3. Introduction Shakespeare’s shortest and bloodiest tragedy, Macbeth tells the story of a brave Scottish general (Macbeth) who receives a prophecy from a trio of sinister witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed with ambitious thoughts and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan and seizes the throne for himself. He begins his reign racked with guilt and fear and soon becomes a tyrannical ruler, as he is forced to commit more and more murders to protect himself from enmity and suspicion. The bloodbath swiftly propels Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to arrogance, madness, and death. 3
4. Introduction (cont.) Macbeth is not Shakespeare’s most complex play, but it is certainly one of his most powerful and emotionally intense. Whereas Shakespeare’s other major tragedies, such as Hamlet and Othello, fastidiously explore the intellectual predicaments faced by their subjects and the fine nuances of their subjects’ characters, Macbeth tumbles madly from its opening to its conclusion. It is a sharp, jagged sketch of theme and character; as such, it has shocked and fascinated audiences for nearly four hundred years. 4
6. Key Facts Full Title: The Tragedy of Macbeth Major Conflicts: The struggle within Macbeth between his ambition and his sense of right and wrong; the struggle between the murderous evil represented by Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and the best interests of the nation, represented by Malcolm and Macduff Climax: Macbeth’s murder of Duncan in Act 2 represents the point of no return, after which Macbeth is forced to continue butchering his subjects to avoid the consequences of his crime. 6
8. Characters Duncan – King of Scotland Malcolm – Duncan's eldest son Donalbain – Duncan's youngest son Macbeth – A general in the army of King Duncan, originally Thane of Glamis, then Thane of Cawdor and later King of Scotland Lady Macbeth– Macbeth's wife, and later Queen of Scotland Banquo – Macbeth's friend, a general in the army of King Duncan Fleance – Banquo's son Macduff – The Thane of Fife Hecate – Chief witch/Goddess of Witchcraft Three Witches 8
10. Themes The Corrupting Power of Unchecked Ambition The Relationship Between Cruelty and Masculinity (gender) The Difference Between Kingship and Tyranny (king vs. tyrant) 10
14. Quotes Fair is foul, and foul is fair. (witches) If you can look into the seeds of time,And say which grain will grow and which will not,Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fearYour favours nor your hate. (Banquo) Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it. (Lady Macbeth) 14
15. Quotes (2) Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts! unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top full Of direst cruelty; make thick my blood, Stop up the access and passage to remorse, That no compunctious visitings of nature Shake my fell purpose. (Lady Macbeth) If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me. (Macbeth) 15
16. Quotes (3) Come, thick night, And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, To cry, 'Hold, hold!‘ (Macbeth) False face must hide what the false heart doth know. (Macbeth) 16
17. Quotes (4) Is this a dagger which I see before me,The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.Art thou not, fatal vision, sensibleTo feeling as to sight? or art thou butA dagger of the mind, a false creation,Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain? (Macbeth) The attempt and not the deedConfounds us. (Lady Macbeth) 17
18. Quotes (5) Methought I heard a voice cry, "Sleep no more!Macbeth does murder sleep!" the innocent sleep,Sleep that knits up the ravelledsleave of care,The death of each day's life, sore labor's bath,Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,Chief nourisher in life's feast. (Macbeth) Glamis hath murdered sleep, and there CawdorShall sleep no more, Macbeth shall sleep no more! (Macbeth) 18
19. Quotes (6) Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this bloodClean from my hand? No, this my hand will ratherThe multitudinous seas incarnadine,Making the green one red. (Macbeth) A little water clears us of this deed. (Lady Macbeth) Thou hast it now: King, Cawdor, Glamis, all, As the weird women promised; and, I fear, Thou play'dst most foully for't . (Banquo) 19
20. Quotes (7) Things without all remedyShould be without regard; what's done is done. (Lady Macbeth) There 's daggers in men's smiles. (Donalbain) Hence, horrible shadow!Unreal mockery, hence! (Macbeth) Blood will have blood. (Macbeth) 20
21. Quotes(8) I am in bloodStepped in so far that, should I wade no more,Returning were as tedious as go o'er. (Macbeth) Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scornThe power of man, for none of woman bornShall harm Macbeth. (Hecate) When our actions do not,Our fears do make us traitors. (Lady Macduff) 21
22. Quotes (9) Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. (Macbeth) Out, damned spot! Out, I say! One: two:why, then 'tis time to do't. Hell is murky. Fie, my lord,Fie! A soldier, and afeard? What need we fear whoKnows it, when none can call our power accompt?Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him? (Lady Macbeth) 22
23. Quotes (10) Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrowCreeps in this petty pace from day to day,To the last syllable of recorded time;And all our yesterdays have lighted foolsThe way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!Life's but a walking shadow, a poor playerThat struts and frets his hour upon the stageAnd then is heard no more. It is a taleTold by an idiot, full of sound and fury,Signifying nothing. (Macbeth) 23
