Macbeth - Mind Map

Macbeth

Plot

He kills king Duncan

The weird sisters

these "three sisters" are a group of witches

the witches seem to be trying to
force bad events to happen by influencing Macbeth to overthrown the government

This makes me think they are evil and play a part in
Macbeth's downfall

The weird sisters tell Macbeth a prophecy telling
him that he will become king

His wife hears of this, and fuels his ambition

Macbeth ends up killing Duncan, even though he doesn't
want to. However, his wife accuses him of not being a man and not keeping his promise to follow through with his plan

Duncan's sons, Malcom and Donaldbain, flee Scotland, because they fear they will be next. This puts them under suspicion, and Macbeth is crowned king.

Macbeth starts to fear that one of Banquo's off
spring will usurp him in the future. He thinks this because Banquo's descendants are supposed to become kings. Macbeth feels threatened and decides to kill Banquo

the three weird sisters tell Macbeth that he must only fear Macduff, but then tell him that no man born from a woman shall defeat him, then they say that he will not be defeated until great Birnam wood goes to dunsinane.

Macduff and Malcom join forces to defeat Macbeth, so Macbeth has Macduff's family killed by the murderers.

Lady Macbeth sleep walks and admits to murdering the king

Malcom orders his soldiers to take branches from the trees in great Birnam wood to hide their numbers while they are approaching Macbeths castle in Dunsinane, effectively bringing Great Birnam Wood to Dunsinane.

Macbeth joins the fight and kills young Siward in a fight

He fights Macduff

However the weird sisters told Macbeth 3 things : To beware of Macduff as only he could defeat him, that no man born from a woman could defeat him, and that he would not be killed until Great Birnam Wood went to Dunsinane. However, now Malcom's forces have unknowingly brought Great Birnam wood to Dunsinane, and Macduff, the only man capable of defeating Macbeth, was born by c section, so he was not technically born from a woman. This allows Macbeth to be vanquished by Macduff, although Macbeth does not want to battle him after he hears how Macduff was born.

Macduff kills Macbeth, partly in revenge for his wife and son, and Malcom is crowned king

However, Banquo's young son Fleance escapes

Macbeth feels a great deal of remorse, however he
keeps becoming more and more ruthless

character dynamics

Banquo and Macbeth originally don't trust witches

Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband into killing
the king

Duncan trusts Macbeth very much and rewards him for killing Macdonwald

Before the readers meet Macbeth, it is mentioned that he
is brave and a fierce fighter. This is confirmed when he meets the witches and he has won a deadly battle

Character development

Macbeth slowly starts to become more ambitious as he hears
the witches prophecy and starts doing more awful acts like killing Banquo just to stay in power

Macbeth feels extremely guilty from killing his king and regrets it. He is very haunted by his deed

The weird sisters are 3 witches who plot to change history
by convincing Macbeth to mess up the great chain of being.

Their impact on the reader serves as a cautionary tale to not disrupt the great chain of being

The description of Macbeth is that he is a valiant and noble warrior and that he is loyal to the king. This is certified by everyone else such as the sergeant or King Duncan speaking of him this way.

Duncan and Banquo provide a contrast to Macbeth as they are much less ambitious and power hungry, also they are less ruthless and cruel.

The foil between Banquo in Macbeth is interesting because they are both told prophecies by the witches, however only Macbeth choose to act on his. At the beginning of the story, Macbeth and Banquo are friends, yet Macbeths ambition and paranoia lead him to ruining their friendship and eventually killing him. This shows which of the two have better morals, as Macbeth killed the king even though he knew it was wrong, yet Banquo never did anything bad to enable his descendants to be royalty, even though he was probably tempted to do so.

Some of the things in the play that reveal middle age warfare information is that the battles were pre arranged in a certain spot. Also, the king usually fought in the battles, unlike today's times, where the leader of a country has maximum security.

Another thing revealed by the play is that the middle ages had a lot less security for everyone, especially kings, as you could just sneak past the drunk guards and kill him.

lines in the play

1.2.16-24 : This line is the sergeant explaining how valiant and fierce the hero is. He speaks of how Macbeth killed many people to get to Macdonwald, and when he got there, he cut him open with out even speaking to him. This is a creative liberty taken on by Shakespeare, as in real life Macbeth found the traitor and his family dead. The author of the play most likely change it to this to make Macbeth seem like even more of a hero.

For brave Macbeth--well he deserves that name--
Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel,
Which smoked with bloody execution,
Like valour's minion carved out his passage
Till he faced the slave;
Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him,
Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps,
And fix'd his head upon our battlements.
O valiant cousin! worthy gentleman!

1.2.64-66 : This line does several things that show the character's personalities. The line involves the king saying that he is giving the Thanedom of Cawdor to Macbeth. By doing this, it shows how gracious and generous of a king he is, and it useful knowledge in the next scene when the witches tell Macbeth the prophecy.

No more that thane of Cawdor shall deceive
our bosom interest: go pronounce his present death,
And with his former title greet Macbeth.

1.3.38 : this line is saying what the witches said at the end of scene 1 of the play. This has a significance because it means the witches can see the future, as they knew he was going to say this. It also means that this is the same day as they were meeting in the beginning, as they said the day was foul and fair, and Macbeth is now saying the same thing.

1.3.48-50 : this line is the moment in the play when the Witches tell Macbeth he is destined to be king. This is a very significant moment, as it sparks the ambition that leads to the hero's downfall.

1.3.65-68 : This line is when the weird sisters tell Banquo his prophecy, which is that his descendants shall be king. It is for this reason that Macbeth has him killed later on, as he fears that he will be overthrown by Banquo's children.

