Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree. Ezra Pound
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Macbeth - Act I recap
Comment on the significance of each scene (setting, plot, characterization, language, theme, dramatic effects, important quotations...). What is the overall effect on the audience by the end of Act I?
The fourth scene of Acte I takes place in a room of the King of Scotland’s castle, just after the execution of Cawdor and the letter that wrote Macbeth to his wife. Here, the King nominates his successor, the Prince of Cumberland and unexpectedly, he chooses Malcolm instead of Macbeth. That very one pretends to be more than grateful for being named the new thane of Cawdor (“The service and the loyalty I owe in doing it, pays itself […]”) and exaggerates his utterances. Macbeth is using this strategy in order not to be suspected by Duncan on his murder thoughts about him. Besides, he may also be in want to persuade himself of being enough satisfied by his new title. Finally, the main themes explored in this scene are appearance vs. reality and insincerity.
Well done for your little summary and analysis of this scene. I will just add one small detail you forgot to mention : it is the personality of Duncan which is understood through his speech. Indeed, we learn that the King of Scotland is of trusting nature, naive and reads right through people. In addition to that, he made an ambiguous choice by naming Malcolm after having expressed his extreme gratitude towards Macbeth.
Hi everybody ! My group worked on the third scene , which is a very intense one ,so we've got quite a lot of things to say ! First of all the plot: In this scene, Macbeth (and Banquo) finally meets the weird sisters who were making references to him earlier in the play. They predict him some "noble having and royal hope", namely that he will be promoted Thane of Cawdor , and king ! Beside this Banquo's children should be King. Afterwards, while they're coming back, king Duncan's servants announce them Macbeth is the new Thane of Cawdor. From this moment, confusion is set. From this, Macbeth's thoughts are all monopolized by the idea of killing Duncan . Secondly, we have to mention the varities of themes which are evoked : true versus false frienships ( with Macbeth hidind his thoughts to Banquo), reality versus supernatural ( with the weird sisters, their evil nature, their incantation ) , manipulation , the future / the ambition . Futhermore, we remark the presence of Banquo, which emphasizes Macbeth's disloyalty. He's a foil. Moreover, as we all explained in our paragraphs, the language is a massive element of this scene : in fact, we observe lots of rhymes spread at different places in verses, meaning specific things, underlining themes or ideas. We have to mention the several imageries like paradoxes, metaphores...etc Finally, the dramatic effect is brilliant ! We were asking ourselves a lot of questions about Macbeth, it's his first appearance in the scene and it still remains many questions ...
In this scene, we notice that there’s a real contrast between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Actually, Macbeth evolves thorough the play, he’s a rather round character, Macbeth is really fickle which we heed regarding his decision to murder his kinsman. What’s more, he’s easy to manipulate, under his wife’s influence. As the story goes on, he turns out to be evil, wich proves us that this character has a great ability to develop and change. On the contrary, Lady Macbeth is a flat character, she’s self-confident, evil, fierce. All along the act, she stikes to the same idea and never changes her mind or hesitates. Therefore, we conclude that she’s detemined. Although, the couple is ambitious, we notice that Lady Macbeth is way more than her husband who tends to waver on his decision. Thus, Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband by questionning his manhood and his love for her. In addition to this technic, she’s luring him in order to take control over his conscience. Afterwards, there are a lot of important and meaningful quotations in this scene such as « False face must hide what the false heart doth know. », this quotation lays stress on the utter hyposcrisy of the couple, he says to his wife to hide with a false pleasant face her dark and evil thoughts. This can be considered as a forshadowing to the scene 5 to Lady Macbeth’s phrase : « Look like th’ innocent flower, but be the serpent under ‘t. » . We see that Macbeth really did join the evil and is into this dark buisness with his wife. There’s also « How tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks me : I would while it’s smiling at my face, have pluck’d my nipple from his boneless gums and dash’d the brains out, had I so sworn as you have done to this. » She’s definitely trying to make him feel guilty about the promises he’s unable to keep, by doing such a metaphore. Further more, we see that she has clearly given up all her feminine characteristics and traits due to the fact that she says that she will go that far as to kill her own baby rather than loose the crown. Consenquently, her incantation reached the evil spirit’s ears as they, obviously, turned her into a monster rather than a woman. « I dare do all that may become a man, who dares do more, is none. » Macbeth is proud, he is afraid of killing King Duncan due to the fact that he won’t go to Heaven, he’s questionning his humanhood as well. As a consequence, Macbeth is convinced from the very beginning to kill the king, however, his conscience prevents him from committing the crime. Nevertheless, little by little, Lady Macbeth convinces him to commit this sinful deed. By the end of the Act 1, I think that the audience is breathless, they're willing to know whether MacBeth will enventually commit this crime.
