Macbeth Lecture Notes

Day One
-There is no immediate them
-First acts show Macbeth's rise to power (rising Action)        
-Last acts are all about his fall (falling action)       
-Macbeth doesn't speak to his audience, it is harder to see into his mind
-Tragic Hero
-Beginning of play uses indirect characterization: noble, honorable, etc.
-Everything in the play is the function of Macbeth's own decisions
-He knows his actions will lead to his own demise 
-Lady MacBeth is the agent of evil in the beginning (masculine personality)     
-Lady Macbeth fueled Macbeth's evil side   
-Macbeth continues to kill becaue that is his only solution to the problem

Day 2
-Lady Macbeth represents pure force
-because both lady Macbeth and Macbeth have their own motivations, their marriage becomes strained        
-Macbeth has a guilty conscience so he still knows right from wrong
-loses his humanity by committing his murders
-becomes stoic        
-The Three Witches plant the ideas in Macbeth's mind, they taunt him

Macbeth Soliloquy

"Collaboration is NOT Cheating"

So today in zero period a group of sophomores eagerly asked Mariah and I if we could recite our Macbeth Soliloquy on video. And how could we resist such eager students yearning to learn? Mariah and I decided to say the poem together, alternating lines since "collaboration is not cheating." And even better then that the sophomores got extra credit for taping us. So we all essentially collaborated together to get a positive outcome on all ends of the spectrum.

Macbeth Test

1.Macbeth won the respect of King Duncan by

A. slaying the traitor Macdonwald.

Act 1 Scene 2

2. King Duncan rewarded Macbeth by dubbing him

B. the Thane of Cawdor him.

Act 1 Scene 2

3. In addressing Banquo, the witches called him which of these?
"Lesser than Macbeth, and greater." (I)
"Not so happy as Macbeth, yet much happier." (II)
A. I and II
Act 1 Scene 3

4. When Macbeth said, "Two truths are told / As happy prologues" he was referring to
A. his titles of Glamis and Cawdor.
Act 1 Scene 3

5. "Nothing in his life / Became him like the leaving it" is a reference to

A. the traitorous Thane of Cawdor.

Act 1 Scene 4

6. Duncan's statement, "I have begun to plant thee and will labour / To make thee full of growing" is an example of

C. personification.

Act 1 Scene 4

7. Lady Macbeth characterizes her husband as being

B. "too full of the milk of human kindness."
Act 1 Scene 5

8. When Macbeth agonizes over the possible killing of the king, which of these does he say?

"He is my house guest; I should protect him." (I)
"Duncan's virtues will "plead like angels" " (II)
"I am his kinsman and his subject" (III)
A. I and III
Act 1 scene 7

9. Macbeth's statement to his wife, "Bring forth men-children only" signifies that he

B. is concerned over the succession to the throne.
Act 1 Scene 7

 

10. As part of the plan to kill the king, Lady Macbeth would

A. get the chamberlains drunk.
Act 1 Scene 7

11. Trace Macbeth's transformation from a good man to an evil man.
Initially Macbeth does not want anything to do with killing for power but as the play progresses Macbeth finds it easier to kill without second thoughts.

12. What motivates Macbeth to take the evil path he chooses?

Lady Macbeth motivates Macbeth to take the evil path.

13. What influence do the witches have on Macbeth?

Macbeth doesn't really rely on what the witches have said until more prophecies start coming true.

14. Contrast Macbeth's response to the witches' predictions with Banquo's.

Macbeth questions the predictions whereas Banquo worries the predictions are all too real.

15. Describe the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Trace how it changes over the course of the play.

At the beginning of the play Lady Macbeth seems to "wear the pants". However as the play progresses and Macbeth's evil increases, his reliance on Lady Macbeth decreases.

 

1. "Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible / To feeling as to sight?" is a reference to the

A. ghost of Banquo.

Act 3 Scene 4.

2. Lady Macbeth confessed that she would have killed King Duncan herself except for the fact that

A. she couldn't gain easy access to his bedchamber

Act 3 Scene 3

3. Shakespeare introduced the Porter in order to

C. provide comic relief.

Act 2 Scene 3

4. Malcolm and Donalbain flee after the murder

A. because they fear the daggers in men's smiles.

Act 2 Scene 3

5. Macbeth arranges for Banquo's death by telling the hired killers that

A. Banquo had thwarted their careers.

Act 3 Scene 1

 

6. Macbeth startles his dinner guests by

A. conversing with the Ghost of Banquo

Act 3 Scene 4

7. The Witches threw into the cauldron

"Eye of bat and tongue of frog"(I)

"Wool of bat and tongue of dog" (II)

"Fang of snake and eagle's glare" (III)

A. I and II

Act 4 Scene 1

 

8. The three apparitions which appeared to Macbeth were

An armed head. (I)

A child with a crown. (II)

