Macbeth Act IV and
Imagery
By Julia M., Joon-Ha, and
Anastasia, and Marina
Agenda
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Quiz
Characters in Act IV
Summary of Act IV
Enactment
Imagery throughout the play
Discussion
Quiz
1.
2.
Which was not a prophecy in Act IV?
a. Birnam Wood must rise for Macbeth to be
defeated
b. Beware of Macduff
c. Macbeth will fight Macduff heroically
d. Nobody born from woman may hurt
Macbeth
Macbeth was freaked out by Banquo in scene
I because…
a. He was trying to kill Macbeth
b. He was dead and came back as a ghost
c. He and Macbeth had the same outfit
3. Who are Lady Macduff and her son
discussing?
a. Banquo b. Fleance c. Donalbain
d. Macduff
4. Which character believes that Scotland is
suffering and will later succeed
Macbeth?
a. Ross b. Hecate c. Macduff d.
Malcom
5. What does Ross report to Macduff about
his family?
Quiz Answers
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
C
B
D
D
C
Characters
The Witches: conjure the three apparitions
that predict Macbeth’s future
2. Macbeth - the Thane of Glamis. Made
Thane of Cawdor after prophecy. At
beginning-noble, brave and loyal, but as
his temptation leads him to murder. Turns
selfish.
3. Lady Macbeth - Macbeth’s wife, ambitious,
strong, ruthless, urges her husband to kill
Duncan and seize the crown. Is eventually
guilty. Very strong and independent.
1.
Characters
4. Macduff - A Scottish nobleman. Leads
against Macbeth. wants Malcolm to be
king; wants to kill Macbeth as revenge
for murdering his family.
5. Malcolm - The son of Duncan, whose
restoration to the throne signals
Scotland’s return to order, flees
Scotland when his father, King Duncan,
is killed, but later takes over and
“fixes” his country.
Characters
6. Lady Macduff - Macduff’s wife. Loving
mother and wife -very different from
Lady Macbeth. She is sweeter, kinder
and not as independent and strong as
Macbeth’s wife.
7. Lennox and Ross - Scottish noblemenact as messengers
Scene I
Macbeth comes to the witches and demands to
know the truth about his prophecy.
1. They call upon the 4 apparitions
1. Beware of Macduff
2. He will not be killed by a man born from a
woman
3. He is safe until the Birnam Wood moves to
Dunsinane Hill.
4. 8 kings appear and Banquo’s ghost walks at
the end of the line carrying a mirror.
Scene I cont’d
2. Lennox tells Macbeth
that Macduff has fled to
England.
3. Macbeth decides to send
murderers to kill
Macduff’s wife and
children.
“Eye of
newt and
toe of
frog, wool
of bat and
tongue of
dog” (IV.i).
Scene II
1.
2.
3.
Lady Macduff is angry that her husband
fled and left her and her children
defenseless, but does not flee when told to
because she argues that she is innocent.
Lady Macduff tells her son that his father is
dead, but he doesn’t agree.
Murderers come and
kill Lady Macduff
and her children
Scene III
1.Malcom tests Macduff’s loyalty to Scotland by falsely
telling him that Malcom will be a horrible king
because he is lustful, greedy, and violent. Macduff,
after disagreeing at first, is scared for Scotland, and
therefore passed the test.
2. Doctor enters and tells Macduff that King Edward has
the power to cure anyone just by touching him or her.
3. Ross comes from Scotland and informs the men the
horrors of Scotland .
 At first hesitant , he later confesses to Macduff that
his wife and children are dead.
4. Crushed by the news, Macduff announces that he will
use his anger to get revenge and kill Macbeth .
Enactment
Blood Imagery
1.
2.
3.
4.
“What bloody man is that? He can report, As
seemeth by his plight, of the revolt the
newest state” (I.ii.1)
"Which smok'd with bloody execution"(I.ii.20)
“Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this
blood Clean from my hand? No; this hand will
rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine,
making the green one red.” (II. ii. 78-81)
“And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of
blood, Which was not so before. There’s no
such thing: It is the bloody business which
informs thus to mine eyes.” (II.i.58)
5. “What, will these hands
ne’er be clean?…Here’s
the smell of the blood
still: all the perfumes of
Arabia will not sweeten
this little hand.” (V.
i.45,53-55)
6. "I am in blood stepped
in so far, that, should I
wade no more,
returning were as
tedious go o'er."