Don't forget to mention the scene (this is scene 7!). Good job girls. However, Lady Macbeth is certainly not a flat character as you will see. Also, be careful not to confuse foreshadowing with echoing or reminding us of earlier scenes.
This scene is taking place in a military camp. The King, his two sons and one nobleman are waiting for the army to come back and discussing about the war when an injured soldier arrives, bringing news from the armed conflict. The emphasis is put on Macbeth's heroic acts. The goal of the scene is to prepare us to the appearance of Macbeth. This vision is quite contradictory to the description given by the three witches in the first scene. It is effective as it makes the audience understand the vision the King has of Macbeth. For instance, the captain says "For brave Macbeth (well, he deserves that name) (...)" and Duncan says "O, valiant cousin! Worthy gentleman!" These two quotations show the gratitude the King and the other soldiers have for Macbeth. Moreover, the Captain says "Yes, as sparrow eagles or the hare the lion". Here, the character uses simile to highlights how the enemy seemed insignificant compared to Macbeth and Banquo and how intimidated they were by these two. He compares Macbeth and Banquo to lions or eagles and the enemy to hares or eagles. And finally, we would say that the main themes are war and admiration.
Well done for your paragraph, you really well highlighted the importance of Macbeth's bravery but I think you should have focused a bit more on the atmosphere of this scene. Shakespeare builds a very dark atmosphere with an emphasis on the blood and we can feel in this scene the fear of Duncan before to learn he have just won the battle. The King's authority is also very important. This theme is mainly present at the beginning of the scene, when, for instance, Malcolm tells to the captain:"Say to the King, the knowledge of the broil, as thou didst leave it". To conclude, I will say that this scene is taking place in a human world which contrast with the supernatural mood of the first scene. Elsa
Act I, Scene I This scene is a very short scene so there isn't a whole lot to talk about, but I'll do my best. It takes place in a unknown location and the three only characters are the three witches, their dialogue and strange conversation skills create a sense of ambiguity, we can imagine the witches being old, very ugly and creepy. The atmosphere is very much uncomfortable and dark and it's very mysterious, the suspense linked to the mentionning of Macbeth makes the audience very tense and it adds to the feeling of unnatural towards the witches. " There to meet with Macbeth ",we don't know the link between the three sisters and Macbeth. " Fair is foul and foul is fair ", this paradox creates confusion
Act I, Scene 6 This scene takes place right in front of the castle, the king and Banquo have arrived and they are admiring it's beauty. Duncan looks very enthousiastic and trusting and this is dramatic irony because the audience knows Lady Macbeth is planning murder. Lady Mabeth looks very sincere but she's lying.
You've well described the first scene of the play, however, I think I could add another information to your work. This scene plays, to my mind, a prominent role in the plot because it is the first one that the audience sees. We are directly immersed in a parallel world, dark, frightening, where three witches are saying a kind of incantation. The audience feels concerned by the history and the tone is given. Plus, the speech they have can lead the specator to wonder about the impact of it. Will these statements turn out to be true ? To conclude, I'd say that the overall felling that we have after such a scene perfectly sums up the heavy atmosphere of the play.
