Week Beginning - 22nd February 2021
11RNN
Madison Davies
Week Beginning - 8th February 2021
11RNN
Week Beginning - 1st February 2021
11AMI
MC:
Look at how the characters speak and
behave in the extract. How would an audience respond to this moment? (15 marks)
This
extract is taken from act 3, scene 4 of Shakespeare’s
Macbeth which immediately follows the news that the
murderers have killed Banquo, but contrary to the purpose of the
murder, Fleance has escape and thus Macbeth still holds a “fruitless
crown”. In this scene, the Macbeths host a banquet in
which Macbeth’s conscience overpowers his composure and he shows
his mania whilst his wife attempts to deescalate the situation.
Firstly, the
extract opens with the interrogative “Which of you have done this?” which
immediately sets a severe tone and causes an immediate tension in the audience
as there is a sharp break in the expected behaviour and composure of
Macbeth. Macbeth’s repeated refusal to refer directly to his act of
regicide as “murder” instead calling
it “this” except from in his short moments of confidence such as
his soliloquy in act 3 scene 1 displays a clear sense of guilt
to the audience and may cause conflicting opinions on him, particularly a
Jacobean audience. This is due to their strong belief in the Great
Chain of Being which is the “natural order” of the world, with the king at the
top, only superseded by God himself as he chose the king. As a result,
Macbeth’s act of regicide was a direct act against God and the most blasphemous
sin one could commit. Shakespeare attempted to dissuade
people from attempting to assassinate the king as he was influenced
heavily by the gunpowder plot a year prior to this play. However, he also used
this ensure catharsis in his audience; his intention was to create horror
in the audience to rid them of any evil “spirits” they might experience in
their life. After being questioned the by lords present, Macbeth
ignored them and unbeknownst to his guests, he continued talking to a
figure of his imagination: Banquo’s ghost. In an attempt to assert his
innocence, Macbeth uses the desperate declarative “Thou canst not say I
did it: never shake thy gory locks at me” where he attempts to relinquish
blame from himself as it was not him who did it – he blames the
murderers which he appointed. His guilt and desperation is most felt
in the imperative “never shake thy gory locks at me” where he envisions Banquo
mocking and shaming him from the grave. This is significant
because it is the resurgence of his good conscience and would result in
the audience reflecting upon his previously “noble” and
“good” character but ultimately results in more outrage either to the
witches, Macbeth or his wife depending on the audience’s views. This
divide in the audience may have been intentional as Shakespeare designed
his play to carry his message through people; he wanted them to
question whom to lay the blame upon rather than whether blame is deserved
at all and this creates a longer-lasting, more powerful
message. The adjective “gory” displays the gruesome nature of
Macbeth’s actions and has a double entendre which aims to create an image
of the “demons” in his conscience.
This
shocking turn of events prompts the lords to “rise” and attempt to leave.
This is swiftly stopped with Lady Macbeth’s imperative “Sit,
worthy friends: my lord is often thus”. The noun phrase “worthy
friends” furthers the desperate tone in which she attempts to
mask both Macbeth’s manic actions as well as her
panic. The theme of irony is highlighted through this
as she implies their loyalty to the lords despite the copious and
shocking betrayals they have carried out. The contrast between the formal
nature of “Gentlemen, rise” which shows them acting in
unison and Macbeth’s frantic nature in which he appears
trapped in his thoughts sets a sombre tone and could lead
to a sense of pity in some audience members as Macbeth’s hamartia is
foreshadowed and that he is beginning to become isolated and will
die in earnest and still naïve. Next, the audience
is reminded of Lady Macbeth’s previous dominance and her
wish for the witches to “unsex me here” in the quote “Are you a man?”. The
rhetorical interrogative would cause the audience to become
exasperated and further outraged as her only strategy to gather whatever
success she can get hold of is to insult her husband, something which vastly
contrasted the typical position of a woman in the 1600s. Finally, the
end of the extract shows a clear volta as Macbeth suddenly
regains control and begins his attempt to explain the recent
happenings in the lines “do not muse at me” and “I drink to the
general joy o’ the whole table, / And to our dear friend Banquo,
whom we miss”. The fact that Lady Macbeth’s insults are
continuously proven to be effective means the audience would realise
Macbeth’s weakness; it shows that his acts do not place him as a
strong, imprudent character but instead as deplorable and poignant.
This further emphasises Shakespeare’s message to not attempt murder of the
monarchy as it is solely caused by evil forces and is the sign of a weak
person. The use of “muse” has a double entendre which
attempts to explain that the outbreaks of delirium are normal but it
also refers to Greek and Roman mythology of whom preside
over the arts and sciences; this contrast denotes the many
unnatural and unexpected points of this scene but also
the play itself further alienating the thought of committing
regicide from the audience.
