Macbeth Act 1, Scene 3 PDF

Act 1, Scene 3 “How far do the witches influence Macbeth’s decision to commit regicide by killing Duncan?” - key question The pilot First Witch: Here I have a pilot’s thumb/Wreck’d as homeward he did come -​ Pilot = steerer of a ship -​ “Homeward” = should be safest part of his day -​...

Act 1, Scene 3 “How far do the witches influence Macbeth’s decision to commit regicide by killing Duncan?” - key question The pilot First Witch: Here I have a pilot’s thumb/Wreck’d as homeward he did come -​ Pilot = steerer of a ship -​ “Homeward” = should be safest part of his day -​ But it wasn’t (thumb cut off, attacked presumably) Parallels to Macbeth: -​ Macbeth is coming home from battle -​ Should be safest -​ But it wasn’t - sets in motion hamartia, downfall, tragic end Ship wasn’t sunk??? -​ King James believed witches had sunk his ships -​ Witches did not sink pilot’s ship -​ Is Shakespeare saying “they don’t have that power”?/“only have the power of prophecy” -​ Using the pilot’s thumb to manipulate Macbeth -​ Make him think that they have power but they do not Meeting Macbeth Third Witch: All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter! Banquo: Good sir, why do you start; and seem to fear/Things that do sound so fair -​ Pronoun “thou” - love/low status v/s “you” - respect/high status -​ “Thou” - suggests a common link; they (witches) see that Macbeth is as evil as them -​ Evil is their common link Banquo’s role -​ “You” - respect -​ Tries to remind Macbeth that he is good “Good sir,” -​ “Start” - means startled -​ Macbeth sees the vision in his mind (of himself killing Duncan) -​ Immediately thinks I will kill Duncan -​ WITCHES DIDNT TELL HIM THIS -​ Possible he could have become king by other means ? -​ This thought stems from his hamartia -​ Ambition + “blood lust” -​ Sibilance in Banquo’s quotations (sir, start, seem, sound so) -​ Reminds us of the serpent in the Garden of Eden -​ Serpent symbolises temptation -​ Sound is remiding Macbeth of evil -​ But what about Banquo himself? -​ How influenced is Banquo by the witches?? -​ He has guessed what is in Macbeth’s mind -​ Has seen Macbeth’s blood lust (in war) -​ Knows that for his sons sons’ to be kings, Macbeth must become King -​ Has a great interest in Macbeth killing Duncan -​ Brings his fate closer -​ BANQUO NEVER TAKES AN OPPORTUNITY TO STOP MACBETH!!! -​ Why is this important? -​ Banquo is traditionally presented as good -​ Represents King James’ ancestors -​ “Hollinshed’s Chronicles” - history Macbeth is based on -​ Real Macbeth teams up with Banquo to kill Duncan -​ This is changed to flatter King James -​ But why does element of doubt in Banquo remain? “By Sinel’s death I know I am thane of Glamis./But how of Cawdor? The thane of Cawdor lives,/A prosperous gentleman” -​ Martial society (a society constantly at war) -​ Promotes warrior + rewards warrior -​ To become noble you must kill another noble -​ (he just killed MacDonald, a scottish noble) -​ Jacobean society is at a turning point -​ To remain a society that is not martial or become martial -​ Recent Gunpowder Plot (1605, year play written) -​ Looking for “the enemy within”/traitors inside the country -​ That is why Shakespeare uses two Scottish traitors: Cawdor + MacDonald -​ This is the view of the time -​ Banquo: “What, can the devil speak true?” -​ Breaks iambic pentameter -​ “What” and “can” are both stressed - spondee -​ Shows his manipulative intentions -​ Shakespeare gives characters a trochaic stress to signify evil -​ And to give lines too many syllables -​ Believes completely in the witches’ promise -​ Macbeth has just been told he is thane of Cawdor -​ The witches first prophecy = true!! -​ Links witches to the devil bc sees they have evil intentions -​ Doesn’t interfere bc wants his children to be King -​ Dramatises evil thoughts: -​ Banquo: “...Win us with honest trifles, to betray’s/In deepest consequence/Cousins, a word, I pray you.” -​ “Honest trifles” - makes him use up 11 syllables instaed of 10  -​ Struggling to hold on to iambic pentameter bc he is manipulating MACBETH -​ “Cousins, a word”- would have been pentameter -​ But he breaks iambic pentameter -​ Why? -​ He is being evil -​ Why does he stop talking to Macbeth? -​ He has planted a seed of murder in Macbeths’ mind -​ Even the noble Banquo has innate evil + ambition -​ Macbeth: “The thane of Cawdor lives: why do you dress me in borrow’d robes?” -​ “Borrow’d”: Shows us how he thinks of power -​ Power comes through war, and leaves through war -​ Titles can be lost through war -​ Deep insecurity -​ To keep his titles, he must continue killing -​ Blood lust (hamartia) has been created by this martial society -​ BANQUO KNOWS THIS!!! -​ This is how he is able to MANIPULATE MACBETH -​ KNOWS HIS INSECURITIES!!!: -​ “An honest trifle” - points out the insignificance of becoming thane of Cawdor, it will only be taken again -​ UNLESS he keeps on killing -​ Phrase is dressed up like he is trying to tell