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Write your appreciation on the excerpts from the tragedy of Macbeth that we read in class

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Write your appreciation on the excerpts from the tragedy of Macbeth that we read in class

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Work in groups of three and follow the guidelines on the Inquiry Sheets.

Then divide your composition in more slides and attach a copyright-free picture each from www.photos4class.com

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THE THREE WITCHES

The three witches introduce the themes of the supernatural, ambiguity as well as magical and diabolical powers into the play.

The initial scene is set in an open place with thunder and lighting. The witches represent Macbeth's hidden desires and a projection of his conscience. The fact that he chooses to believe in their words shows that they are an emanation of his dark thoughts.

They are not real characters. They are presented as old ugly, evil, weird sisters, who can read the future. When they meet Macbeth the first time, they hail him Thane of Cowdor and they predict that he will become King of Scotland.

The second time they meet Macbeth, they assure him that he will not be deposed until Birnam wood moves and comes to his castle "Dunsinane".

The main sign of ill omen is the appearace and disappearance of the three witches: they represent the evil forces who play with the life of men. Also the weather shows that something horrible, mostruous is going to happen: thunder and lighting announce the murder of the king. Even the raven and the crook signal the imminent death of Duncan. When lady Macbeth hears the owl scream and the crickets cry in the middle of the night, she knows that it is because an unnatural event is going to happen.

Finally, we can say that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's destiny would probably have been different if Macbeth had not received the profecy from the witches. They wouldn't have killed king Duncan if Macbeth had not met the witches.

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On PLOT

IN ACT II – SCENE 2

After the crime of killing King Duncan, Macbeth seems the weaker between Lady Macbeth and him. Macbeth is too scared to go into Duncan’s room, but he follows his wifes's instructions and kills also the guards. However, he forgets to leave the daggers inside the king's bedroom, so that it is Lady Macbeth who must complete the crime. She goes back to the chamber and smears the guards' faces with blood, so that they will appear guilty.
After the crime, Macbeth starts to hear weird voices in his head, which accuse him of murder. He says that since Macbeth has killed the sleeping king, he will not be able to sleep again.

When Macbeth and his wife get to know that king Duncan is going to sleep in their castle, they start to think about their murderous plan.  Lady Macbeth puts a drug in the wine that king Duncan's guards drink, which will make them sleep. Macbeth goes into King Duncan’s room and kills him with two daggers. Meanwhile lady Macbeth waits outside. When Macbeth  reaches his wife, he’s so shaken that Lady Macbeth has to take action. She tells Macbeth not to think of what they have done because it will make them mad. In accordance with her plan, she will dirty the guards with the blood of the dead king to make them
look guilty. Then they go to sleep.

When Macbeth reaches his wife, she orders him that he has to wash his hands. After that she asks him why he has taken the daggers with him as they must lie there. She orders him to go back and leave them there, but Macbeth doesn’t feel the courage to go back in that room because he is afraid to think of what he has done. So Lady Macbeth takes back the daggers and has to see the dead body of the king. This will cause her a shock.

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LANGUAGE AND DRAMATIC TECHNIQUE

Shakespeare often uses highly figurative language rich in metaphors, similes and personifications. He used the form of the sonnet to make his protagonists speak about their passions and fears.

As for the dramatic technique, the story is told by the characters on stage, since it was impossible to show battle scenes for example. News is reported by means of letters or through the apparition of messengers. The witches also reveal part of the story. Costumes had a very important role in the theatre. In Macbeth, the soldiers attacking Macbeth's castle in the final scene wear branches and leaves to create the illusion of a wood moving to Dunsinane.

The witches announce the occurrence of disasters, but their prophecies are often obscure and unclear. They just tell half truths, so that Macbeth misunderstands their message and believes in what he wishes to come true.

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WHO SAYS THESE WORDS?

“[…] all Fair is foul, and foul is fair; / Hover through the fog and filthy air”.

The third witch says these lines, meaning that all that now looks right will become unright, what is now pure will become corrupt,flying through fog and impure air.

“My hands are of your colour; but I shame To wear a heart so white”. Lady Macbeth says these lines. She is trying to explain to us that her hands

Although her hands are red like her husband's ones but she would be ashamed if her heart was as pale and weak as his. They have committed the same crime; they are both guilty but she does not feel remorse.

“These deeds must not be thought /After these ways; so, it will make us mad”. These lines are said by Lady Macbeth. She is talking with Macbeth after the crime. She wants to say that they don’t have to think about their murder because it will make them mad. What is done cannot be undone!

“[…] It is a tale told  by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing?These are the most famous lines within the final monologue of Macbeth in Act V scene 5. However, here it is Shakespeare himself who is actually speaking through Macbeth. He is talking  about the sense of life. In the lines before Macbeth says that human life is like a candle. It does not last long. It’s only a shadow that is walking in this illusory world. These lines mean that life has become absurd to Macbeth. He cannot find any sense in it: it is in fact like a tale told by an idiot, signifying nothing.