1.3.116-120 : During these lines, Macbeth realizes the prophecy is true, because moments after the witches told him he would be receiving the Thanedom of Cawdor, it was announced to him that he received it. This changes his perspective on the prophecy, and he realises that he may be able to become king. He also asks Banquo if he wants his lineage to be royalty.

1.3.130-131 : this line is Macbeth saying that this prophecy is nothing but bad news, as it will prompt him to do bad things, so it is foreshadowing, as it is showing what will happen in the play.

1.3.143-144 : in this line, Macbeth is hoping he will become king without having to do anything, because he doesn't want to harm his king, especially as he did nothing wrong.

The atmosphere in the beginning of act 2 is enhanced because it is late at night, and there are few people about. Also, Banquo's dream of the witches signifies that something evil is bound to happen.

The foils in act 2. scene 1 are Banquo and Macbeth
. The reason they are foils is that they are both discussing their prophecies . Macbeth acts his part by seeming to be unexcited by the prophecy and trying to act like he doesn't care, even though he is on his way to fulfill it. He is acting this way so that Banquo doesn't become suspicious of him and think that his friend killed King Duncan.

Macbeth's weakness is that he is (understandably) nervous and afraid to go on with the plan, and he lets it destroy him.

In Macbeth's speech, he talks about how awful it
is that he is going to kill his cousin Duncan. He makes and allusion to a tyrant king who lived in Rome, named Tarquin. He also refers to Hecate, queen of the witches.

Plot devices

A plot device is the rising action, when Macbeth and his wife plot to kill Duncan and then Lady Macbeth calls him a coward for not wanting to klll him

Another pot device is the climax, when Macbeth dies.

historical context

The story has been slightly modified by Shakespeare
to make it more interesting and shorter for plays.

In real life, Duncan was usually described as a bad leader, and Macbeth as a good one, However, the author decided to change this, to make the play appeal more to King James

rhetorical devices

themes of ambition

Lady Macbeth is very ambitious and wants to kill
Duncan. She convinces her husband to help her, and convinces him by telling him he is unmanly and a coward

Subtopic

After murdering his king, Macbeth becomes increasingly paranoid and starts to act with less remorse and impulse. An example of this is when he orders for Banquo to be killed, although he is Macbeth's good friend.

Macbeth is becoming more and more desperate to stay in the throne and to hide the fact that he committed the murder. He even murders the guards, so that they can not accuse him of the traitorous deed.

When Macbeth meets with the king,
he reveals that he is loyal to the king. He reveals this by saying
that he killed Macdonwald and he also shows loyalty in lines 25-31.

Lady Macbeth is introduced as a cruel and evil
character. She wants to lose her feminine qualities to be able to kill the king. This would have made the audience uncomfortable because at the time, women were not usually in power and it was showing that bad things can happen.

In scene 6, Lady Macbeth acts like a kind a
generous host, in order to hide her true intentions. By greeting her guests, she remains un suspicious.

Lady Macbeths original character is shown again
in scene 7, in private. Her ruthlessness is shown here, because she is berating her husband for being scared. This shows her original personality of how evil and manipulative she is.

In scene 5, the part of the supernatural that is mentioned is when Macbeth's wife mentions metaphysical, in line 28. When she says this, she means that she needs supernatural help to perform the deed.

Macbeth and his wife are the perfect power couple,
because Macbeth is ambitious, and lady Macbeth knows this. Since she knows this, she is willing to fuel his ambition to get what she wants. This is because she is manipulative, which means she is good at making people do what she wants them to do.

The people who are power hungry in the beginning of the
play are Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. However, I would say Lady Macbeth wants power more because she originally hatched the plan to kill the king.

A theme found in the play is mental health, because Macbeth's mental health is really bad after he kills Duncan.

Macbeth and his wife are more stressed, and Macbeth hides things from her now, such as his plan to kill Banquo, indicating that she is not making all the decisions anymore also Macbeth an Banquo are less close.

This scene takes place the morning after King Duncan's murder. It is at the gate of Macbeth's castle in Inverness. Lennox and Macbeth speak of how crazy unnatural things happened while they slept. This is due to Macbeth killing king Duncan and disrupting the great chain of being.

Themes

The rightful heirs to the throne and Malcom and Donaldbain, sons of Duncan, however, they have fled to England and Ireland respectively, as they fear they are next, for their father has just been killed.

Rhetorical devices

pathos is when you feel sympathy for the victim and you feel this when Duncan is killed and when Banquo is killed.

The old man's character remains unnamed as he is not very important to the play and is simply there to provide context and speak of how strange things are happening due to the disturbance in the great chain of being.

One of the themes found in the play of Macbeth is that ambition leads to downfall. This is to keep people from not becoming over ambitious.

the progression of Macbeth's actions are that he starts committing more and more atrocious acts and keeps getting more and more sinful

Some evidence that the great chain of being has been shaken is when the old man mentions an owl killing a falcon. This is something that would never happen normally, as this was a mousing owl, so it hunts mice, however it killed a falcon, which are birds of prey that specialize in killing other birds. This is evidence that the great chain of being has been shaken.

This scene takes place at the gate of Macbeth's castle, after the king has been killed, however, only Macbeth and his wife know this. The comedic relief is the drunk porter rambling on.

I think Shakespeare would provide comic relief to make the play more interesting, also because it would let the audience relax. Secondly, 3 scenes with non stop violence would be a bit much, so he needed to include a brief intermission between the killing.

Rhetorical devices

foreshadowing: there is foreshadowing when the witches tell Macbeth his prophecy, because it is telling people what will happen in the future

The Nine Rings of Hell are present in Act 2, scene 3, because Macbeth commits the most sinister and evil deed of them all, that of treachery. He committed treason because he broke the law of hospitality and killed his gracious King for no reason.

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