Macbeth NOT to kill -​ Words have opposite effect An aside Macbeth: 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? -​ Asides in Shakespeare’s plays reveal the character’s true thoughts + intensions -​ “Unfix my hair” - his hair stands on end, he is frightened (“knock at my ribs” : heart beats fast) -​ “Unfix”: -​ Everybody’s social class is fixed in society -​ Kings only become kings through appointment by God -​ Macbeth may be unfixing this society! -​ Thinking of killing his way to being king -​ “My seated heart knock at” -​ King is “seated” on his throne -​ Unsatisfied with being seated -​ A man of action -​ Cannot simply wait for fate to take its course and make him King -​ Heart is knocking “come on, come on”/desperate for actions Macbeth: If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me,/Without my stir -​ Trying to convince himself not to act -​ Chooses to use “chance” rather than fate -​ Repetition employed -​ Makes waiting seem like a gamble -​ Killing now would mean immediate security Witches have just planted a seed Banquo has encouraged Macbeth’s words signify he does not want to wait but to seize his opportunity through bloody murder “How far does Lady Macbeth manipulate her husband?”- key question Act 1, Scene 4 The letter Macbeth (Letter): “This have I thought good to deliver thee, my dearest partner of greatness, that thou mightst not lose the dues of rejoicing, by being ignorant of what greatness is promised thee.” Equal rights? -​ Macbeth is set 500 years before Shakespeare -​ Patriarchal society - a wife is the property of her husband -​ BUT Macbeth is treating Lady Macbeth as his equal The purpose of the letter? -​ Macbeth says “..I have thought good to deliver thee…” -​ Has anticipated her reaction to the witches’s promises -​ Plan to kill Duncan is NOT out of thin air -​ MACBETH KNOWS SHE WILL THINK OF IT -​ Macbeth arrives immediately after -​ Could have delivered message in person -​ Wants Lady Macbeth to take time to think of a plan -​ Why? -​ Knows he is “too full of the milk of human kindness” -​ Wants to be encouraged to kill Duncan, some motivation Manipulation in the letter -​ Uses the attraction of status -​ Uses “thou” and “thee”; pronouns of lower status -​ Reminding Lady Macbeth of her current position/status -​ Contrasted with “my dearest partner of greatness” -​ Encourages her to think abt being queen -​ Letter is written in prose, NOT iambic pentameter -​ AGAIN emphasizes low status of Lady Macbeth + low status of Macbeth compared to becoming king and queen -​ Knows that she hates the patriarchal society -​ She is intellectually equal -​ Society only allows her to succeed by marriage to a powerful man -​ Becoming queen = freedom Lady Macbeth’s insight into Macbeth Feminising Macbeth Lady Macbeth: “It is too full o’ the milk of human kindness” -​ Complete opposite of the “warrior” character presented on battlefield -​ Does not bring that attitude into civilised life -​ Milk = innocence, association with white, babies, etc. -​ Feminises Macbeth, calling him the woman full of milk Lady Macbeth: “Come to my woman’s and take my milk for gall..” -​ Their baby has very recently died -​ Ambition of becoming king/queen can replace the grief of losing baby Lady Macbeth: “Look like the innocent flower,/But be the serpent under’t” -​ “Flower” = feminine image -​ Image of original sin - embodiment of Lady Macbeth -​ BUT - the serpent persuades Eve to eat the fruit -​ Lady Macbeth knows Macbeth = serpent, she asks him to be the serpent -​ Letter has been written to her to tempt her -​ To tempt her to think up a plan to kill Macbeth -​ Patriarchal society - audience refuses to acknowledge the link to Macbeth -​ Have been conditioned to ignore this Is ambition enough? Lady Macbeth: “art not without ambition, but without/The illness should attend it:” -​ Macbeth’s hamartia = traditionally ambition -​ She converts ambition into illness/poisonous persuasion -​ Turns this ambition into a plan to kill Duncan -​ BUT -​ LO AND BEHOLD -​ MACBETH KNOWS THIS!!!!​ -​ This is: the purpose of the letter The damage of a patriarchal society Lady Macbeth: “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!” -​ Lady Macbeth wants milk = gall and to be filled with cruelty -​ Associates masculinity with cruelty + power -​ “Unsex me here” - needs to become a man -​ “Crown” - mentioned first rather than toe -​ Obsessed/fixated on crown she will soon wear as queen -​ In order to be king + queen must be the most cruel -​ At the time, 1606, after 1605 Gunpowder Plot -​ King James has every right to be the most cruel -​ Start attacking the “enemy within” = catholics -​ Shakespeare is asking him to refrain from violence -​ “Tend” - does not mean feed, rather, “attend to, serve” -​ Spirits have to obey the mortal thoughts -​ Witches are not the ones with the power/responsible for the tragedy -​ Patriarchal/Martial society leads to evil -​ Shakespeare is trying to influence Macbeth -​ And create sympathy for