Macbeth
Close Reading
Directions:
Reread the passage several times, really get to know it.
Look up words you don’t know and use those definitions in context (use the correct definition).
Write: 1. what you see (imagery, characterization), 2. what we should expect (foreshadowing) and 3.
anything else you think is pertinent (important).
Act 1 Scene 4
MACBETH
[Aside] The Prince of Cumberland! that is a step
On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap,
For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires;
Let not light see my black and deep desires:
The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be,
Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see.
The king is the head of the country, the military and the church
From all of this we should expect the Prince of Cumberland to be dead within a week because Macbeth
is really feeling it right now, he’s telling the stars and his eyes to look away which tells us he’s ready to
take action.
Macbeth
Close Reading
Directions:
The class has been broken in half. Half 1 analyzes the first soliloquy, Half 2 analyzes the second on the
back.
Reread the passage several times, really get to know it.
Look up words you don’t know and use those definitions in context (use the correct definition).
Write: 1. what you see (imagery, characterization), 2. what we should expect (foreshadowing) and 3.
anything else you think is pertinent (important).
(Half 1)
Act 1 Scene 5
LADY MACBETH (soliloquy) [Macbeth sent a letter to her telling her all about the witches’
predictions and his promotion]
…
Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be
What thou art promised: yet do I fear thy nature;
It is too full o' the milk of human kindness
To catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great;
Art not without ambition, but without
The illness should attend it: what thou wouldst highly,
That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false,
And yet wouldst wrongly win: thou'ldst have, great Glamis,
That which cries 'Thus thou must do, if thou have it;
And that which rather thou dost fear to do
Than wishest should be undone.' Hie thee hither,
That I may pour my spirits in thine ear;
And chastise with the valour of my tongue
All that impedes thee from the golden round,
Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem
To have thee crown'd withal.
In general—she wants to help Macbeth become king as well as become queen
Lady Macbeth’s character: she likes the thought of having a lot of power, she’s violent (she is set
on killing the king to get the crown for her and Macbeth), she’s willing to do anything to get to the
crown in spite of knowing these thoughts are “ill”, she will “scold” her husband into killing the
king—she’s aggressive! This is not proper behavior for a woman or a queen—women are not
allowed to yell at their husbands especially not the king
Remember:
Reread the passage several times, really get to know it.
Look up words you don’t know and use those definitions in context (use the correct definition).
Write: 1. what you see (imagery, characterization), 2. what we should expect (foreshadowing) and 3.
anything else you think is pertinent (important).
(Half 2)
Act 1 Scene 5
LADY MACBETH (soliloquy)[the messenger just told Lady Macbeth that the king will visit that
evening]
…
The raven himself is hoarse
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements. Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood;
Stop up the access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
The effect and it! Come to my woman's breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers,
Wherever in your sightless substances
You wait on nature's mischief! Come, thick night,
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,
To cry 'Hold, hold!'
Overall –she’s will to do what it takes to get to the throne.
She knows it’s wrong because she doesn’t want God to see, and…
Act 1 Scene 7 (Macbeth is home, King Duncan et al. are dining in Macbeth’s banquet hall.
Macbeth has left the banquet and contemplates in the following soliloquy)
MACBETH
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 his surcease success; that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all here,
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
We'ld jump the life to come. But in these cases
We still have judgment here; that we but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
To plague the inventor: this even-handed justice
Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice
To our own lips. He's here in double trust;
First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,
Strong both against the deed; then, as his host,
Who should against his murderer shut the door,
Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan
Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been
So clear in his great office, that his virtues
Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against
The deep damnation of his taking-off;
And pity, like a naked new-born babe,
Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubim, horsed
Upon the sightless couriers of the air,
Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,
That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself
And falls on the other.
What do you think about Macbeth?
He’s fighting between good and bad—“fair is foul and foul is fair”; we
don’t expect Macbeth to kill the king based on this soliloquy.
Lady Macbeth asks for Macbeth’s decision in killing the king.
Lines 34-39 – Macbeth’s decision: he has decided not to do it because
the King has given him the honor of Thane of Cawdor.
Lady Macbeth responds to this: lines 43-48 – she calls him a coward,
he won’t kill the king to improve his wife and his circumstance; he’s
not doing the thing Lady Macbeth wants him to do; it’s a hit to
Macbeth’s ego to rile him up—make him prove he has courage—
Macbeth is a warrior and a man, and the measure of a man is by how
well he fights, how much courage he had in the fight and to fight
Macbeth: lines 51-52 – I do all I can, I’m a man; you’re trying to do
more than me, and you are not a man—I define manhood not you
Lady Macbeth: Why did you tell me? You said you wanted it. 56-58 –
talking about manhood; lines 62-67 – she’s willing to do anything for
him so he should do anything for her, she’s making him feel guilty
Macbeth: he’s worried about getting caught, about failing – the king
wouldn’t die, he could fight back, he has guards at his door, probably
at the foot of his bed
Lady Macbeth: ln 70-71 – tells him to man up; lines 71-82 = the plan
to kill Duncan – she will get the guards at the door drunk while
Duncan is asleep in the bedchamber, their memory will be
compromised, their ability will be compromised—the guards won’t
remember who went into the chamber and they won’t stop
anything—Macbeth can then kill the king.
Macbeth: lines 85-88 – frame the guards—use their daggers and
smear the two men with the blood on the daggers; line 95 – “false
face must hide what the false heart doth know.” – false heart = fake
love (Macbeth’s “love” for his cousin and his king, King Duncan)
How to Write a Paragraph:
1. Topic sentence = like a thesis statement; gives a preview of what
the paragraph will be about—set up your reader to understand
you.
2. Give examples from the text to show/illustrate your idea and
explain how each example helps show/prove your point
a. Make certain to give the context of your example before
you give the example (lead into your example)
Context = what’s going on in the text at the time of your
example; with a quote – you also need who said it to whom
and how it was said
3. Concluding sentence = wraps up the paragraph without
repeating the Topic sentence (go for an insight—what do we
learn—about the character, what can we expect, etc.)
Macbeth
Final assignment for Act I
From our close readings and class discussions:
Characterize either Macbeth or Lady Macbeth in this scene.
Directions:
1. Pick one character to characterize.
2. Choose the bit of text you feel most strongly supports your characterization—at least 5 lines;
these do not need to be in the same spot in the scene.
3. Write out all of the text you chose.
4. Annotate the bit of text as you have been doing in the close readings so far.
5. Write a paragraph characterizing the character you chose using the text and your annotations.