The fourth scene of Acte I takes place in a room of the King of Scotland’s castle, just after the execution of Cawdor and the letter that wrote Macbeth to his wife. Here, the King nominates his successor, the Prince of Cumberland and unexpectedly, he chooses Malcolm instead of Macbeth. That very one pretends to be more than grateful for being named the new thane of Cawdor (“The service and the loyalty I owe in doing it, pays itself […]”) and exaggerates his utterances. Macbeth is using this strategy in order not to be suspected by Duncan on his murder thoughts about him. Besides, he may also be in want to persuade himself of being enough satisfied by his new title. Finally, the main themes explored in this scene are appearance vs. reality and insincerity.
ReplyDeleteWell done for your little summary and analysis of this scene. I will just add one small detail you forgot to mention : it is the personality of Duncan which is understood through his speech. Indeed, we learn that the King of Scotland is of trusting nature, naive and reads right through people. In addition to that, he made an ambiguous choice by naming Malcolm after having expressed his extreme gratitude towards Macbeth.
DeleteHi everybody ! My group worked on the third scene , which is a very intense one ,so we've got quite a lot of things to say !
ReplyDeleteFirst of all the plot: In this scene, Macbeth (and Banquo) finally meets the weird sisters who were making references to him earlier in the play. They predict him some "noble having and royal hope", namely that he will be promoted Thane of Cawdor , and king ! Beside this Banquo's children should be King. Afterwards, while they're coming back, king Duncan's servants announce them Macbeth is the new Thane of Cawdor. From this moment, confusion is set. From this, Macbeth's thoughts are all monopolized by the idea of killing Duncan .
Secondly, we have to mention the varities of themes which are evoked : true versus false frienships ( with Macbeth hidind his thoughts to Banquo), reality versus supernatural ( with the weird sisters, their evil nature, their incantation ) , manipulation , the future / the ambition .
Futhermore, we remark the presence of Banquo, which emphasizes Macbeth's disloyalty. He's a foil.
Moreover, as we all explained in our paragraphs, the language is a massive element of this scene : in fact, we observe lots of rhymes spread at different places in verses, meaning specific things, underlining themes or ideas. We have to mention the several imageries like paradoxes, metaphores...etc
Finally, the dramatic effect is brilliant ! We were asking ourselves a lot of questions about Macbeth, it's his first appearance in the scene and it still remains many questions ...
In this scene, we notice that there’s a real contrast between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Actually, Macbeth evolves thorough the play, he’s a rather round character, Macbeth is really fickle which we heed regarding his decision to murder his kinsman. What’s more, he’s easy to manipulate, under his wife’s influence. As the story goes on, he turns out to be evil, wich proves us that this character has a great ability to develop and change. On the contrary, Lady Macbeth is a flat character, she’s self-confident, evil, fierce. All along the act, she stikes to the same idea and never changes her mind or hesitates. Therefore, we conclude that she’s detemined. Although, the couple is ambitious, we notice that Lady Macbeth is way more than her husband who tends to waver on his decision. Thus, Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband by questionning his manhood and his love for her. In addition to this technic, she’s luring him in order to take control over his conscience.
ReplyDeleteAfterwards, there are a lot of important and meaningful quotations in this scene such as « False face must hide what the false heart doth know. », this quotation lays stress on the utter hyposcrisy of the couple, he says to his wife to hide with a false pleasant face her dark and evil thoughts. This can be considered as a forshadowing to the scene 5 to Lady Macbeth’s phrase : « Look like th’ innocent flower, but be the serpent under ‘t. » . We see that Macbeth really did join the evil and is into this dark buisness with his wife. There’s also « How tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks me : I would while it’s smiling at my face, have pluck’d my nipple from his boneless gums and dash’d the brains out, had I so sworn as you have done to this. » She’s definitely trying to make him feel guilty about the promises he’s unable to keep, by doing such a metaphore. Further more, we see that she has clearly given up all her feminine characteristics and traits due to the fact that she says that she will go that far as to kill her own baby rather than loose the crown. Consenquently, her incantation reached the evil spirit’s ears as they, obviously, turned her into a monster rather than a woman.