a tragic hero -​ If power was equal for men and women, no need for ambition/to escape -​ Creates rebellion of women to this patriarchal society The last word Lady Macbeth: “Only look up clear;/To alter favor ever is to fear:/Leave all the rest of me.” -​ Partnership/agreement symbolised by 5-syllable line -​ Next line = 10 syllables -​ Perfect end to scene if harmony -​ If NOT harmony: -​ Adds a six-syllable line: “Leave all the rest to me” -​ Macbeth does not reply -​ Has transferred power to Lady Macbeth -​ She is to come up with the plan to kill Macbeth -​ Bc His conscience is will not allow him to -​ Iambic pentameter emphasizes all + me -​ Signifies “total control” -​ She Wants to kill Duncan but does not -​ BC PATRIARCHAL SOCIETY Act 1 Scene 7 To kill Duncan or not to kill Duncan? Soliloquy - character’s true feelings Mixing Christianity w/ Greek mythology (heresy) Macbeth: “...then, as his host…” -​ HUGE link to Greek mythology -​ Harming a guest/abusing hospitality = most sinful thing to do -​ Hercules killed wife + children -​ Only punished w/ 12 tasks -​ Tantalus abused Zeus’s hospitality -​ Punished for eternity -​ FOREVER unable to reach his food -​ Casting Macbeth as a hero Macbeth: “And pity, like a naked new-born babe,/Striding the blast, or heaven’s cherubim, horsed/Upon the slightless couriers of the air” -​ Reference to baby they have just lost -​ Provides a motive for overcome w/ blood lust -​ Revenge against fate/God for taking away baby -​ “heaven’s cherubim” - Greek mythology + Christianity -​ Baby version of angels -​ These babies are still alive -​ While his baby lies dead -​ “Sightless couriers of air” - reference to God -​ Macbeth accuses God of “losing sight” of his purpose: being good -​ Compares him to Greek gods: no morality, meddling in humans lives, no care for actions -​ Accused of being just as brutal as Greek gods -​ He wants revenge on God -​ Killing Duncan = King is appointed by God -​ Killing king God has appointed = revenge -​ Another part of hamartia Is Ambition the Hamartia? Macbeth: “I have no spur/To prick the sides of my intent, but only/Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself/And falls on the other” -​ Macbeth - Horse, Spur - Ambition -​ Being pricked w/ spur makes him “jump” -​ BUT -​ After being pricked, he “falls on the other” -​ Sees that ambition is not enough to motivate him to kill Duncan -​ He will fail -​ Needs his wife to help him -​ Desperately wants to meet his Fate Lady Macbeth, again feminizing himself -​ Prick = reference to love, etc. -​ Makes Lady Macbeth his rider, him the horse -​ Lady Macbeth is more powerful -​ Similar to when Lady Macbeth asks to become more masculine “you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here” -​ Only way for Lady Macbeth to become powerful, etc. = masculine -​ Bc Patriarchal society Lady Macbeth: “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?/…What beast was’t, then,/That made you break his enterprise to me” -​ Usage of “thy” = Macbeth is now at lower status (Patriarchal society, rider v/s horse) -​ Refusal to kill Ducan = he is less of a man -​ Appeals to “martial society”, status within that -​ Knows that Macbeth wants to keep his status -​ “Afeard”, “valour”; fear is enemy of martial society -​ “Beast” - she reduces Macbeth to less than a man, no longer human -​ At the very bottom -​ At the same time switches to saying “you” - suggests she is reminding him of his proper status -​ Contrast Lady Macbeth: “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 pluck’d…from his boneless gums/And dash’d the brains out, had I so sworn as you/Have done to this” -​ Explanation: If Macbeth had told her to kill their baby, SHE WOULD HAVE -​ Hits Macbeth’s “soft spot” -​ Still dealing w/ grief -​ Uses a violent image “dash’d the brains out” -​ Attack on her own motherhood -​ Doesn’t want to go through grief -​ Bloodthirsty image - taps into Macbeth’s hamartia -​ Convinces Macbeth to kill Duncan -​ A SIDE NOTE ON BLOOD LUST: -​ When Macbeth is speaking to Lady Macbeth he is covered in blood -​ We know bc when King Duncan arrives, he is not immediately present -​ So he must have had to change out of his bloody warrior clothes into more presentable clothing -​ This visual image of his blood lust on stage -​ Helps Lady Macbeth to tap into Macbeth’s desire to kill Lady Macbeth: “...Have done to this”/Macbeth: “If we should fail?”/Lady Macbeth: “We fail!” Lady Macbeth: “What cannot you and I perform upon/The unguarded Duncan?”  -​ They are in this together, “we” is emphasized -​ “My dearest partner in greatness!” -​ Share iambic pentameter EXACTLY -​ Shows they are both TOTALLY united -​ Emphasis on “fail”- signifies the eventual downfall + failure of the plan -​ Two daggers - will both attack Duncan -​ “Perform” - will not simply be a clean “execution” -​ MUST satisfy Macbeth’s bloodlust -​ Masculine partnership of evil Get rid of Martial Society! Says Shakespeare Then, no need to kill to become succesful