“What hath quench’d them hath given me fire” Lady Macbeth says these lines. Their meaning is that the same wine which has made the servants drunk, has made her bold. The liquor which has quenched their thirst has given her the courage to overcome her doubts and fears.

Macbeth does murder sleep”

Macbeth says these lines. They mean that since Macbeth has killed king Duncan, while he was innocently sleeping, he has murdered sleep. And so he will be punished and will forever be tormented and will never sleep again.

“[…] unnatural deeds / Do breed unnatural troubles”

These lines are within a dialogue between a Doctor and a gentlewoman, who are overhearing Lady Macbeth while she sleep-walks and talks alone at night. The Doctor says that he can’t do anything for Lady Macbeth, because her problem
isn’t pshysical but spiritual. He understands that Lady Macbeth is possessed by evil forces which have driven her mad.

“[…] the sleeping and the dead / Are but as pictures” These lines are pronounced by Lady Macbeth in Act II scene 2. After the crime Lady Macbeth is trying to explain to her husband that he should not be afraid of a dead man. It's only a picture and dead people can’t hurt other people.

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The Sound and the Fury

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Focus on MACBETH

In Act V scene 5, Macbeth receives two bad news: the first is that Lady Macbeth is dead. Instead of being desperate and sad for this event, Macbeth is now unable to feel any kind of feelings because he is too accustomed to the horrors and murders. On the contrary he is more interested in the second news: a messenger tells him that Birnam Wood is moving to Dunsinane. At first he doesn't believe that a wood could move, but soon after when he is the soldiers advancing hidden behind branches, he thinks that this news is true and that the witches have cheated him.

At this point, he says that it is too late for him and that he can't escape anywhere. In this monologue Macbeth says "I have almost forgotten the taste of fears" because he is unable to feel pain or remorse, after committing so many crimes. He is dehumanized.

When he talks about the time, he regards it as if in the past his consciousness had influenced himself. Now he compares his life to a brief candle and his being a man to a walking shadow, similar to a poor player that comes on the stage for one hour of sound and fury, but is then heard no more. Moreover, Macbeth compares human life to a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing.

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Macbeth is a tragic hero because he has a tragic flaw, a short coming. His story shows that his destiny is doomed because of his mistakes.

The tragical flaw of Macbeth is his ambition, which - encouraged by the witches' prophecy and his wife, lead him to commit a tragical error: by killing king Duncan, Macbeth's fortune starts to decline.

The predominant theme is the selfishness and thirst for power of the two protagonists, who are overambitious and are ready to cross the yellow line of their moral limits. Other important themes are the lust of power, the temptation, the supernatural and consequently death as final punishment.

Throughout the play, Macbeth undergoes a psychological development. While at the beginning he's bold, determined and ready to do whatever it takes to make the witches' prophecy come true, in the end he becomes reckless, insensitive and disilusioned. He feels that the witches have cheated him, because their words were too ambiguous and that there is no hope for him.

Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are both tragic heros because while at the beginning they are presented in a positive way, they will both experience a tragical fall. Macbeth is seen at the beginning of the play as a brave warrior, who is favoured by the king. After they kill Duncan, they become the new king and queen and are honoured by the others. However, both characters will die in the end.

They are psychologically complex because their personality is multifaceted and develops in the course of the play. They are tragic hero and heroine because they have a weakness in their personality, which will lead them to commit a tragical mistake.

In the tragedy Shakespeare often uses highly figurative language with metaphor, personification and simile. Often when Macbeth and his wife speak they monologues and soliloquies in the form of sonnets.

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Group D: Giulia, Verena, Alessandra. Focus on Lady Macbeth

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Group D: Giulia, Verena, Alessandra. Focus on Lady Macbeth

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-Our first impression of her is that she is a very determined, ambitous woman. She wants power and she reproaches her husband because he is too indecisive. Moreover, when it comes to kill the king, she is reckless, pitiless and strong-willed. She knows that Macbeth has a good heart and therefore she will have to persuade him to kill King Duncan.

-They love each other although they know their faults and virtues. For example Macbeth is human and nible-hearted, so Lady Macbeth, who is stronger than him is dominating him.

-Lady Macbeth is afraid that Macbeth might fail the courage to kill Duncan. She pushes her husband and reproaches him of being too weak. In fact she says that Macbeth should be ashamed of his pure heart. Lady Macbeth is cruel and reackless. She is ready to do whatever it takes to become queen.

-She is invoking the dark spirits of the night to make her bolder. She is aware that killing the king is an unnatural deed, which a woman like her would never be able to do. So she is asking the devil to unsex her and make her forget her feminity.

-While Lady Macbeth is sleeping, she walks in her sleep with her eyes open. She reads and writes, she talks, she rubs her hands as if she was trying to wash them off the blood of the dead king. She also smells her hands and prays God.

