and her son to please
James.
“What is a traitor?”  “One that swears and lies”
“Who must hang them?”  “The honest men”
Page 137: Lady Macduff lives in a world where FAIR IS FOUL and FOUL IS FAIR
**World of Macbeth and the witches**
-Everything is upside-down”
“I am in this earthly world, where to do harm is often laudable, to do good sometime accounted
dangerous folly”
Act 4 Scene 3: Shift to England
*What qualities make a good king
Demonstrated by:
1) Malcolm and Macduff literally talking about it
2) Malcolm’s actions
Page 139: Malcolm is cautious and suspicious
“You have loved him well. He hath not touched you yet…you may deserve of him through me,
and wisdom, to offer up a weak poor innocent lamb to appease an angry god”
“Angels are bright, still, though the brightest fell”
-He wonders if he was disloyal to his family, how can he be sure he’ll be loyal to him?
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Page 141: Scotland = a wounded warrior
“Bleed, bleed, poor country!” – Macduff
“It weeps, it bleeds, and each new day a gash is added to her wounds” – Malcolm
-Scotland has also been wounded and is dying
Page 143: Malcom tests Macduff by telling him that he is worse than Macbeth
-I’m a womanizer – the women in Scotland wouldn’t be safe
-Macduff: desperate: well…there are plenty of women in Scotland who would want
you…So present one face to the public and have lots of women in secret (Motif of 2
Faces)
-I’m greedy – I would steal the nobles’ lands and create conflict to take wealth
-Macduff: well…this is pretty bad, but Scotland has a lot to satisfy you…you have a lot of
other good qualities that balance out
-I have no good qualities – if I had power, I would create chaos
-you’re not fit to live, let alone rule! Scotland is doomed, what am I going to do?!!
Page 147: Malcolm tells Macduff that he was just testing him and he’s really a good person
“Child of integrity”  Macduff’s passion proves him true
“What I am truly is thine and my poor country’s to command  he’s servant of the state
-Macbeth = confused: “Such welcome and unwelcome things at once till hard to reconcile ”
Page 153: Ross delivers the bad news that macduff’s family is dead
“They were at peace when I did leave them”
Act 5
Page 161: the gentlewoman tells the Doctor about Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking, but still can’t reveal
her master’s secrets.
“Neither to you nor anyone having no witness to confirm my speech”
-She can’t expose Lady Macbeth  It’ll be treason  She’s protecting herself
Page 163: Lady Macbeth sleepwalks and reenacts her crimes
**stream of consciousness
-nightmares and dreams tell the truth
-reenacts Duncan’s murder, Macbeth’s fits at dinner, murder of Macduff’s family
-“out damned spot, out!”
“All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand”
-Before: she thought a little water washed this deed  now she realizes that her hands
will never be clean and neither will her conscious
-she can’t get rid of the smell of blood, no matter how much she masks it with perfume
**parallels Macbeth’s image of turning water red
-“What’s done cannot be undone”
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Page 165: Doctor tells the gentlewoman that he can’t help Lady Macbeth, suggesting that Lady
Macbeth must make a confession for repentance
-her nightmares stem from her dreams
-she could commit suicide, so remove anything that she could hurt herself with
-“This disease is beyond my practice…more needs she the divine than the physician”
-“Infected minds to their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets”
Even the setting of scenes is antithetical: Scene 1 vs. Scene 2
-Scene 1 = very troubled scene at night
-Scene 2 = confident march of Scottish troops
Page 167: Angus and Caithness talk about Macbeth and his diseased rule
Motifs:
1) 2 faces: wearing a mask to the world
-Page 17: can’t tell if the witches are human or not
-ambiguous reality
“You should be women, and yet your beards forbid me to interpret that you are so.”
-Page 27: Duncan fully trusted the traitorous Thane of Cawdor
“There’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face. He wasa a gentleman on
whom I built an absolute trust.”
