Act One

SCENE ONE: all is not what is seems

First scene prepares us for a play where someone succumbs to supernatural suggestions of evil

Thunder and lightning – whenever the three witches are present there is uncalm weather; are they associated with change?

Begins in ‘an open place’ – desolate location reflects the evil presence of the 3W

The 3W’s speech is in short rhyming verse (chant-like, wayward rhythm) – imitates casting of a spell and makes them seem ominous and paranormal (which they are)

The fact that they are also the first characters we meet represents their important role in influencing late events – are they the leading players in the drama?

Their language is full of imagery of witchcraft and chaotic weather; thunder, lighting, rain, fog, and ‘filthy air’

‘When the battle’s lost and won’ – contradictory or paradoxical statement – a riddle we would expect from witches but it also sets up a theme throughout; discerning truth from falsehood is difficult (foreshadowing – nothing is as it seems or as it should be e.g. they have beards)

‘Fair is foul and foul is fair’ – contradictory statement again – good is evil to them (cf. they revel in ‘the fog and filthy air’) - a sign of their creed

‘There to meet Macbeth’ - at the mention of his name, the action of the scene is over - suggests he is important

SCENE TWO: introducing the valiant warrior

This scene presents Macbeth as a character of great honourability – in a world with treachery and disloyalty (i.e. traitorous thane of Cawdor), Macbeth is a heroic and loyal servant to king and country

This introduction is crucial – tragedy depends on the audience witnessing the downfall of a great man

‘Disdaining fortune with his brandished steel’ – foreshadowing murder of Duncan (upsetting the natural order with ‘servant killing king’ i.e. nothing is as it should be)

A dual character (another contradiction cf. ‘foul is fair’) – Macbeth’s noble and virtuous description is associated with the brutal and graphic murder of Macdonwald (‘unseamed him from the nave to th’ chops’) which warns the audience of his potential for violence and evil which is perhaps already lurking inside Macbeth

Duncan is not leading his army – is he perhaps an unsuitable and weak leader?

The language and writing (and its irregular metre often noted to be unshakespearean) captures the activity and urgency of battle – the high-flown language of the speakers shows their excitement

SCENE THREE: the tempters and tempted meet

With this scene, the real action of the play begins – the 3W awaken Macbeth’s ambition and desire

The witches meet and report their mischiefs

‘So. foul and fair a day I have not seen’ – if the 3W and Macbeth are somehow connected, what control do they hold over him?

Macbeth’s desire is shown but he does show a realisation that he knows his thoughts are wrong (they ‘make my seated heart knock at my ribs’)

Macbeth is incapable of self-control (cf. putting Macdonwald’s head on a pike)

‘Come what come may’ – he decides to let things be and watch and wait i.e. fortune and fate

We also see that Banquo is a noble and honest character – he refuses to become carried away by the predictions (regarding the 3W as ‘instruments of darkness’)

SCENE FOUR: encountering an obstacle

Macbeth and Duncan are brought together – Duncan’s gratefulness furthers the sense of wickedness of the crime that Macbeth is already contemplating

‘There's no art to find the mind's construction in the face’ – Duncan was unable to predict Cawdor’s treachery and won’t predict Macbeth’s

‘He was a gentleman on whom I built an absolute trust’ – Shakespeare seals the (dramatic) irony by having Macbeth enter immediately – He is taking over from Cawdor as the threat to the king

Duncan sees Macbeth as a potential successor – ‘I have begun to plant thee and will labour to make thee full of growing’

Duncan gives all those who deserve his thank ‘signs of nobleness, like stars’ – cf. ‘stars! hide your fires!’

Malcolm’s investiture as Prince of Cumberland frustrates Macbeth’s plans – he is an obstacle to his desire

If he is to be king he must make himself for king – Macbeth is now more resolved that he ‘must’ take violent action to realise his wish (‘stars! hide your fires! let not light see my black and deep desires’) – juxtaposition of Duncan’s stars and Macbeth’s ‘starlightlessness’ emphasises the conflict between good and evil

Duncan’s decision to visit Macbeth’s castle puts him in his hands – such an opportunity for murder may not present itself again

SCENE FIVE: a corrupting wife

Lady Macbeth is introduced as the more determined party in the intended regicide

Macbeth’s letter calls her his ‘dearest partner of greatness’ – she will also essentially control his actions

She has no intention of waiting to be queen – she prefers ‘the nearest way’

The only obstacle she sees lies in her husband – he is indeed ‘too full o’ the milk of human kindness’

She bids the spirits to rid her of her femininity (‘unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty!’) and ‘take my milk for gall’

‘Come, thick night, and pall thee … through the blanket of the dark’ – cf. ‘let not light see my black and deep desires’ (creates a strong verbal bond between husband and wife)

LMB addresses her husband; ‘great Glamis! worthy Cawdor! Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter!’ – eerily similar to the 3W’s greeting (‘all hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Glamis!’)

‘Never shall sun that morrow see’ – she does not argue or persuade - she is so sure of her influence over him, simply stating that Duncan will not live the night

‘Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t’ – shows that she knows of Macbeth’s underlying evil and of his ability to deceive

‘We will speak further’ - Macbeth pondered action but was not fully decided – his wife leaves him no choice by cutting him off

‘Leave all the rest to me’ – blunt and quite modern in tone – imperative shows she is now the ‘man of action’ and her husband is a mere accomplice

SCENE SIX: underhanded intentions

Dramatic irony in Duncan praising the ‘pleasant seat’ where he is to meet his bloody end and in Lady Macbeth’s feigned humility (a contrast of her language in 1.5)

LMB elaborately greets Duncan with mock loyalty while literally leading him to his death

‘We rest your hermits’ – they will pray for him so much so that Duncan’s almsmen hired for that purpose could take a break

‘The love that follows us sometimes is our trouble’ – applicable to Macbeth’s love and ambition, or simply of his love for his wife, and could be Duncan’s love for Macbeth which has led him to his end

SCENE SEVEN: eliminating indecisiveness

Macbeth is plagued by self-doubt – he worries of consequences on earth and in heaven

He fears his actions may ‘return to plague the inventor’ - cf. ‘the villainy you teach me, I will execute’ (#tbt)

He struggles with the morals – firstly because ‘he’s here in double trust’, secondly because ‘I am his kinsman’, and thirdly because as his host he ‘should against his murderer shut the door, not bear the knife myself’ (hospitality was extremely important during this period)

His ‘virtues will plead like angels’ against the murder and may reveal Macbeth as the killer

Doom-laden imagery echoes a biblical judgement day

Macbeth has only ‘vaulting ambition’ which he considers not reason enough

His wife tries to convince him otherwise by mocking his masculinity (likening him to ‘the poor cat i’ the adage’ that wanted the fish but didn’t want to get wet feet)

Her lack of ‘the milk o’ human kindness’ is so great that she would have ‘dash'd the brains out’ of a breastfeeding ‘babe’ – this shocking example convinces Macbeth (‘I am settled’)

This scene shows that Lady Macbeth is very much the ‘goader’; the 3W are just the catalyst