Macbeth Act 1
By: Steven Duffy, Eric Bohn, Kelly
Willner, Stephen Randle, Noah
Habeeb
Summary
• Macbeth and Banquo (Scottish generals) fought
against the invading Norwegian armies and
rescued King Duncan’s son MacDonald
• The traitor Thane of Cawdor was executed and
his title given to Macbeth.
• Macbeth and Banquo encounter the three
witches in the forest; they tell him he’ll be Thane
of Cawdor and eventually King.
• Macbeth and Banquo appear before King
Duncan. Duncan then visits Macbeth’s home.
• Macbeth tells his wife (Lady Macbeth) about the
witches prophecy and the King’s arrival: she
decides they must kill the king
• King Duncan arrives and the Macbeth’s talk
about framing his servants as responsible for his
death.
Themes
The influence of others can lead one to
perform actions previously unthinkable.
Ambition leads to moral failure.
Perception can alter reality.
Important Characters
Macbeth: The main character of the play and Act 1.
Within the act we learn of his military skill, in that he has
arrived back from war incredibly successful and honored
by his king, implying his prowess as a warrior and
strategist. However, once his wife enters we learn that he
is less strong than this might suggest, and while he has
an admirable skill-set he is more a follower than a leader.
This becomes more and more obvious as he is effected
by the idea the witches present and succumbs to the
temptation his wife forces upon him. Although he has
ideas and even decides not to kill Duncan late in the act,
the will of others is what he goes by.
Act 1 Scene 4, Lines 17-24
[Duncan speaking to Macbeth]
O worthiest cousin,
The sin of my ingratitude even now
Was heavy on me. Thou art so far before
That swiftest wing of recompense is slow
To overtake thee. Would thou hadst less deserved,
That the proportion both of thanks and payment
Might have been mine! Only I have left to say,
More is thy due than more than all can pay.
MACBETH
The service and the loyalty I owe
In doing it pays itself.
MACBETH
Act 1 Scene 7, Lines 92-96
I am settled, and bend up
Each corporal agent to this terrible feat.
Away, and mock the time with fairest show.
False face must hide what the false heart doth know.
Banquo: Banquo acts as the foil to Macbeth, a man
who has similar military strength and even given a
fantastic fortune by the witches as well. He is presented
as that alternative, if Macbeth had gone is own course
and not been as heavily effected by others. In this act he
gets the aforementioned prophecy that his children will
be king, though he will not, a fate he accepts skeptically
but excitedly. The fact that he does not act very heavily
upon this new information, as opposed to Macbeth’s
drastic action to ensure it, Banquo shines as that
contrast. He is the more level-headed and pure of the
two, marked especially when his death becomes part of
the signifying factor later in the play that all has become
chaos.
Act 1 Scene 4, Lines 33-38
DUNCAN
(to BANQUO) Noble Banquo,
That hast no less deserved, nor must be known
No less to have done so, let me infold thee
And hold thee to my heart.
BANQUO
There, if I grow,
The harvest is your own.
Act 1 Scene 4, Lines 61-65
DUNCAN
True, worthy Banquo. He is full so valiant,
And in his commendations I am fed;
It is a banquet to me.—Let’s after him,
Whose care is gone before to bid us welcome:
It is a peerless kinsman.
Lady Macbeth: Lady Macbeth acts as temptation. Almost as
another part of Macbeth, she latches on to the idea of the
witches and forces him to kill Duncan to gain power. She lets
herself become corrupt, and in fact begs to be, because she
seeks power and this idea of Macbeth having great power
consumes her. She ends up trying to transcend her gender and
become the more manly of the two, empowering herself and
her motives while attacking Macbeth’s own manhood, in order
to convince him to follow through with the murder. Overall, she
embodies the temptation and strive for power and respect
presented to Macbeth with the witches prophecy, and her
continued efforts only serve to stir that temptation to take the
throne even more.
