Macbet_Act_3

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 4

Act 3, scene i

Read pages 85 and 87. 

How does the beginning of  Act 3 (scene i) set the mood of this Act (Act 3)?

Is there any foreshadowing in theses two pages? 

Whats is being foreshadowed? How do you know? 

What stylistic feature(s) does Shakespeare use in these two pages? 

circular structure

Act 3, scene i. Macbeth's soliloquy.

How does Macbeth's soliloquy on page 89 reveal the change in the attitude of Macbeth towards murder? 

' To be the king is nothing if I'm not safe as the king.

I'm very afraid of Banquo. There's something noble

...............

... I will challenge fate to battle and fight to the 

death. who's there!' (Act 3, scene i, p.89)

Act III, scene ii

Read pages 97, 99, 101. How does Shakespeare use animal imagery to set unsettling mood? 

Pages 99 and 101

Second murderer: Here comes a light! Here comes a light!

Third murderer: Who put out the light? (III, iii)  (p. 105)

Act 3, scene 4

Macbeth: I will walk around and mingle with all of you, playing the humble host. My wife will stay in her royal chair, but at the appropriate time I will have her welcome you all. (III, iv) 

• To show that Macbeth's hospitality is 'fake', Shakespeare uses dramatic irony. Find and explain the examples of dramatic irony in Act 3, scene 4. 
• Hand-out nr 9: extract analysis, act 3, scene 4. 

MACBETH There’s an old saying: the dead will have their revenge.

Gravestones have been known to move, and trees

to speak, to bring guilty men to justice. The craftiest

murderers have been exposed by the mystical signs

made by crows and magpies. How late at night is it?

LADY MACBETH It’s almost morning. You can’t tell whether it’s day or

night.

MACBETH What do you think about the fact that Macduff

refuses to come to me when I command him?

LADY MACBETH Did you send for him, sir?

MACBETH I’ve heard about this indirectly, but I will send for

him. .....   I have walked so far into this

river of blood that even if I stopped now, it would be

as hard to go back to being good as it is to keep killing

people. 

 (III, iv, pp 119, 121

As you all know, security / Is mortals' chiefest enemy. 

As you all know, overconfidence is man's greatest enemy. (III, v)

What does Act 3, scene 6 foreshadow? 

How does Shakespeare build contrast between the characters of Macbeth and Macduff ?