Max Zhao

English Literature and Composition

Lee
1/6/15
Macbeth Reading Notes
Title/Author/Date
The Tragedy of Macbeth William Shakespeare 1606, England
Period/Era
The Renaissance (1500-1660) Jacobean Era
Genre
Tragedy
Setting
a. Middle Ages 11th century
a. Shakespeare wasnt into historical accuracy, so many of the
events portrayed reflected contemporary affairs
b. Actors dressed in 17th century clothing
b. Scotland and briefly England
a. Only Shakespearean play set in Scotland, likely because of King
James VI of Scotlands crowning of King James I of England few
years before the play was written (plays at the time were often
performed at discretion of the monarch)
b. Gathering-place and cavern of Hecate and the witches
i. Where Macbeth and Banquo initially meet the witches,
and were Macbeth eventually receives second prophecy
c. Inverness Castle
i. Macbeths home
ii. Duncan is murdered
d. Forres
i. Duncans castle, eventually Macbeths
ii. An actual castle in ancient times constantly destroyed
and rebuilt, first by Norsemen in 850AD
iii. Only foundation remains today
e. Dunsinane
i. Macbeths southern castle
ii. Macbeth is defeated and killed by Malcom
iii. Lady Macbeth commits suicide
iv. Prophecy is fulfilled
f. Thane of Fife
i. Macduffs castle
ii. Historically the Macduff Earls of Fife, most powerful family
in Middle Ages
iii. Macbeth murders Macduffs wife and son
iv. Built by the family in 11th century, and owned by the
Wemyss family, descendants of Macduff in the 14 th
century

Plot
A.
-

Macbeth and Banquo encounter witches

Prophesize that Macbeth will be made thane o Cawdor and King of
Scotland
Banquos sons will become king but not Banquo
Visits thane with Duncan and dine at Inverness, Macbeth writes to Lady
Macbeth
Lady Macbeth pushes Macbeth to murder Duncan in order to become
king
Plan to get two chamberlains drunk and blaim it on them
Macbeth stabs Duncan when asleep, Malcolm and Donalbain flee to
England and Ireland
Hires group of Murderers to kill Banquo and Fleance, fail to kill Fleance
Banquos guest visits Macbeth
Visits witches in cavern again, he is invincible to any man born of
woman, and safe until Birnam comes to Dunsinane
Macbeth orders that Macduffs castle be seized, and entire family
murdered
Lady Macbeth plagued with guilt, kills herself
English forces overwhelm army and castle
C-section = not of woman born
Macbeth beheaded by Macduff
Malcolm becomes King of Scotland

B.
- Dramatic Irony
Audience prematurely knows that prophecies will eventually become true and
oversee Macbeth desperately trying to escape his fate
- Paradox
Witches didnt proactively do anything to encourage Macbeths foul deeds
fair is foul and foul is fair, Macbeth drives himself to murder and betray,
witches simply gave a prophecy and not how the prophecy would be fulfilled
- Foreshadowing
Witches prophecies hint towards what is going to happen later on in the play
C.
- Significance of title
The Tragedy of Macbeth the title reveals that the play is going to be a
tragedy, so audience are informed beforehand that Macbeth will likely die
before the ending of the play
- Opening Scene
o Sets the scene and plot for the rest of the novel, with the three
witches deciding what to do next
o Fair is foul, and foul is fair sets an inauspicious tone for the
play giving the impression that something bad is going to
happen
o Spoken in couplets rather than blank verse
- Closing Scene
o Witches prophecies come true
o Macloms reign begins a line of kings
o Provides a lesson in morality

Viewers see that Macbeths ultimate demise is due to his

growing ambition, blinding him from what is right and
wrong
Macbeth is changed from an recognized and honored hero
to a despised man, his death serves as a relief to the
people of Scotland
Macbeth faces consequences for his actions, actions speak
louder than words

Characters
- Macbeth
o Brave and capable warrior to despised and dishonored man
o Physical courage accompanied by consuming ambition and selfdoubt
o Shakespeare uses Macbeth to show the devastating effects
ambition and guilt have on one lacking strength of character
o Thane of Glamis
o Kin of Duncan
o Kills Duncan, which plagues him with worry and terrible guilt
too ambitious to be stopped by conscience but too
conscientious to be satisfied with being deemed a
murderer
- Lady Macbeth
o One of Shakespeares most influential and famous female
characters
o More ruthless and ambitious than Macbeth
o At one point wishes that she werent a woman so that she could
murder herself
o Macbeth deems her a masculine soul in a feminine body
masculinity = ambition and violence?
o One of the biggest reasons behind Duncans murder,
manipulates Macbeth into doing so
o Eventually commits suicide as a result of guilt
o Shakespeare implies that woman can be as ambitious, violent,
and as cruel as men, but resort to female methods of doing so,
like manipulation.
o Social constraints restrain Macbeth from going through with her
ambitions on her own
o Epitomizes the power of guilt
- The Three Witches
o The puppeteers of Macbeths ambition
o Weird sisters
o Create an ominous tone towards the play hinting that bad
things will happen from the beginning of the play
o Bizarre actions, appearances, and speech deem them slightly
ridiculous, perhaps supernatural
o Tell prophecies
Are they messengers of fate or simply messing with
characters lives

