The 16th to 17th century era was home to many well-known writers, but none were as prevalent in the ability to create works that made an audience think beyond the status quo quite like William Shakespeare. Among many of Shakespeare’s talents as a writer, held his ability to create characters that represent the stereotypical racial…
Act I Questions Match characters: Which characters use the words “fair” and “foul” in scenes i and iii? Why would these characters be connected? In the beginning of the play, in Scene I three witches are talking about Macbeth and towards the end of this scene they say, “Fair is foul, and foul is fair…
What is the role of apparitions in Macbeth? Throughout the play, Macbeth sees various apparitions, each at an important point in his story. The apparitions can be perceived as a visual manifestation of his declining mentality. When Macbeth feels most guilty and remorseful of his actions, he hallucinates, and these visions symbolize his compunction. When…
|Act 1|Act 2|Act 3|Act 4|Act 5| Act 5 Scene Summaries Characters Themes Motifs Scene 1 Lady Macbeth sleepwalks, acting out washing her hands Lady Macbeth: This is the moment we see all of the fears and conscience finally catch up to Lady Macbeth. The moment that she finds out about the murder of Macduff’s…
|Act 1|Act 2|Act 3|Act 4|Act 5| Act 4 Scene Summaries Characters Themes Motifs Scene 1 Macbeth visits the Witches and is given three new prophecies: 1) to beware of Macduff; 2) that no man who is born of woman can harm Macbeth; 3) he is safe until Burnham Wood moves to Dunsinane Hill. Hecate…
|Act 1|Act 2|Act 3|Act 4|Act 5| Scene Summaries Characters Themes Motifs Scene 1: Banquo thinks about the prophecy when Macbeth and Lady Macbeth enter to invite him to the banquet that night. He goes riding with his son, Fleance and Macbeth thinks about his fear of Banquo. Some men arrive whom Macbeth sends off…
|Act 1|Act 2|Act 3|Act 4|Act 5| Act 2 Scene Summaries Characters Themes Motifs Scene 1 Macbeth hallucinates, seeing a dagger in front of him. Banquo and Macbeth grow more fearful and suspicious of each other. Macbeth goes as far as to test Banquo’s trust in the statement ‘If you shall cleave to my consent,…
|Act 1|Act 2|Act 3|Act 4|Act 5| Act 1 Scene Summaries Characters Themes Motifs Scene 1: Three Witches get together and start plotting. There are 3 witches. I learned that they’re somehow related to darkness from the introduction mentioning thunder, lightning etc. Evil and Darkness Scene 2: Duncan hears that Macbeth…
In Shakespeare’s Elizabethan era play, Macbeth, the paradox of “fair is foul, and foul is fair” (Shakespeare, 1.1.12) is a recurring theme that eventually leads to the downfall of the protagonist, Macbeth. He, who is the thane of Glamis, is faced with a difficult choice; killing Duncan in order to become king or, let himself…
Though William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth is primarily a work of fiction, the story was inspired by a real Scottish historical figure of the same name, and the two share both similarities and differences in how their story plays out. One key similarity the two share is how they gain and lose their position…
Blood: Blood appears to symbolise guilt and appears several times. After killing the king, Macbeth claims that all of ‘Great Neptune’s oceans’ cannot wash away the blood from his hands, and the blood will taint the ‘green one red.’ meaning that there is too much blood/ guilt. Macbeth feels uncomfortable with blood on his hands…
“A man doesn’t become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall” (Aristotle). Aristotle theorizes that a Tragic Hero will effectively evoke both one’s pity and one’s terror. Eventually, a Tragic Hero dies a tragic death, falling from great heights, while creating irreversible mistakes. The hero must courageously accept their fate…
As most Shakespearean tragedies, “Macbeth” is the story about a tragic hero whose desires bring about dismal self-destruction as well as recognition from the reader’s part. For the most part, “Macbeth” can be considered about ambition and how power corrupts all, yet looking more in detail, the play is about heinous actions and the guilt…
The theme of appearance versus reality is central to the Shakespearean play The Tragedy of Macbeth. It is a play full of ambition, betrayal, madness, and the supernatural. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth must hide their true thoughts in order to prevent others from knowing what they have done while different characters comment on the difficulty…
The undeniable power of unbridled ambition and its ramifications are extensively portrayed within William Shakespeare’s tragedy; Macbeth. Within this play, ambition is portrayed as a corrupting and unquenchable force through the main concepts of mental imbalance, supernatural behaviors and betrayal. The consuming desires of Macbeth and their repercussions are vividly enhanced through the use of…
Introduction As regards the theatre there were two opposed views of its effectiveness. The one view stressed its capacity to instruct the populace – often, and quite explicitly, to keep them obedient. Thus Heywood in an Apology for Actors, claimed that plays were written and performed to teach ‘subjects obedience to their king’ by showing…
Quote: “It will have blood they say; blood will have blood.” (3.4.123) Speaker and Audience: Macbeth is speaking to his wife, Lady Macbeth Context: Prior to Macbeth saying this quote of key importance in the tragedy, he witnessed the ghost of Banquo, whom he murdered so that he wouldn’t be found guilty of Duncan’s murder.…
What caused Macbeth’s inevitable catastrophe? Was it what he experienced from a series of external forces, or his choice of reaction to them? One may believe that Macbeth was under the mere perception of free will or he was controlled by other deities. This is simply not true. Macbeth was, unfortunately, a victim of his…
In the opening scene, the witches portray evil and supernatural, and say the line “fair is foul, and foul is foul is fair.” This line means that whatever is considered foul to the normal man is considered fair to the witches and vice versa. It is from the first scene, where the prophecies were introduced,…
Ambition is the motivation that strongly drives one to achieve what they desire. Macbeth has great ambition. It can be said that Macbeth’s strong ambition is what leads him to his misery. In the beginning of Macbeth, Macbeth’s ambition drove him to beat the king of Norway. He single-handedly took on the enemy forces. The…