SC:
This
extract is from Act 3, scene 4 in Macbeth and shows Macbeth’s mental state
as continuing to deteriorate due to the guilt of the murders he
committed. It also shows Lady Macbeth as emasculating, yet she starts to lose
her control over Macbeth in this scene and these are two of the key moments in
this scene that are considered pivotal in the play.
The
extract begins with Macbeth’s rhetorical question “which of you have done
this?” and the interrogative and accusing tone displays his paranoia to
the audience who would consider his actions as sins. This would draw them
further against Macbeth as it shows the consequences of committing such crimes
and this helps to fulfil part of the play’s purpose, as Shakespeare wanted to
convey that regicide is wrong due to the gunpowder plot having happened a year
earlier. Shakespeare then creates tension in the atmosphere due to the way
Macbeth behaves when he states that “thou canst not say I did it; never shake
thy gory locks at me!” as the tone suddenly changes to apprehensive and
defiant, as he immediately assumes that Banquo’s ghost believes him to be the
cause of his death, which is true, yet Macbeth continues to sin (lie), thus
drawing him further away from any positivity in the play and any positive
views the audience might possibly have at this point. His use of an imperative
tone and the adverb “never” shows that he feels very defensive and does not
want to accept blame under any circumstances, especially not around the other
lords.
Lady
Macbeth attempts to disguise his sudden insanity by lying and showing her
duplicitous nature again by stating that Macbeth hath been like that “from
his youth” and that the “fit is momentary” and the audience can discern that
she does not understand Macbeth’s guilt and emotions. In addition, she uses the
noun “fit” as if to say it is an illness, however, this is ironic as the
audience know that it is a manifestation of Macbeth’s guilt that is causing him
to behave this way. This disregard of human emotions makes her seem callous
and cold-hearted and this idea is furthered when she begins to
emasculate him for acting like that by questioning his masculinity with
the rhetorical question “are you a man?”. She attempts to become the dominant
one in their relationship again to mask their evil acts and intentions, yet
Macbeth does not listen to her this time and he slips out of her control and
this foreshadows and reflects her own descent into madness at the end of the
play as it could be that the only thing keeping her ambition going was that she
could make Macbeth do her bidding, however, she can no longer do that. She
calls him foolish and continues to emasculate him when repeatedly questions him
such as when she asks “what, quite unmanned in folly?” which a Jacobean
audience may agree with, but not in the same way as Lady Macbeth. They would
believe Macbeth was not acting like a stereotypical “brave” man and was foolish
to commit regicide and foolish to kill Banquo, however, they would also believe
that it was foolish of Lady Macbeth to fuel his ambitions to lead him to
commit these crimes and so the audience would also view her as a source of evil
within the play.
Towards
the end of the extract, Macbeth references the supernatural when stating how
times have changed from when “the brains were out, the man would die, and there
an end. But now they rise again” and this emphasises how the natural order
has been disrupted since Macbeth killed Duncan – almost like when Rosse
and the Old Man were talking about the unnatural occurrences that happened
after Duncan’s death. Shakespeare may have included this to further the notion
of regicide being wrong as it is against the Great Chain of Being – a popular
religious belief at the time that would have made the audience inclined to
dislike Macbeth. The extract ends by Banquo’s ghost entering again when Macbeth
drinks to his “dear friend Banquo”, showing his increasing manipulative
and evil nature as he ironically had his “dear friend” murdered. The fact that
the ghost only enters when may also lead the audience to believe that this is a
guilt-inspired hallucination which Shakespeare may have wanted to do to again
show how evil Macbeth has become but also to show the consequences this has led
to as a warning.
Overall, this
extract presents the characters as losing their control over themselves due to
the guilt they are suffering with and the audience would not have any sympathy
as they would believe that they have brought this upon themselves. This is what
Shakespeare wanted them to infer from Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s nerve-wracked
and desperate state of minds which was a result of their sin of committing
regicide and lying, all in the name of ambition.