Never actively do anything, simply tell/prophesize what is going

to happen
Banquo
o Brave and noble general
o Witches prophesize that his sons will eventually become king
o Macbeths foil
Duncan
o King of Scotland
o Loyal and good to his people
o Virtuous
o Death signifies destruction of order in Scotland
Macduff
o Scottish nobleman
o Main activist towards dethroning Macbeth
o Seeks vengeance for Macbeths murdering of his entire family
Malcolm
o Son of Duncan
Fleance
o Banquos son
o Survives Macbeths murder attempt
o

Point of View
N/A
Tone and Style
Shakespeares Macbeth follows an extremely ominous and tragic tone.
Opening with three witches conjuring around a cauldron surrounded by a dark
atmosphere, Shakespeare quickly creates his dark and foreboding tone - the
audience is led to constantly feel that something tragic or bad is going to
happen, which ultimately occurs as the witches prophecies come true. The
play is filled with superstition, murder, and tragedy all surrounding a couple
overwhelmed by ambition and cruelty, desiring only absolute power.
Macbeth is written in the style of a classic Greek tragedy with the storys
main protagonist born with royalty and hamartia, ultimately leading to his
eventual downfall and death.
Shakespeares plays are often written in blank verse, which was a popular
style during the English Renaissance, but he constantly breaks from this style
in order to separate and divide characters accordingly to their class and
identity. The nobility tend to speak in unrhymed poetry (blank verse), while
the three witches speak in trochaic tetrameter with rhymed couplets setting
them apart from most of the characters and achieving a scary, unusual tone
at the same time. Commoners speak in prose just like we do, in regular old
common-language.
Motifs
- Masculinity
o Encourages violence, ambition, and cruelty?

Constantly used ironically Lady Macbeth sometimes more

ruthless than Macbeth
Prophecy
o Sets the scene and plot for the play
o Are they actual prophecies that the witches know will happen for
sure, or simply a way of toying with the characters?
Blood
o Guilt
o

Themes
- Too much ambition can ultimately lead to ones downfall.
o Devastation often follows when ambition crosses moral
boundaries
o Lady Macbeth and Macbeth house an unstoppable desire to fulfill
the witches prophecy no matter what
o Once Macbeth starts murdering, he cant stop
o Guilt ultimately overwhelms him
- Whats the difference between fate and free will?
o Were the witches prophecies actually prophecies, or just them
toying with Macbeth?
o Were Macbeths actions ultimately caused by the prophecies?
o The prophecies told what would happen, but not how it would
happen.
Purpose
- To entertain an audience
- To win the favor of the newly appointed King James I of England
o Plays written at the time were at the discretion of the monarch
o Also descendant of Banquo
o A reason why the play was set in Scotland
- Greek tragedy
o Catharsis, to encourage pity, fear, and other emotions upon the
characters on the audience throughout the progression of the
play
Quotes
1. All. Fair is foul, and foul is fair: / Hover through the fog and filthy air
(1.1.11-12).
2. Lady Macbeth. What thou art promised. Yet do I fear thy nature; / It is
too full p the milk of human kindness / To catch the nearest way
(1.5.16-18).
3. Macbeth. I am settled and bend up / Each corporal agent to this
terrible feat (1.7.92-93).
4. Macbeth. Ill go no more. / I am afraid to think what I have done; /
Look ont again I dare not (2.2.69-71).
5. Macbeth. To know my deed, twere best not know myself. / Wake
Duncan with thy knocking! I would thou couldst! (2.2.95-96).

6. Macbeth. Unless the deed go with it. From this moment / The very
firstlings of my heart shall be / The firstlings of my hand (4.1.168170).
7. Lady Macbeth. Come on. / Gentle my lord, sleek oer your rugged
looks; / Be bright and jovial among your guests tonight (3.2.30-32)
8. Third Witch. All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King / hereafter! (1.3.5657).
Vocabulary
1. brandished waved in a threating way
2. interim the time between one event, process, or period and another
3. harbinger an indication of the approach of something or someone
4. surcease an end
5. rapt wholly absorbed as in thought, preoccupied
6. knell sound of a bell rung slowly to announce a death or a funeral or
the end of something
7. surfeited fed beyond capacity or desire
8. cleave come or to be in close contact with
9. augur person who makes predictions
10.adage proverb, saying