Macbeth act 1

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 4

  MACBETH

  ACT I

Name three things which characterise act 1

You will understand/master the terms below; 

You will check your answers belonging to act I

thane                                                  

soliloquy                                                    

pathetic fallacy           vs.        personification        

   

Metonymy - is the use of a word or phrase to represent a thing, an entity, a group of people, an institution. ' The church' for example may represent clergymen who make decisions on moral issues.

Synecdoche - is the use of a part to represent a whole. 'Take thy face hence.' Face represents a person of his body.

Antithesis - is the use of contrasting words in a phrase/sentence 'When the battle's lost and won'.

                     SOLILOQUY

A soliloquy is a speech performed by a single character, usually in a play. In a soliloquy the character speaks his thoughts out loud, to himself. This literary device allows the audience to know what the character is thinking, though the other characters are not present and therefore do not know this information.

A soliloquy - from the Latin solus ("alone") and loqui ("to speak") - is a speech that one gives to oneself.

In a play, a character delivering a soliloquy talks to himself/herself - thinking out loud, as it were - so that the audience better understands what is happening to the character internally.

Macbeth - Thane 

• (in Anglo-Saxon England) a man who held land granted by the king or by a military nobleman, ranking between an ordinary freeman and a hereditary noble.
  
• (in Scotland) a man, often the chief of a clan, who held land from a Scottish king and ranked with an earl's son.

                               "the Thane of Cawdor"

Aside (soliloquy versus aside)

An aside is a short comment or speech that a character delivers directly to the audience, or to himself, while other actors on the stage appear not to hear. Only the audience knows that the character has said something to them.

Aside versus soliloquy. The difference between them is that an aside is a shorter comment, while a soliloquy is a longer speech. Further, an aside reveals hidden secrets or judgments, whereas the soliloquy reveals motives, inner thoughts, or internal struggles going on in the mind of the character.

Pathetic Fallacy

Pathetic fallacy is a literary device that attributes human qualities and emotions to inanimate objects of nature. 

Pathetic fallacy is a kind of personification that gives human emotions to inanimate objects of nature; for example, referring to weather features reflecting a mood. Personification, on the other hand, is a broader term. It gives human attributes to abstract ideas, animate objects of nature, or inanimate non-natural objects.

For example, the sentence “The somber clouds darkened our mood” is a pathetic fallacy, as human attributes are given to an inanimate object of nature reflecting a mood. But, the sentence “The sparrow talked to us” is a personification because the animate object of nature – the sparrow – is given the human quality of “talking.”

Macbeth - setting

Group work

Answer the following questions in groups of 2 to 3.

Macbeth, Act I

1. How is pathetic fallacy used in Act 1, Scene1? (p.3)
2. Explain the quote ' fair is foul and foul is fair'? What textual feature is used in this quote? (p. 3) 
3. After hearing he is Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth speaks of an suggestion that ' it makes my hair stand on end and ,my heart pound inside my chest?' What is this idea? (p.21) 
4. In an aside to the audience, Macbeth states that Duncan's intention to name Malcolm as his heir is a 'step' he must 'fall down or overleap ' [ I'm either going to step over him or give up.]. What does it mean? (p.27)
5. Macbeth then says: ' stars hide your fires, let not light see my dark and deep desires.' What does he mean by this? (p.29) 
6. Why does Lady Macbeth worry about Macbeth? Recall a quotation. 
7. Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth to look like the ' innocent flower' but be the 'serpent'(p.35) under it.  What does she mean by this metaphor? (p.35)

Thunder - creates an ominous and frightening atmospehere, reflective of the evil nature of witches. 

Good and bad / right and wrong don't exist - they are subjective cpncepts. The witches introduce the idea that nothing is as it seems: ' Fair is foul, and foul is fair.' This theme is central to the play. 

First thoughts of commiting regicide. 

That if Duncan dies then Malcolm would become king - this is something that obstructs Macbeth's plan. ' 

That he intends to hide these evil thoughts. The use of rhyming couplets reflects the Witches' style of speech, thus hinting at evil plotting. 

' You are too full of the milk of human kindness to strike aggressively at your first opportunity.'

Hide the evil thoughts. Appearance versus Reality/Deception. 

QUESTION 1: Determine which adjectives can be used to describe the character of Lady Macbeth. Support each adjective with concrete examples from the text.

Question 1: ANSWER Determine which adjectives can be used to describe a character of Lady Macbeth. Support each adjective with concrete examples from the text. 

Manipulating: ' Will you take the crown you want so badly, or will you live as a coward, always saying " I can't" after you say "I want to"? You are like the poor cat in the old story.' (Act 1, scene vii)

Cruel: ' I have suckled a baby, and I know how sweet it is to love the baby at my breast. But even as the baby was smiling up at me, I would have plucked my nipple out of its mouth and smashed its brain out against a wall if I had sworn to do that the same way you have sworn to do this.' (Act 1, scene vii)

QUESTION 2. Based on Act 1, Scene 5 of Macbeth, describe what Lady Macbeth and the witches have in common.

