Macbeth wrap-up English 4 CP February 26, 2014

King James I and Macbeth

  • King James believed in witches and was interested in how they captured souls (equivocation)
  • The play Macbeth claims that James descends from Banquo and has the legitimate right to the English throne.
  • When Malcolm puts Duncan’s crown on, justice and good are restored to Scotland. He is the king by divine right, just like King James.

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth

  • They love each other and work as a couple towards their goal.
  • Macbeth is heartbroken to see his wife’s insanity and suicide.
  • Lady Macbeth pushes her husband to kill Duncan, but she can’t live with the guilt.

Lady Macbeth

  • She calls on evil spirits to “unsex” her (to block her feelings of compassion).
  • Even while the murder is still going on, she is losing her self-control.
  • Finally, she hallucinates blood on her hands and constantly tries to wash it off.

Macbeth

  • He despises the witches, but he lets them use him to reach his ambition.
  • He commits the first murder against his conscience and his better judgement.
  • He is a first-rate fighter and shows courage.
  • He keeps escalating his crimes (Duncan, Banquo, Macduff’s family).
  • He sees Banquo’s ghost, just as his wife sees blood on her hands.
  • He falls for the equivocation of the Apparitions after he drinks the potion.
  • Since Macbeth is never the “real” king, the role doesn’t fit him and he is always uncomfortable and anxious. (Act 5 Scene 2 lines 17-22) This is when everyone is about to abandon Macbeth.

Angus:

Now does he feel
His secret murders sticking on his hands;
Now minutely revolts upbraid his faith-breach;
Those he commands move only in command,
Nothing in love: now does he feel his title
Hang loose about him, like a giant's robe
Upon a dwarfish thief.

Macduff

  • He never trusts Macbeth, and he doesn’t hide it.
  • He can’t rest until he gets revenge personally on Macbeth.
  • He is “not of woman born.” (His mother died in childbirth and he was taken by caesarian birth

Some important themes in the play

Deception and disguise

  • Why do you dress me in borrowed robes? Act 1 Scene 3 line 109
  • Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent beneath it. Act 1 Scene 5 line 62
  • Was the hope drunk wherein you dressed yourself? Act 1 Scene 7 line 36
  • A little water clears us of this deed. Act 2 Scene 2 Line 65
  • Where we are, there's daggers in men's smiles. Act 2 Scene 3 line 130

Nature’s reaction to evil

  • Act 2 Scene 3 lines 46-53
  • Act 2 Scene 4 lines 1-19

Equivocation

  • The witches equivocate by telling Macbeth that no man “of woman born” can harm Macbeth. Macbeth considers himself unbeatable after this promise.
  • The witches also equivocate when they tell Macbeth that he will never be defeated until the forest at Birnham moves to his castle at Dunsinane.