Macbeth, Act 1, Act 1, Scene 1. In a tense and dramatic opening, the stage lights up with flashes of lightning and rolls of thunder. Three strange women arrive on a heath, an empty and exposed piece of land. They are three witches named the Weird Sisters.
In a brief conversation filled with contrasts and confusion, they agree to meet with Macbeth after a great battle, before uttering the famous lines, Fair is foul. and foul is fair. Hover through the fog and filthy air.
These lines essentially mean good is bad and bad is good, which is a paradox, a statement which seems to be impossible or confusing because it contains two opposites. Shakespeare uses this paradox, along with the wicked sounding rhymes, to hint at the strange and supernatural events which will dominate the play. Act 1, Scene 2. Scotland is at war with two enemies, both an army of rebels from the Western Isles, led by MacDonwald, and an invading army from Norway, led by King Swaino.
At Forest, Duncan, the King of Scotland, is greeted by a captain, who has returned to deliver news from the battle. The captain hails the bravery of the heroes Macbeth and Banquo, who have delivered a victory for the King. There are three significant reports.
First, Macbeth's execution of the rebel Macdonwald, and second, Macbeth and Banquo's victory against the odds over the Norwegian army. Finally, King Duncan is told that one of the Scottish nobles, the Thane of Cawdor, betrayed Duncan and sided with the enemy. At the end of the scene, Duncan orders the Thane's execution and commands that the title pass to Macbeth. A key quote for this scene is the captain's description of Macbeth's skill in battle. Macbeth is described as disdaining fortune with his brandished steel, which smoked with bloody execution.
Lines which are filled with violent and gory imagery, perhaps foreshadowing Macbeth's potential for brutal murder. Additionally, Shakespeare introduces the theme of fate and free will. Macbeth disdains fortune, which means he doesn't care about fate.
Shakespeare hints at Macbeth's desire and ability to take fate into his own hands, a theme which will repeat throughout the play. Act 1, Scene 3. The witches reappear, again to the clap of thunder. They discuss a vicious curse they have performed on a sailor before Macbeth and Banquo enter the stage, with Macbeth speaking in similar paradox to the witches in the line, So foul and fair a day I have not seen.
Is he already bewitched? Or simply talking about the battle which has just taken place? You decide. Macbeth and Banquo greet the weird sisters, who swiftly hail Macbeth Thane of Glamis, his current title, before predicting he shall be Thane of Cawdor, and finally that he shall be king hereafter.
Crucially for later in the play, Banquo then interrupts and asks for the sisters to speak to him. Their prophecies to Banquo are more ambiguous. He's both lesser than Macbeth and greater, not so happy, yet much happier.
And he shall get kings, though be none. Meaning his children will inherit the throne, but Banquo will not become king. The witches then vanish as Macbeth urges them to stay.
Ross and Angus then appear with news from Forrest. They inform Macbeth that he has been rewarded with the title of Thane of Cawdor. confirming a part of the Weird Sisters prophecy.
As Banquo speaks with the two men, Macbeth utters an aside out of their earshot, where he questions if the prophecies are for his good or ill. A key quote from this section are the lines, If chance will have me king, why chance may crown me without my stir. This is a dramatic aside, a literary device used by a playwright to display a character speaking in secret. It betrays Macbeth's willingness to plot and deceive his friends, but he comes to the conclusion that he can leave it to chance and not take any direct action to become king. Act 1, Scene 4. King Duncan meets with the other thanes and is told by his oldest son Malcolm that the former thane of Cawdor, who betrayed the king, has been executed.
Duncan laments that he had placed absolute trust in the former thane, giving him a hint to the audience. that he's perhaps lacking wisdom. Macbeth enters with Banquo and the king praises both men as heroes.
Duncan then announces that in the event of his death the crown will pass to Malcolm and names him Prince of Cumberland. The monarchy in Scotland was elected at the time and did not always pass down the family line. The king then states that they will all travel to Inverness Castle, Macbeth's home, to celebrate together.