A bloody child (III)

C. I, II, and III

Act 4 Scene 1

9. In Act IV, Malcolm is at first lukewarm toward Macduff because he

B. suspects a trick.

Act 4 Scene 3

 

10. Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane when

A. the witches rendezvous with Macbeth.

B. the camouflaged soldiers make their advance.

C. Lady Macbeth convinces her husband to stand and fight.

11. What is the significance of the line "Fair is foul, and foul is fair" (I, i, 10)?

12. How does Macbeth function as a morality play?

13. How does Shakespeare use the technique of dramatic irony in Macbeth?

14. How does Lady Macbeth overcome her husband's resistance to the idea of killing King Duncan?

15. Contrast Macduff's response to the news of his wife's and children's deaths with Macbeth's response to being told Lady Macbeth is dead

Macbeth Notes

Plot:
-play begins with appearance of witches
-Macbeth and Banquo two separate invading armies,one from Ireland, led by the rebel Macdonwald, and one from Norway
- Macbeth and Banquo run into the witches and they prophesizethat Macbeth will be made thane  of Cawdor and eventually King of Scotland
-The previous thane of crawdor committed by fighting for the Norwegians

-Lady Macbeth wants Macbeth to murder Duncan in order to become king
-Macbeth stabs Duncan in his sleep and kills the chamberlains 

-Macbeth hires a group of murderers to kill Banquo and his son Fleance so they can't take his
-Banquo is killed but not Fleance his son
-Banquo’s ghost visits Macbeth, this causes Macbeth to become frazzled and goes to visit the witches
- he is told he must beware of Macduff
-Macbeth orders Macduff's family to be executed
-Malcom and Macduff join forces to enact revenge amongst
-Lady Macbeth kills herself
-Since Macduff was not of woman born he is able to kill and behaed Macbeth

Characters:
Macbeth - Macbeth is a Scottish general and the thane of Glamis

Lady Macbeth - Macbeth’s wife

The Three Witches -plot mischief against Macbeth using charms, spells, and prophecies

Banquo - He is a General

King Duncan - The good King of Scotland

Macduff - A Scottish nobleman

Malcolm - The son of Duncan

Hecate - The goddess of witchcraft.

Fleance - Banquo’s son

The Crucible

Main Characters:
-Abigail Williams -  Reverend Parris’s niece, once the servant for the Proctor household, Abigail was having an affair with John Proctor 
          Traits: smart, a good liar, and vindictive 
-John Proctor -  Elizabeth Proctor’s husband, has an affair with Abigail 
         Traits: Stern, sharp tongued 
-Reverend John Hale -  young minister and an expert on witchcraft, comes to Salem to help stop the supposed witchcraft, he doesn't fall victim to the hysteria of this witchcraft
         Traits: Critical, intelligent
-Reverend Parris -   minister of Salem’s church, he has no problem pointing the finger at who he thinks the witches are
        Traits: Power Hungry
Plot Summary:
    After being caught dancing mysteriously in the woods by Reverend Parris, one of the girls, Betty falls ill. Immediately rumors of witchcraft flood the town. Everyone starts pointing fingers at Abigail and the rest of the girls claiming they're witches. The town falls into a state of hysteria. People start getting called out left and right for being witches and are sentenced to death. To test if people are witches they tie them down and throw them in the lake, if they float they are witches, if they drown and die, they are not.

Macbeth

Site 2,3,4,5
-Brutal and cynical story
-Both Macbeth and Mrs. Macbeth are murderers
-Shakespeare got this story from Holinshed's Chronicles
-"Macbeth"="Son of life" (ironic name seeing as how Macbeth murders people)\
-Macbeth's father Findeach was ruler of Moray
-Macbeth's mother was said to be the daughter of King Kenneth 2
-Mrs. Macbeth was the daughter of Biote
-Duncans son was Malcom and reigned as malcom 3
-The three witches in the story represent "weird", "destiny" and "fate"

The Real Macbeth
-Macbeth was written for King James
-1040 Macbeth Killed Duncan in battle
-Macbeth ended up being killed by Malcom, Duncan's son

-This story was set in the dark ages
-Macbeth was a psychological study for Shakespeare
-The changes Shakespeare made to Macbeth's story was to suck up to King James
-Sources that contributed to Macbeth include Reginald Scot's Discovery of Witchcraft and King James' Daemonolgie

Top 3 Blogs

Katie's video did a good job of summarizing the characters and theme in the limited amount of time.
http://kerhsenglitcomp.blogspot.com/

Mari's artistic skills are very good, and drawing each slide in this video must have taken a lot of time and effort. I also enjoyed the soothing music.
http://mjkrhsenglitcomp.blogspot.com/

I like how Candace's video was composed of a bunch of pictures that represented the story.
http://crrhsenglitcomp.blogspot.com/