-The doctor is amazed when he first hears Lady Macbeth speaking in her sleep. The doctor says that her disease is beyond his practise. He cannot help her because she suffers of a spiritual disease and needs the help of an exorcist.

-Throughout the tragedy Lady Macbeth changes a lot. After King Duncan's death she becomes weak and remorseful. She is tormented by sense of guilt and remorses. The memory of the old king resembling her father has driven her mad.

-Lady Macbeth's madness is in fact caused by her sense of guilt for what they have done. Her character undergoes a deep psychological change. With Lady Macbeth Shakespeare shows the audience a tragical heroin who is presented in the beginning as a very strog-willed, cynical woman but will tragical fall and will die.

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TYPICAL STRUCTURE OF A TRAGEDY

Macbeth presents the typical structure of a tragical play. In fact it has an introduction with a positive beginning, in which the characters are in a condition of harmony, but it ends with the death of both protagonists.

INTRODUCTION

The play begins with the victory of Duncan's soldiers. Macbeth, the protagonist, is on his way back home with his friend Banquo when they have a close encounter with three witches who make them some prophecies. The first witch tells Macbeth that he will become Thane of Cowdor. Another witch predicts that he will also become king of Scotland , while the third one says that Banquo will be even happier than Macbeth because his sons will be kings.

DEVELOPMENT

Then the play develops positively. Lady Macbeth receives a letter from her husband in which Macbeth informs her that he is coming home. He also writes that king Duncan is coming to the castle to honor Macbeth' s victory and to celebrate the new Thane of Cowdor.

In the meantime Lady Macbeth starts thinking of a plan to kill Duncan. She wants to get the power and become king and queen of Scotland. Both protagonists are overambitious but here Lady Macbeth appears to be even more determined than her husband.

The highest and happiest moment for the characters occurs when the two protagonists receive the king and offer a banquet in his honour.

CRISIS

The climax of tension and suspense is reached wen Macbeth and Lady Macbeth decide to kill Duncan while he is sleeping in his chamber in the castle. Macbeth is shocked and he starts hearing weird voices telling him that he will sleep no more. The moment of crisis for Lady Macbeth consists in the moment when she goes into Duncan's chamber and sees the dead body of the king, which looks like her father. She starts feeling as guilty as Macbeth.

The situation goes from bad to worse: lady Macbeth is so tormented with guilt and remorse that she starts sleepwalking. The consequences of her crime will make her insane, she'll be driven crazy and will totally collapses.

A servant sees the Lady walking along the castle' s corridors and hears her speaking to herself. She says a lot of strange things concerning Duncan's murder, above all about the blood on her hands, which she wants to wash away. The servant will ask the doctor for help, because she is afraid of repeating Lady Macbeth's confession. The servant has maybe understood that she needs a witness. Now they know the truth.

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The haunting of lady Macbeth

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CATASTROPHE

The catastrophe begins with the death of lady Macbeth. She cannot live with the remorse of the terrible thing she did and she decides to take her life away.

When Macbeth receives the news that his wife is dead he seems unable to respond. Macbeth has now lost everyone and everything that had mattered to him. He is not afraid anymore.

At this point a messenger informs Macbeth that Duncan' s soldiers are attacking Macbeth' s castle camouflaged with brunches of trees. The third prophecy made by the three witches on Macbeth's second encounter with them is about to come true. He had believed he was invincible because the witches had told him that he would be safe until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane. Macbeth cannot escape. He' s going to die in battle and the crown of Scotland will be given back to Duncan's son MacDuff.

The happiest point in the story is when Macbeth knows his prophecy and his wife helps him to realize it. However when Macbeth and the Lady kill Duncan, the protagonist's fortune changes and things starts going from bad to worse.

The lowest point in the story is when Lady Macbeth commits suicide because she suffers from the tortures of guilt. After that, Macbeth understands that all is lost but he chooses to fight and die in battle.

In the story appeareance and ambiguity play an important role in the plot. For example at the beginning of the story, the entrance of the three witches marks the presence of the supernatural element in the story.

The witches' prophecies are ambiguous because they just tell half truths that Macbeth equivocates. They cheat Macbeth, who wants to believe in what they say. At the beginning of the play they announce to the audience that a big hurly burly is going to happen and that what is good will appear foul and viceversa.

In our opinion Macbeth can be a realistic drama, because it can still happen in real life, although in a different way. Too much ambition and the unrestrained thirst of power can make people do certain things without thinking about the consequences of their actions.

We sometimes go against everything and everyone to realize ourselves, sometimes even causing pain both to other people and to ourselves. Macbeth is the mirror of the human existence, because he is selfish and cruel although he can feel love and friendship. His tragical fall is caused by his ambition, for which he is willing to sacrifice anything to reach his goals. Tragedy occurs also in our days when people don't help the others and care only about themselves. People are never satisfied and this is tragical.