Act 1 Scene 5, Lines 15-20
LADY MACBETH
Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be
What thou art promised. Yet do I fear thy nature;
It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness
To catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great,
Art not without ambition, but without
The illness should attend it.
Scene 7, Lines 53-56
LADY MACBETH
What beast was ’t, then,
That made you break this enterprise to me?
When you durst do it, then you were a man;
The Witches: Essentially the fates: they present the idea
to Macbeth and instigate the reasoning for the events that
follow. They speak in rhyme and with more poetic elements
than the other characters, making their language match the
mystic elements they try to be. They appear in the act
almost as though they are figments of Macbeth’s
imagination in that sense, as symbols of his fate and mind
rather than real people.
Scene 3, Lines 73-81
MACBETH
Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more.
By Sinel’s death I know I am thane of Glamis.
But how of Cawdor? The thane of Cawdor lives,
A prosperous gentleman, and to be king
Stands not within the prospect of belief,
No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence
You owe this strange intelligence, or why
Upon this blasted heath you stop our way
With such prophetic greeting. Speak, I charge you.
Scene 3, Lines 82-88
BANQUO
The earth hath bubbles, as the water has,
And these are of them. Whither are they vanished?
MACBETH
Into the air, and what seemed corporal
Melted, as breath into the wind. Would they had stayed.
BANQUO
Were such things here as we do speak about?
Or have we eaten on the insane root
That takes the reason prisoner?
Duncan: The King of Scotland at the time of Act 1. He acts
as the status quo and embodiment of the “loyalty to state”
theme. He is overly trustful of his men, referenced in his first
appearance and the mention of the traitor, and the fact that
he has no fear or paranoia of any sort in the Macbeth
household. His traits as king are confirmed to be a good and
strong force in the kingdom, heavily evidenced by his
interactions with his fellow men and even Macbeth’s
hesitance to follow through with the murder later in act.
Overall his character and his rule as king serve as the
contrast for later events, as once he is struck down chaos
ensues until the end of the play.
Scene 4, Lines 13-16
DUNCAN
There’s no way to read a man’s mind by looking at his face.
I trusted Cawdor completely.
Scene 7, Lines 16-20
MACBETH
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;
Imagery/Word Study
Fear
“Against the use of nature? Present fears
Are less than horrible imaginings:
My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,
Shakes so my single state of man that function
Is smother'd in surmise, and nothing is
But what is not.”(Act 1, sc. 3, ln. 140-155)
“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.”(Act 1, sc. 4, ln 55-60)
“Only look up clear;
To alter favour ever is to fear:
Leave all the rest to me.”( Act 1, sc. 5, ln. 85)
“Was the hope drunk
Wherein you dress'd yourself? hath it slept since?
And wakes it now, to look so green and pale
At what it did so freely? From this time
Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard
To be the same in thine own act and valour
As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that
Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life,
And live a coward in thine own esteem,
Letting 'I dare not' wait upon 'I would,'
Like the poor cat i' the adage?”(Act 1, sc. 7, ln. 39-49)
“Only look up clear;
To alter favour ever is to fear:
Leave all the rest to me.”( Act 1, sc. 5, ln. 85)
Heart
“Cannot be ill, cannot be good: if ill,
Why hath it given me earnest of success,
Commencing in a truth? I am thane of Cawdor:
If good, why do I yield to that suggestion
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,
Against the use of nature? Present fears
Are less than horrible imaginings:
My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,
Shakes so my single state of man that function
Is smother'd in surmise, and nothing is
But what is not.”(Act 1, sc. 3, ln. 140-155)
“Welcome hither:
I have begun to plant thee, and will labour
To make thee full of growing. Noble Banquo,
That hast no less deserved, nor must be known
No less to have done so, let me enfold thee
And hold thee to my heart.”(Act 1, sc. 4, ln. 31-35)
“I am settled, and bend up
Each corporal agent to this terrible feat.
Away, and mock the time with fairest show:
False face must hide what the false heart doth know.”
(Act 1, sc. 7, ln. 91-95)
Death/Dead
“We fail!
