MacbethWilliam Shakespeare

1564-1616 Stratford-on-Avon - England

Overview

Who was he? Why is he so famous? Life Works

Tragedy Comedy History Poetry

Chronology Elements of drama Dramatic technique Poetic technique

Elizabethan theatre Sonnet XVIII Macbeth

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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.

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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.

Language

Used over 20,000 words in his works The average writer uses 7,500 The English Dictionary of his time only had 500

words. He’s credited with creating 3,000 words in the

English Oxford Dictionary He was by far the most important individual

influence on the development of the modern English

He invented lots of words that we use in our daily speech

Typical 16th century theatre

Building:

3 stories Levels 1 & 2,

Backstage: dressing and storage areas Level 3, Upper Stage: could represent balcony, walls of a castle, bridge of a ship

Resembled courtyard of an inn

The Globe Theatre

Elizabethan Theatre

The Globe Theatre

Trap doors: entrances and exits of ghosts; area under stage called Hell

2 large doors at back: actors made entrances and exits in full view of audience

Inner stage: a recess with balcony area above

Floor: ash mixed with hazelnut shells from snacks audience ate during performance Effect on performance: plays held in afternoon No roof No artificial lighting No scenery

The Globe Theatre

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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.

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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

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Themes The Corrupting Power of Unchecked Ambition

The Relationship Between Cruelty and Masculinity (gender)

The Difference Between Kingship and Tyranny (king vs. tyrant)

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Motifs Hallucinations

Violence

Prophecy

Sleep (Duncan vs. Macbeth)

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Symbols

Blood (permanent stain)

The Weather

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Quotes

1. Fair is foul, and foul is fair. (witches)

2. 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)

3. Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it. (Lady Macbeth)

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Quotes (2)4. 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)

5. If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me. (Macbeth)

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Quotes (3)

6. 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)

7. False face must hide what the false heart doth know. (Macbeth)

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Quotes (4)8. 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)

9. The attempt and not the deedConfounds us. (Lady Macbeth)

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Quotes (5)

10. Methought I heard a voice cry, "Sleep no more!Macbeth does murder sleep!" the innocent sleep,Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleave 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)

11. Glamis hath murdered sleep, and there CawdorShall sleep no more, Macbeth shall sleep no more! (Macbeth)

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Quotes (6)

12. 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)

13. A little water clears us of this deed. (Lady Macbeth)

14. Thou hast it now: King, Cawdor, Glamis, all,

As the weird women promised; and, I fear, Thou play'dst most foully for't . (Banquo)

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Quotes (7)

15. Things without all remedyShould be without regard; what's done is done. (Lady Macbeth)

16. There 's daggers in men's smiles. (Donalbain)

17. Hence, horrible shadow!Unreal mockery, hence! (Macbeth)

18. Blood will have blood. (Macbeth)

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Quotes (8)

19. I am in bloodStepped in so far that, should I wade no more,Returning were as tedious as go o'er. (Macbeth)

20. Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scornThe power of man, for none of woman bornShall harm Macbeth. (Hecate)

21. When our actions do not,Our fears do make us traitors. (Lady Macduff)

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Quotes (9)

22. 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)

23. 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)

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Quotes (10)

24. 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)

Elements of drama

5-part dramatic structure corresponds to a play’s

5 acts Exposition (introduction)

Establishes tone, setting, main characters, main conflict

Fills in events previous to play

Rising action Series of complications for the protagonist (main

character) flowing from the main conflict

Elements of drama

Crisis or Climax Turning point in story

Moment of choice for protagonist

Forces of conflict come together

Falling action

Results of protagonist’s decision

Maintains suspense

Resolution or Denouement

Conclusion of play

Unraveling of plot

May include characters’ deaths

Dramatic technique Pun: play on words involving

Word with more than one meaning Words with similar sounds

Soliloquy

Speech of moderate to long length Spoken by one actor alone on stage (or not heard

by other actors)

Aside

Direct address by actor to audience Not supposed to be overheard by other characters

Poetic technique

Blank verse: unrhymed iambic pentameter

Iambic pentameter 5 units of rhythm per line

primary rhythm is iambic ( U / )

“Shal Ì compàre Thée to a sùmmer’s dày”

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References: aeolianangel. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://

www.slideshare.net/aeolianangel/shakespeares-macbeth-8551793

Jacobs, C. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/christopherdjacobs9/introduction-to-william-shakespeare?qid=76a4ef32-2f4d-4b88-ad94-bb152de38529&v=qf1&b=&from_search=26

janeryu. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/janeryu/macbeth-presentation-933457?qid=d3920a43-c16d-4714-8ae7-4d4420f07760&v=qf1&b=&from_search=20

Ciaffaroni, M. T. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/ciaffaroni/william-shakespeare-mt