-Page 35: Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth to look like an innocent flower and hide his true agenda
from everyone
-Page 45: “False face must hide what the false heart doth know”
-wear a mask to the outside world
-Page 71: Malcolm tells Donalbain that they should flee because they could be the next victims
-Whoever killed Duncan could be conspiring and faking (showing one face to the public),
but will literally stab them in the back
-Donalbain: “There’s daggers in men’s smiles. The near in blood, the nearer
bloody”
2) Clothing
-Page 25: Banquo calls Macbeth’s new title his new strange garments
-Page 21:
-Page 41: Lady Macbeth suggests Macbeth dressed himself in a courageous demeanor
Page 167: Angus talks about Macbeth’s awful reign as king
“Now does he feel his title hang loose about, like giant’s robe upon a dwarfish thief”
-his title doesn’t fit him: he should have been a “giant,” a great king
-But instead he is a dwarf in comparison of greatness: is a terrible king
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3) Plant
-Page 27: Duncan has planted Macbeth and will develop him
-Page 169: (Lennox) “Drown the weeds” – get rid of Macbeth who has overrun the country
4) What it means to be a man
-Page 31: Lady Macbeth doesn’t think her husband is enough of a man to achieve his fated
crown
-even though we’ve seen him as ruthless
-she thinks he is too much like a woman
-Page 41: Macbeth defends himself, saying he can do all that a man is expected to do
-Page 43: Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth that she’s such a tough cookie she will only have boys
-Page 155: After the death of Macduff’s family, Malcolm tells Macduff to take it like a man, and
Macduff responds with “I must also feel it as a man”
5) Illness
Page 141: Scotland = a wounded warrior
“Bleed, bleed, poor country!”
“It weeps, it bleeds, and each new day a gash is added to her wounds”
-Scotland has also been wounded and is dying
Page 149: Juxtaposition of wounded Scotland that needs to whole again and the piety of king
who can heal people
Page 155: Images of healing:
“Let’s make us medicines of our great revenge to cure this deadly grief” – Malcolm
-Let’s be the medicine and cure your grief with our revenge
*Ruler will heal a wounded country if he’s pious
Page 167: “He cannot buckle his distempered cause within the belt of rule”
-also clothing motif of the belt
-his rule = diseased
-can’t hold it together anymore
Page 167: “Meet we the medicine of the sickly weal. And with him pour we in our country’s
purge each drop of us”
-Let’s meet up with the medicine who will heal our sick nation and cleanse us of toxic
Macbeth
6) Equivocation
-James would have loved the references to equivocation and the gun powder plot
-The witches equivocate to Macbeth:
-the whole structure of Macbeth’s reasoning, confidence, and courage depends
on the prophecies
-The witches are very vague and ambiguous
-There are also images of being 2-faced or wearing a mask to society:
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-also presents the idea of not telling the whole truth
-James associated equivocation with treason
-Treason was a big issue at the time: you were betraying the loyalty and trust of your
king and your nation
-the gunpowder plot was a huge deal (like 9/11)
What it means to be a good king
 Cautious and suspicious
o Page 139: Malcolm is suspicious and cautious towards Macduff
“You have loved him well. He hath not touched you yet”
“To offer up a weak poor innocent lamb to appease an angry god”
“Angels are bright, still, though the brightest fell”
-He wonders if he was disloyal to his family, how can he be sure he’ll be loyal to him?
 Malcolm lists good qualities: justice, verity, temperance, stableness, bounty, perseverance,
mercy, lowliness, devotion, patience, courage, fortitude
 Siward nobly accepts the death of his son
-James is a descendent of him and brave young Siward: would have pleased him
 Malcolm shows his gratitude for his soldiers by making them earls
 NOT A GOOD KING:
-Luxurious, avaricious, false, deceitful, sudden, malicious, sinful
-Ruthless and not compassionate
-Lustful and greedy
At the End:
 Opens in a state of chaos and turmoil
-witches
-battle with Norway
 Peace and Order is restored
-new ruler (Malcolm) establishes order
-Universal chaos was released because of a moral law that was broken
-Those who violated the law will always be punished
(Macbeth and Lady Macbeth)
-Peace can’t be established until the Great Chain of Being is restored
 Universe rebels when something is disturbed
-Great Chain of Being was disrupted
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