QUESTION 3: Macbeth, Act 1, scene vii

Soliloquy, P. 41

1. Listen to Macbeth's soliloquy in Act 1, scene vii.
2. Summarize this soliloquy in one sentence. (Explain what audience learns about Macbeth's thinking at this stage of the play). Share your answers via Lesson Up, slide 19. 

QUESTION 4. Macbeth, Act 1, scene vii. Analyze/ summarize the soliloquy on page 41 in one sentence. ' It this business would really ... . ' (Explain what the audience learns about Macbeth's thinking at this stage of the play).

End of group work

The following slides contain answer to the questions belonging to Act I from the study guide.

Answers act 1 scene 1

Scene one:

1) Describe the setting, the weather conditions, where, what time, etc.

Thunder and lightning crash above a Scottish moor. A desert place

2) Describe the three persons.

Three witches probably not very nice looking women

3) What is their intention? How do you know?

Fair is foul, and foul is fair:

Hover through the fog and filthy air.

That is what they say, they want to meet Macbeth and cause chaos

Scene 2

1) Describe the setting.

A camp near Forres. Probably tents near a battlefield.

2) Who is Duncan? How do you know?

Ross says: God save the king! 

Duncan is the king of Scotland he is the one who can give titles to men and take them away from them:

No more that thane of Cawdor shall deceive

Our bosom interest: go pronounce his present death,

And with his former title greet Macbeth.

3) Which two decisions were made?

The thane of Cawdor conspired with the enemy and therefor he has to die. The title of Cawdor will go to Macbeth.

4) Describe Macbeth from what is said about him.

Brave, valiant, continues to fight even when all seems lost, strong and victorious.

Scene 3

2) What do the witches say to Macbeth?

All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Glamis!

All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!

All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!

3) What do the witches say to Banquo?

Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.

Not so happy, yet much happier.

Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none:

So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!

4) Do Banquo and Macbeth react similarly to the prophesies?

 Macbeth seems startled, surprised.

 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. Macbeth wants to know more. When Ross and Angus come and say that Macbeth is infact Thane of Cawdor now, Macbeth seems to think of what lies ahead. 

 Banquo thinks that they must have been hallucinating, they are tired and hungry after the fight they were into.

Scene 4

1) Describe the setting.

Flourish. Happy sounds probably daylight.

2) What is said of the thane of Cawdor?

Cawdor confessed to what he had done, he said he was sorry and that he accepted his death and begged forgiveness from his king

3) What is said of Malcom?

Malcolm will be crown prince

4) How does Macbeth react? Macbeth sees that Malcolm is now in his way of becoming King, he is a bit shocked of his desires, that he thinks like this.

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.

Scene 5

1) Describe the setting.

Inverness is Macbeth’s castle, Inverness, it is night, so it is dark.

2) Describe Lady Macbeth. (how does she behave? Explain by using the text)

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,

Lady Macbeth thinks her husband is too kind, yet he should have ambition, she will help him fullfill his dreams

3) What is the plan? Who thought of it?

Lady Macbeth is prepared to do whatever needed to help her husband.

4) Why does Macbeth go along with his wife?

We will speak further. He doesn’t not really. He says we will discuss this later.

Scene 6

1) Describe the setting.

Hautboys and torches. So it is dark. Yet Duncan says the castle and its surroundings look pleasant and the air is sweet. And summer birds raise their young. An idyllic scene.

2) Describe Lady Macbeth, how she behaves.

Lady Macbeth is the perfect host, she welcomes het King.

3) Describe the behaviour of Duncan.

Ducan treats Lady Macbeth as his equal, she is the wife of his cousin afterall. He does not use the pluralis majestatis as het talks to her. Give me your hand, conduct me to mine host

Scene 7

2) What do Macbeth and his Lady discuss? (describe the plan)

Lady Macbeth wants Macbeth to persue the plan to kill Duncan in his sleep. But Macbeth does not want to do so, because Duncan is his cousin and his king. He feels like a traitor. But Lady Macbeth makes him feel like a loser if he passes up this opportunity.

3) Why does Macbeth initially oppose the plan of his wife? (give the quote)

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;

He hath honour'd me of late; and I have bought

Golden opinions from all sorts of people,

4) Why does he finally agree to the plan? How do you know?

Bring forth men-children only;

For thy undaunted mettle should compose

Nothing but males. Macbeth finally caves for all the arguments Lady Macbeth brings.

Scene 7 p.2

And:

He hath honour'd me of late; and I have bought

Golden opinions from all sorts of people,

4) Why does he finally agree to the plan? How do you know?

Bring forth men-children only;

For thy undaunted mettle should compose

Nothing but males. Macbeth finally caves for all the arguments Lady Macbeth brings.