The Tragedy of Mabeth

Act III Notes

Struggling Readers—Reread Aloud

  • To help you review what we have read, reread the selections aloud. Think about how ou interpret the text as you read. Pause at several points and think aloud. You can make comparisons, identify comphrehension problems, or visualize the text as you reread.

Struggling Readers—Making Inferences

  • To gain confidence about the readings, make inferences by creating an “It Says…I Say” chart on which you can combine your own thoughts with text information. The chart should have four columns labeled as follows:
  • Question,
  • It Says,
  • I Say,
  • And So.

Begin with the question of why Macbeth is so curious about Banquo’s plans. Fill in what the text says, followed by your own opinions and then by the answer based on the combination of information on the chart.

Struggling Readers—Using Graphic Organizers

  • I encourage you to use graphic organizers to chart important ideas, facts, and details from the text. Two types of graphic organizers are time lines and Venn diagrams.
  • A time line lists events in chronological order. For help focusing on the plot, keep a time line of the key events that take place. A sample is provided above. Pause periodically as you review to see what has happened in the play so far.
  • Venn diagrams consist of two intersecting circles used to compare/contrast information. Try a Venn diagram comparing/contrasting Macbeth with Lady Macbeth.

Critical Thinking—Making Judgments

  • In the historical writings of Holinshed, there was a real Banquo and a real Macbeth. In the read writings, Banquo shares the guilt in the murder of Duncan. In the play, however, this is not the case. Shakespeare wanted to flatter King James I, who was a descendent of the real-life Banquo.

The Art of Name-Calling

  • “Dunghill groom,” “serpent’s egg,” “valiant flea,” and “false caterpillar” are just a few of the insults that Shakespeare’s characters hurled at one another. Shakespeare was a master in the art of name-calling. He often used dog imagery in his insults, as he does in one of the scenes with the hired murderers. Here are some other dog curses Shakespeare used in other plays: “common cry of curs,” “butcher’s cur,” “cut-throat dog,” “thou mongrel beef-witted lord,” “puppy-headed monster,” and “false hound.”

Crossing the Curriculum—Performing Arts

  • In Shakespeare’s time, Banquo’s ghost entered through a trapdoor in the rear of the stge. Today, Banquo’s ghost presents directors with some interesting staging challenges. Remember that techniques used in film often will not work in live performances.

Critical Commentary—Public and Private

  • According to the critic J. L. Styan, “Shakespeare’s Macbeth is another play, touching the opposition of the public and the private world and the consequent horrors of a divided mind.” Examine the play in terms of Macbeth’s separation of the public and private.

Who is the Third Murderer?

  • The Third Murderer also has been identified by some scholars as a supporter of Banquo and his sons. This group argues that Fleance—especially on foot—would never have been able to escape three grown men without “insider” help. The Third Murderer is the one who accuses the others of blowing out the torch, so perhaps he really is Fleance’s secret helper. Reread this section, and think about this issue.

Connecting to a Theme—“Under a Hand Accused”

  • The phrase “Under a Hand Accused” is a specific quotation from the play (III. 6. 49), in which Lennox refers to Scotland as suffering under a ruler who has committed murder. Perhaps the phrase refers to the curses of the witches, suggesting that Macbeth’s actions were fated, or to the curse of Heaven, suggesting that Macbeth is damned for his actions.

Cultural Connections

  • Just like in II.1.56-58, here Macbeth is worried about nature revealing his actions. In Shakespeare’s time, many people believed that a murdered victim could identify his or her murderer. King James I, in his Daemonologie, says, “for as in a secret murther, if the dead carkasse bee at any time thereafter handled by the murtherer, it will gush out of bloud, as if the bloud were crying to the heauen for reunge of the murtherer, God hauing appointed that secret supernaturall signe, for tryall of that secrete vnnaturall crime.” --spellings are original to the work