The Tragedy of Macbeth

Macbeth

"A tale told by an idiot"

Monologue about the futility of life

The days suceeds in a meaningless way

Every past moment is a preparation for a dusty death

Life is something that easily disappears like a shadow

Life is a not skillful player

Life has no meaning

Metaphors based on something that is less important

Type of character

Protagonist (main character)

At the beginning, he is a brave, courageous and respected soldier

During the play we can see his downfall

He becomes a beast because he loses his humanity, his feeling and his relationships

Dehumanization

When he kills Duncan.

He feels guilty and he can't even pronounce the word "murdered"

In his imagination he would be punished because he killed a man in the helpless sleep

He is a weak person

With the character of Macbeth, Shakespeare descrives to us how ambition can destroy human being and pure souls

Lady Macbeth

Type of character

Protagonist (main character)

She is able to overcome Macbeth's excitation

She is a strong and powerful woman

She knows what to do and she makes the decisions: she has a great strength of will

When Macbeth kills Duncan

She show a plan, she is a cold blood and a confident person

Lady Macbeth advises Macbeth not to take this moment in consideration and not to think over and over

In the second part of the play, she is a different character

She's mad

She feels guilty

She sleepwalks and sleeptalks

She loses her confidence

She wants to wash away the blood from his hands

She overcomes by madness and then she dies

Three witches

Antagonist

They have malicious intentions, prophetic and supernatural powers

They don't really act because they work on something is already present in the protagonists

Where does the story takes place?

Scotland

This play is also named "The Scottish Play" because it's the only play set in Scottish

11th century

This play begins with a witchcraft and it ends with a bloody severed head

This play is about the story of a Scottish nobleman who steals the throne and who created a reign of terror and for this reason he meets a bloody end

Three witches appear and they announce they are looking for a Scottish nobleman called Macbeth

They met Macbeth and Banquo and they prophesied Macbeth would become king and then he thinks how to get the power

Macbeth and his wife organise murders, lies and betrayals to get the power

Holinshed's Chronicles: a popular story from Ireland

The situation in England in 1603

King Elizabeth I died without an heir and then James Stuart (King of Scotland) became king, but after two years he was killed by an assissination attempt

It's Shakespeare's shortest tragedy

From this play we can find some common expressions we use everyday because Shakespeare language lives still today

"The milk of human kindness"

"Double double toil and trouble fire burn and cauldron bubble"

"What's done is done"

guilt

Macbeth feels guilty

ambition

It's something already present in Macbeth and in his lady

Ambition leads Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to fulfill their desires, but transforms them into heartless killers

uncontrolled ambition

power

violence

BLOOD

It's the most used word in the play

Macbeth is a blood bath

The play is full of battles, murders, suicides and the play ends with the beheading of Macbeth

It's a powerful symbol of guilt

abuse of power

betrayal

political conflicts

questions of morality

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth sacrifice their morals and their honor to ambition

obsessions

the prophecy must become true

Macbeth feels gulty when he kills king Duncan

Regicide

Killing a king is an act agains God and Nature

After Duncan's death, there are terrible storms, earth trembles and animals become insane

Fate and witchraft

The play begins with the witches' propechies: Macbeth will become king by killing Duncan and Macbeth will do anything to control his own fate