But screw your courage to the sticking-place,
And we'll not fail. When Duncan is asleep-Whereto the rather shall his day's hard journey
Soundly invite him--his two chamberlains
Will I with wine and wassail so convince
That memory, the warder of the brain,
Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason
A limbeck only: when in swinish sleep
Their drenched natures lie as in a death,
What cannot you and I perform upon
The unguarded Duncan? what not put upon
His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt
Of our great quell?” (Act 1, sc. 7, ln. 70-82)
“No more that the Thane of Cawdor shall deceive
Our bosom interest. Go, pronounce his present death,
And with his former title meet Macbeth.”(Act 1, sc. 3, ln. 73-75)
“Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more:
By Sinel's death I know I am thane of Glamis;
But how of Cawdor? the thane of Cawdor lives,
A prosperous gentleman; and to be king
Stands not within the prospect of belief,
No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence
You owe this strange intelligence? or why
Upon this blasted heath you stop our way
With such prophetic greeting? Speak, I charge you.”
(Act 1, sc. 3, ln. 73-80)
Symbols and Motifs
Prophecies
The simple prophecy given to MacBeth by the Weird Sisters (“Thou shalt get
kings, though thou be none.”) sparks his ambition to become king.
The prophecy serves as a motivation as well as a justification for MacBeth’s
action.
The Weird Sisters raise the question of whether MacBeth must take action to
fulfill the prophecy or whether the prophecy will be fulfilled simply by fate.
The prophecy of the Weird Sisters also evokes the idea of fantasy and
reality. The witches simply fade into the air making Banquo wonder “Were
such things here as we do speak about? Or have we eaten on the insane root
which takes the reason prisoner?” Was the prophecy given by three witches
or the voice inside MacBeth’s head?
1.3.86-88
Birds
Lady MacBeth observes a raven on the battlements of the castle as King
Duncan appears. She remarks that “The raven himself is hoarse That
croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan.” The raven is an omen which
foreshadows the demise of King Duncan.
1.5.45-47
King Duncan and Banquo looking upon the same battlements see a
martlet (“sparrow”) instead. As Banquo observes “The temple-haunting
martlet does approve, By his loved mansionry that the heaven’s breath
Smells wooingly here.”
1.6.6-8
Weather
When the Witches appear in Scene One and Scene Three “Thunder
and lightning” sound, establishing the Weird Sisters as dark, mysterious,
and evil.
The Witches themselves are represented by Wind.
“I’ll give thee a wind.”
“I myself have all the other/and the very ports they blow/all the quarters
that they know/ i the shipman’s card.”
1.3.12-18
“Upon the slightest couriers of the air/shall blow the horrid deed in every
eye/ that tears shall drown the wind.”
1.7.23-25
Important Speeches
Duality
“Fair is foul, and foul is fair” (1.1.12)
“So foul and fair a day I have not seen”
(1.3.39)
“Lesser than Macbeth and greater.
Not so happy, yet happier.
Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none.
So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo” (1.3.68-71)
Fantasy v. Reality
“Good sir, why do you start and seem to fear
Things that sound so fair-I’ th’ name of truth,
Are you fantastical...” (1.3.54-56)
“Into the air, and what seemed corporal melted,
As breath into the wind. Would they had stayed!” (1.3.84-85)
“This supernatural soliciting
Cannot be ill, cannot be good. If ill,
Why hath it given me earnest of success
Commencing in a truth? I am Thane of Cawdor
If good, why do I yield to that suggestion
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs
Against the use of nature? Present fears
Are less than horrible imaginings.
My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,
Shakes so my single state of man
That function is smothered in surmise,
And nothing is but what is not.” (1.3.143-155)
Femininity
“...Yet do I fear thy nature
It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness
To catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great
Art not without ambition, but without
The illness should attend it.” (1.5.16-20)
“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 th’access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
Th’ effect and it. Come to my woman’s breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you murd’ring 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!’” (1.5. 45-61)
Consequences
“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.”(1.7.1-28)