(III. iv. 168-170)
Dagger Imagery
1. “There’s daggers in men’s smiles. The
near in blood, the nearer bloody.”
(II.iii.165-166)
2.“Stepped in the colors of their trade, their
daggers unmannerly breeched with gore.”
(II.iii.134)
3.“That my keen knife see not the wound it
makes, nor heaven peep through the
blanket of the dark to cry ‘Hold, hold!’”
(I.v.59)
4.“Is this a dagger which I see
before me, the handle toward
my hand?” (II.i.44)
5.“This is the air-drawn dagger
which you said led you to
Duncan.” (III.iv.75)
6.“Be this the whetstone of
your sword. Let grief convert to
anger. Blunt not the heart;
enrage it.” (IV.iii.268)
Baby Imagery
1. “And pity, like a newborn babe striding the
blast, or heaven’s cherubin horsed Upon the
sightless couriers of the air, shall blow the
horrid deed in every eye,that tears shall drown
the wind” (I.vii.21)
2. "Each new morn / New windows howl, new
orphans cry, new sorrows / Strike heaven on
the face..." (IV.iii.5-8).
3.. “I have given suck, and know how tender ‘tis
to love the babe that milks me. I would, while it
was smiling in my face, have plucked my
nipple from his boneless gums and dashed the
brains out…” (I.vii.62)
4."O treachery! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly!
Thou mayst revenge--O slave!" (III.iii.25-26).
5."Murderer: He's a traitor.
Son: Thou liest, thou shag-eared villain!
Murderer: What, you egg? Stabbing
him. Young fry of treachery!
Son: He has killed me mother. Run away, I
pray you" (IV.ii.92-98)
6.Thunder. 2nd Apparition, a Bloody Child.
"Be bloody, bold, and resolute. Laugh to scorn
The power of man, for none of woman born
Shall harm Macbeth" (IV.i.90-92)
Nature Imagery
1. “Bear welcome in your eye, your hand, your
tongue; look like the innocent flower, but be the
serpent under 't" (I.v.63-65)
2. “As hounds and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels,
and curs, shoughs, water-rugs, and demi-wolves
are clept”(III.i.103)
3. “A falcon, tow’ring in her pride of place, was by
a mousing owl hawked at and killed.” (II.iv.15)
4. “There the grown serpent lies. The worm that’s
fled hath nature that in time will venom breed.”
(III.iv.32)
Nature Imagery cont’d
5. “Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf, witch’s
mummy, maw and gulf of the ravined salt-sea
shark,…gall of goat and slips of yew slivered
in the moon’s eclipse, Nose of Turk and
Tartar’s lips, finger of birth-strangled
babe”(IV.i.22)
6. “Now God help thee, poor monkey!”
(IV.ii.65)
7. “And Duncan’s horses…turned wild in
nature, broke their stalls, flung out,
contending ‘gainst obedience…”
(II.iv.17)
Other Imagery
1. “When shall we three meet
again? In thunder, lightning, or in
rain?”(I.i.1)
2. "By the clock `tis day, and yet dark
night strangles the traveling lamp"
(II. iv.6-7)
3. “New honors come upon him like
strange garments, cleave not to
their mould but with the aid of
use.” (I. iii. 144-145)
4. “The Thane of Cawdor lives: why do
you dress me in borrow'd robes?"
(I.iii.114)
Discussion Questions
1. In Act IV, Scene i, in which the Three Witches
show the three apparitions, Shakespeare has them
speak an almost riddle-like prophecy. Why do you
think Shakespeare intended to do this?
2. If you were writing a scene in which a character's
critical future was to be said, how would you word
it? Would you just blurt it out, or also try to riddle it
up?
3. In Act IV, Scene iii, Malcolm tests Macduff by
saying he will be an even worse king than
Macbeth. What characteristics make Duncan and
Malcolm good kings, and what traits make Macbeth
a tyrant?