Is ambition a good thing or a bad thing? What are you willing to do to get what you want?�

Are the following qualities masculine or feminine? Brave, Loyal, Weak, Strong, Aggressive, Creative, Sentimental, Patient, Kind, Intelligent, Caring, Fair, Curious, Adventuresome

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So this is a comedy… right?

• Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s most famous tragedies (it is also his shortest)
• Aside from the violent nature of the plot Shakespeare uses several literary devices to enhance the feeling of evil
• He creates a serious and sinister mood by having most of the play take place at night
• There is a heavy emphasis on the supernatural (witches, dreams, spells, and ghosts)

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Will the real Macbeth please stand up?

• Macbeth was a real king of Scotland
• He did kill King Duncan
• Reigned from 1040-1057
• Unlike the Macbeth in Shakespeare’s play
• The real Macbeth had a legitimate claim to the throne
• The real Macbeth was a strong leader
• The real Macbeth’s reign was successful
• The real Macbeth was killed at Lumphanan as opposed to Dunsinane

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Introduction to Macbeth�Literary terms to know

• Renaissance Drama- Focused mainly on religious themes teaching moral lessons.
• Most of the plays in this time periods fell into two categories: comedies and tragedies.
• Tragic Hero- The main character who experiences an unhappy ending.
• Tragic Flaw- A fatal error in judgment or weakness of a character.
• Paradox- a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.

Introduction to Macbeth�Literary terms to know

• Soliloquy- A speech a character makes on stage that reveals his or her inner persona thoughts.
• Aside- A remark a character makes in an undertone to the audience or another character, but characters onstage do not hear the remark.
• pathetic fallacy-�the fallacy of attributing human feelings to inanimate objects; 'the friendly sun' is an example of the pathetic fallacy 
• Foreshadowing-the act of providing vague advance indications; representing beforehand

Themes of Macbeth

• Ambition
• Marriage
• Fate and our efforts to control fate
• Appearance vs. loyalty
• The supernatural
• Reason and mental stability
• Greed and power

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Unlocking Themes in Macbeth

• Appearances do not always reflect reality.
• Despite prophecies of the future, people are responsible for their own actions.
• Attempts to control the future by overturning the natural order of society are futile.

Unlocking Themes in Macbeth

• Ambition can subvert reason.
• When supernatural powers represent evil, they should be ignored.
• The natural order is disrupted by any upset in the proper order of human society.

Theme: Visions and Hallucinations of Guilt

• “Dagger of the mind”
• The dagger is a physical manifestation of the guilt Macbeth feels about killing Duncan
• All of the ghostly occurrences are psychological
• Macbeth cannot pray or sleep

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Theme: Be a man

• When Macbeth asks the murderers if they had the courage to kill Banquo they reply:
• “We are men my liege” (III.1.102)
• This answer is less than acceptable to Macbeth
• Lady Macbeth and Macbeth have opposing viewpoints on this issue:
• Lady says a man:
• Uses whatever means necessary (I.7 55-60)
• Must cast away kindness, tenderness and affection (I.5 45-60)
• Even Duncan rewards tasks like Macbeth’s slaying from “stern to chops” in Act 1
• Macbeth is therefore confronted with a paradox:
• As his ability to shed more blood grows to please his wife, his men desert him

Mirroring: Macbeth and Lady

• Mirroring heightens the differences between the characters
• Macbeth is the double for Duncan:
• Macbeth is violent and cruel
• Duncan is peaceable and rewarding
• Lady Macbeth is the double of Lady Macduff:
• Lady Macbeth casts off her femininity and has no problem killing even her own child
• Lady Macduff is the model of a good mother and would die to save her child

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Characterization of Macbeth

• Very ambiguous
• Unlike any other Shakespearean character
• Knows his acts are wrong but swears to do them anyway
• He is not entirely committed to evil
• He lacks motivation to carry out his deeds
• Unlike Hamlet or other characters, Macbeth does not have a good reason to kill
• The audience still sympathizes with him because of his soliloquies of agony

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Characterization of Macbeth

• When Macbeth kills Duncan he:
• Eliminates the only sane nurturer left in his life
• He cuts the very root that feeds him
• He disrupts the natural course of history

Characterization of Lady Macbeth

• Lady Macbeth provides all of the drive that Macbeth lacks
• She casts off her femininity to help
• Remorse and peace are weak and feminine to her
• She even calls Macbeth womanish
• Not a man, she is devoid of all sentimentality

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Symbols/Motifs

• Blood-This is a blood-soaked play.
• Hallucinations/Dreams

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Audience Relations

• The audience relates to Macbeth
• Macbeth’s dying is less of a release than Romeo’s or Brutus’s
• Audiences identify with Macbeth’s imagination
• We are Macbeth:
• People who know that they are doing wrong but sometimes do it anyway
• The play works because audiences have all thought about committing a crime and becoming him, this frightens and grips the attention

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Basic Information*

Dramatis Personae

• Duncan: King of Scotland
• Macbeth: Decorated General
• Lady Macbeth: Macbeth’s wife
• Banquo: Macbeth’s best friend; general in army
• Macduff: Friend of Macbeth; Nobleman
• Fleance: Banquo’s son
• Malcolm: Duncan’s son
• Donalbain: Duncan’s son
• Witches: Foreseers of future

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