11RNN
Week Beginning - 25th January 2021
11RNN
Act 1
|
Scene |
Plot Summary/notes |
Key quotations |
|
1 |
The witches plan to meet Macbeth Shakespeare uses pathetic fallacy to foreshadow that the witches are
evil |
“there to meet Macbeth” “fair is foul and foul is fair” – antithesis suggests how Macbeth is
going to change |
|
2 |
The current thane of Cawdor betrays Duncan in the battle. He is
executed and Duncan decides to promote Macbeth for his loyalty. |
“brave Macbeth” – suggests his loyalty “what he has lost, noble Macbeth has won” – tells the audience that
Duncan trusts Macbeth |
|
3 |
Macbeth and Banquo meet the
witches, who tell Macbeth he will be thane of Cawdor and then King. They tell
Banquo that his sons will be king. Ross and Angus come and tell Macbeth his
is Thane of Cawdor and so Macbeth believes in the witches prophesies. |
“so withered and so
wild…beards” – warns the audience of the evil of the supernatural “All hail Macbeth” “thane of
Glamis” “thane of Cawdor” “king hereafter” – prophesies “stay you imperfect speakers,
tell me more” – Macbeth believes the witches “instruments of darkness” –
metaphor suggests Banquo thinks they are evil |
|
4 |
King Duncan announces that Malcom (his son) will be made prince (heir
to the throne).in his aside Macbeth reveals his deep desire to become king.
Duncan says he is coming to visits Macbeth at his castle |
“Malcom, whom we name hereafter. Prince of Cumberland”-he is a threat
to Macbeth’s prophesy “let not light see my black and deep desires”-metaphor for his evil
intentions foreshadowing his future violent action |
|
5 |
Macbeth sends lady Macbeth a letter about the witches LM plans to
kill the king, however she worries that Macbeth is to kind to actually kill Duncan She calls to evil spirits to get rid of her femininity so she has to
power and dominance to kill Duncan and manipulate Macbeth She advises Macbeth to be two-faced and leave everything to her |
“I fear thy nature, it is too full of the milk of human
kindness”-infantilise Macbeth “pour my spirts into thin ear”-plan to manipulate Macbeth “come spirts…unsex me here”-get rid of femininity “fatal entrance”-plan to kill Duncan “look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under it “simile two
faced “leave all the rest to me” she in control |
|
6 |
Duncan arrives which creates dramatic irony and LM welcomes him
kindly showing the audiences how sly and two faced she is |
“ honoured hostess” “we love him highly”-shows how much love and
trust Duncan has for lady Macbeth and Macbeth “all our service “-LM being two faced Deceptive/duplicitous |
|
7 |
Macbeth debates whether he should kill Duncan, he doesn’t want to do
it because the guilt and because of the friendship with Duncan Tells LM he doesn’t want to do it and she manipulates him by
questioning his bravery and masculinity At the end of the scene he agrees to follow through with the murder |
“twere well it were done
quickly “-needs to act fast “bloody instruction…returns to plague the inventor”-metaphor for
punishment/guilt “double trust”-friendship with Duncan “coward” ”when you do it then you were a man” “dash the brains
out”-LM being manipulative “false face must hide , what the false heart doth know” – must hide
how he feels |
Week Beginning - 18th January 2021
11RNN
3.Extract Analysis
The extract is taken from Act 1, Scene 5 and shows Lady Macbeth calling to evil spirits to get rid of her femininity so she has the power and dominance to kill Duncan and manipulate Macbeth.
At the start of extract, the audience would not trust Lady Macbeth as she speaks to the spirits and says ‘Come you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts’. The imperative sentence suggests she is willingly offering herself for possession just to be sure that the plan will be done.
Lady Macbeth then instructs the spirits to ‘unsex me here’ which suggests Lady Macbeth needs to be as cold and calculating as it is possible. These qualities were considered masculine. Men were thought to be ruthless killers, who could prepare a plan and proceed to it step by step. She considers herself on charge and, before this great responsibility, she wants to get rid of her feminine weaknesses, but also not to become like her husband.
Furthermore , Lady Macbeth says “make thick my blood” she wants to be cold hearted and wants her wounds to heal over quickly before she feels any pain since she has a conscience and feels terrible about the idea of killing an innocent man, she needs to harden her own heart to push her husband to do this evil deed.
Moreover, She is making a prayer of some sorts to help her commit murder with her husband. In doing this, she feels she needs to remove all womanly softness and care. To do this, she feels the need to remove any motherly characteristics such as her womanly breasts that hold milk, and asks for the evil spirits to fill it with gall which is shown when she says ‘Come to my woman’s breasts and take my milk for gall’.
Towards the end of the extract, she says ‘The letters have transported me beyond’ this suggests that she is really happy from receiving the letters from Macbeth about him becoming king.
Finally, Lady Macbeth encourages him to "Look like th' innocent flower, But be the serpent under ’t" using the simile she is telling her husband that he should appear harmless and innocent but be prepared to strike like a deadly snake hiding behind a flower and basically be two faced and associates their planned deception of Duncan with Jesuit treason and the Gunpowder Plot , showing her ambition.