« I dare do all that may become a man, who dares do more, is none. » Macbeth is proud, he is afraid of killing King Duncan due to the fact that he won’t go to Heaven, he’s questionning his humanhood as well.
As a consequence, Macbeth is convinced from the very beginning to kill the king, however, his conscience prevents him from committing the crime. Nevertheless, little by little, Lady Macbeth convinces him to commit this sinful deed. By the end of the Act 1, I think that the audience is breathless, they're willing to know whether MacBeth will enventually commit this crime.
Macha/Flavie/Elsa/Lucie/Jana
Don't forget to mention the scene (this is scene 7!). Good job girls. However, Lady Macbeth is certainly not a flat character as you will see. Also, be careful not to confuse foreshadowing with echoing or reminding us of earlier scenes.
DeleteAct I, Scene II:
ReplyDeleteThis scene is taking place in a military camp. The King, his two sons and one nobleman are waiting for the army to come back and discussing about the war when an injured soldier arrives, bringing news from the armed conflict.
The emphasis is put on Macbeth's heroic acts.
The goal of the scene is to prepare us to the appearance of Macbeth. This vision is quite contradictory to the description given by the three witches in the first scene. It is effective as it makes the audience understand the vision the King has of Macbeth.
For instance, the captain says "For brave Macbeth (well, he deserves that name) (...)" and Duncan says "O, valiant cousin! Worthy gentleman!" These two quotations show the gratitude the King and the other soldiers have for Macbeth.
Moreover, the Captain says "Yes, as sparrow eagles or the hare the lion". Here, the character uses simile to highlights how the enemy seemed insignificant compared to Macbeth and Banquo and how intimidated they were by these two. He compares Macbeth and Banquo to lions or eagles and the enemy to hares or eagles.
And finally, we would say that the main themes are war and admiration.
Charline, Winona & Gabriel.
Well done for your paragraph, you really well highlighted the importance of Macbeth's bravery but I think you should have focused a bit more on the atmosphere of this scene. Shakespeare builds a very dark atmosphere with an emphasis on the blood and we can feel in this scene the fear of Duncan before to learn he have just won the battle. The King's authority is also very important. This theme is mainly present at the beginning of the scene, when, for instance, Malcolm tells to the captain:"Say to the King, the knowledge of the broil, as thou didst leave it". To conclude, I will say that this scene is taking place in a human world which contrast with the supernatural mood of the first scene.
DeleteElsa
Act I, Scene I
ReplyDeleteThis scene is a very short scene so there isn't a whole lot to talk about, but I'll do my best. It takes place in a unknown location and the three only characters are the three witches, their dialogue and strange conversation skills create a sense of ambiguity, we can imagine the witches being old, very ugly and creepy. The atmosphere is very much uncomfortable and dark and it's very mysterious, the suspense linked to the mentionning of Macbeth makes the audience very tense and it adds to the feeling of unnatural towards the witches. " There to meet with Macbeth ",we don't know the link between the three sisters and Macbeth. " Fair is foul and foul is fair ", this paradox creates confusion
Act I, Scene 6
This scene takes place right in front of the castle, the king and Banquo have arrived and they are admiring it's beauty. Duncan looks very enthousiastic and trusting and this is dramatic irony because the audience knows Lady Macbeth is planning murder. Lady Mabeth looks very sincere but she's lying.
You've well described the first scene of the play, however, I think I could add another information to your work. This scene plays, to my mind, a prominent role in the plot because it is the first one that the audience sees. We are directly immersed in a parallel world, dark, frightening, where three witches are saying a kind of incantation. The audience feels concerned by the history and the tone is given. Plus, the speech they have can lead the specator to wonder about the impact of it. Will these statements turn out to be true ? To conclude, I'd say that the overall felling that we have after such a scene perfectly sums up the heavy atmosphere of the play.
Delete