Macbeth says he will travel ahead to bring the joyful news to his wife. Before they exit, Macbeth utters another aside, this time seeming overcome with desire for the throne. Ominously, he comments that the Prince of Cumberland is in his way if he wants to become king.
Then, perhaps overcome with guilt, he states, Stars, hide your fires. Let not light see my black and deep desires. With these words, Shakespeare explores the theme of guilt. Macbeth speaks to the heavens and asks the light of the stars, perhaps a reference to God, to not look on his black desires. The contrast between light and dark, as well as the imagery of heaven and hell here, speak of Macbeth's conflicted state, as well as the eternal consequences if he were to murder the king, something which he is clearly considering at this point.
Act 1, Scene 5. Lady Macbeth enters the stage, reading a letter from Macbeth. where he recounts his meeting with the witches. Interestingly, she immediately believes their words and becomes excited, but this is almost immediately tempered by a comment that Macbeth is too full of the milk of human kindness to kill Duncan.
She thinks he is ambitious, but not strong-willed enough to commit murder on his own. After a messenger arrives to tell her Duncan will attend the castle shortly, Lady Macbeth calls upon the spirits of darkness for the power to manipulate her husband. Macbeth arrives in haste at the end of the scene, and the pair excitedly discuss the implications of the prophecy.
Lady Macbeth appears the more decided of the two, stating, he that's come must be provided for, with Macbeth simply saying, we will speak further. A key quote from this scene is when Lady Macbeth commands the spirits to unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe, top full of direst cruelty. The use of imperative verbs presents Lady Macbeth as self-assured and powerful.
She seems confident to command these dark spirits to her will. Furthermore, she wishes for her feminine nature to be symbolically removed so that she can be filled with direst cruelty. Act 1, scene 6. Duncan arrives at Macbeth's castle in Inverness along with Banquo, his sons, Macduff and the other thanes. Duncan comments on the beautiful setting and weather before Lady Macbeth greets them and welcomes them into the castle. The key line from this scene is Duncan's.
This castle hath a pleasant seat. The air nimbly and sweetly recommends itself unto our gentle senses. Shakespeare uses joyful positive language to represent Duncan as a kind and gentle king but this creates a dramatic irony as the audience is aware from the previous scene that the castle is to be Duncan's place of death.
The strong contrast in tone with the previous scene is jarring and serves to heighten the tension as the duplicitous Lady Macbeth is shown to brightly welcome the guests without a hint of her cruel and maniacal behaviour seen previously. Act 1, scene 7. In the final scene of the first act Macbeth appears alone on stage His mind is fraught with worry and he agonises over whether to kill Duncan, first commenting that if he were to do it quickly and not suffer any consequences, it would be of great benefit to him. Yet he also recognises that the act of murdering the king is a sin, or crime against God, which will surely result in him being caught and punished.
Macbeth criticises his own ambition, calling it vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself, meaning his ambition is reaching beyond where it should. He seems to resolve not to act upon his desires here. Next, Lady Macbeth enters, and Macbeth greets her by saying they will proceed no further.
However, Lady Macbeth responds with furious taunting. She calls him a coward and implies he is not a man, using the gender expectations of the time to humiliate him and persuade him to reconsider. Lady Macbeth appears the stronger willed of the two, as she then reveals the plan of how they will drug the servants and then, following the murder, smear their bodies with the blood of the king to frame them. Macbeth revels in Lady Macbeth's strength and intelligence.
intelligence describing her strong will in the phrase undaunted metal. At the end of the scene and act the stage is set for the murder to take place. A key quote from this scene is Lady Macbeth's horrific and violent claim that she would be willing to take a newborn baby nursing at her breast and dash the brains out if she had promised or sworn to do. as she claims Macbeth has done. Shakespeare uses violent and depraved imagery here to present Lady Macbeth as both an evil temptress and a powerful woman.
It also shows she is willing to do anything to convince her husband to commit murder, which presents her as more ambitious than Macbeth, who doubts himself. It flips the Jacobean idea of male superiority on its head and sets up Lady Macbeth as a cunning and wily plotter. So, as the first act comes to an end, the audience is on tenterhooks to see if the Macbeths will follow through with their heretical plan.