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Macbeth Study Guide. SORCE: http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/macbeth/. Duncan, King of Scotland. Duncan, King of Scotland. A kindly and trusting older man whose unsuspecting nature leaves him open to Macbeth's attack. . Malcolm and Donalbain. Malcolm and Donalbain.
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SORCE: http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/macbeth/
Duncan, King of Scotland A kindly and trusting older man whose unsuspecting nature leaves him open to Macbeth's attack.
Malcolm and Donalbain Duncan's sons: equally as kindly as their father, but Malcolm is perhaps braver.
thane A thane is a lord.
Macbeth • Thane of Glamis • A general in the king's army whose "vaulting ambition" leads him to dream of greater titles. • He becomes the Thane of Cawdor • He is prompted by the witches' prophesy and his wife's goading to kill Duncan and become king of Scotland. • Although brave in battle, he is indecisive and a tyrannical ruler. • Becomes King after murdering Duncan
Lady Macbeth • Macbeth's wife • What Macbeth lacks in decisiveness, she makes up for in bloodthirsty lust for power and wealth. • Swearing off her femininity at the beginning of the play in order to achieve her ambitions, she becomes a victim of nightmares and hallucinations.
Seyton • Macbeth's servant
Three Murderers • Hired by Macbeth to kill Banquo and Fleance
A Porter • In Macbeth's service • Provides comic relief with his account of "hell-portering".
Banquo • Thane of Lochaber • A general of Duncan's army along with Macbeth, • He is also the subject of one of the witches' prophesies. • Unlike Macbeth, he does not act to fulfill these prophecies, relying on his better judgement and morals instead. • Nevertheless, true to the witches' word, he becomes the father of kings.
Fleance • Banquo's son
Macduff • Thane of Fife • A Scottish nobleman who begins to question Macbeth's tyrannical rule. • He flees his home and becomes allied (connected) with Malcolm and the English forces in opposing Macbeth.
Lady Macduff • Macduff's wife • She is killed along with her children when Macduff flees. • A kind and motherly foil for Lady Macbeth's lack of feminine sympathies
Macduff's son • A precocious but rather minor character
Lennox • A Scottish noble who begins to question Macbeth's tyrannical rule
Ross • Macbeth's cousin and a Scottish noble who eventually turns from Macbeth and sides with Malcolm and the English forces in opposing him.
Angus, Menteith, and Caithness • Scottish nobles who join with Malcolm and the English forces in opposing Macbeth.
Siward, Earl of Northumberland • Leader of the English army and brother to Duncan • He leads an army against Macbeth. • The men in his army disguise themselves with branches from Birnam Wood • This fulfills the witches' prophesy (prediction) that Macbeth will fall only when "Birnam Wood remove (is moving) to Dunsinane [Macbeth's castle]".
Young Siward • Siward's son, killed in battle
Hecate • Queen of the witches
Three Witches, The Weird Sisters • These witches foresee Macbeth's ascent (rise) to power and his defeat, as well as Banquo becoming the father of kings (succession of his line). • Their speech is full of paradox (contradiction) and equivocation (evasion), and is misinterpreted by Macbeth.
Masculinity in Macbeth • Macbeth is set in a hyper-masculine world. • Manhood in Macbeth is tied to ideals of strength, power, physical courage, and force of will. • The characters in Macbeth associate masculinity with aggression, bravery, and vengeance, as well as being void of emotion (having no emotion), and they use the idea of manhood to justify violence. • Whenever characters in this play talk about manhood, violence soon follows. Lady Macbeth’s Masculine Side • Lady Macbeth seems to be more masculine than Macbeth because, while she puts on a ladylike front, deep down she is a very wicked woman. • As she waits for Macbeth to arrive at Inverness, Lady Macbeth delivers a famous speech in which she begs the spirits to “unsex” her (make her have male qualities) and fill her with “direst cruelty”. She resolves to put her natural femininity aside so that she can do the bloody deeds necessary to seize the crown (to make Macbeth king). Questioning Macbeth’s Manhood • Lady's Macbeth provokes Macbeth to kill by doubting his manhood, saying he would be less of a man for not killing Duncan and will be more of a man for doing it. • After killing Duncan, Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth to take the daggers to the guards and smear them with Duncan’s blood to make them look guilty. When he says he can’t do it, she takes the daggers, says that only a child would be afraid of the dead, and follows through with the act. Using the Idea of Challenging the Manhood of Other Men in Macbeth • Macbeth uses the idea of manhood to motivate (convince) the murderers he has hired to kill Banquo. • After Macduff's wife and children are killed, Malcolm urges Macduff to take the news with manly reserve (act like a man) and to devote himself to the destruction of Macbeth, his family'smurderer.
Macbeth’s Constant Indecision • Macbeth is constantly changing his mind. • He gets confused and is torn between killing or not killing King Duncan. He immediately thinks of killing the king because he wants so badly to be king, but the idea of committing such a crime appalls him. • He recognizes the political, ethical, and religious reasons why he should not commit murder. • Macbeth knows that it’s wrong to even think about murder. Macbeth does some reasoning about whether or not he should commit murder with himself and with his wife. • Macbeth wants to kill Duncan so that he can be come king, but he has doubts because of his view that Duncan has been a fair and good king. • Macbeth is Duncan’s “kinsman”, “his subject” and “his host”. As his host he should be protecting him, not killing him. • There is a powerful tension between his desire to see himself as king and his sense of the immorality of the act and of the immediate consequences, which he knows will be disastrous. • Macbeth believes in “even-handed justice” and that if he commits evil, evil will be put upon him. • When Lady Macbeth tells him that if he were “a man” he would kill Duncan, Macbeth defends himself by claiming that not killing the king actually makes him more of a man. • After he murders King Duncan, Macbeth feels that he must continue his actions in order to be king. He decides to kill Banquo, visit the witches and remain confident even when his castle was besieged.
Act 1 • The play takes place in Scotland. • Duncan, the king of Scotland, is at war with the king of Norway • As the play opens, Duncan learns of Macbeth's bravery in battle against a Scot who sided with Norway. • He also hears of the betrayal (deceit, treason, disloyalty) of the Thane of Cawdor, who was arrested. • Duncan decides to give the title of Thane of Cawdor to Macbeth.
Act 1 (continued) • Macbeth and Banquo, traveling home from the battle, meet three witches, • The witches predict that Macbeth will be Thane of Cawdor and king of Scotland, and that Banquo will be the father of kings. • The witches disappear, and Macbeth and Banquo meet up with two nobles who inform them of Macbeth's new title. • Hearing this, Macbeth begins to contemplate murdering Duncan in order to realize the witches' second prophecy.
Act 1 (continued) • Macbeth and Banquo meet up with Duncan, who tells them he is going to pay Macbeth a visit at his home at Inverness. • Macbeth rides ahead to prepare his household. • Meanwhile, Lady Macbeth receives a letter from Macbeth informing her of the witches' prophesy (prediction, forecast) and Macbeth's new title of Thane of Cawdor. • A servant appears and tells her of Duncan's approach. • Lady Macbeth calls upon supernatural powers to strip her of her feminine softness and prepare her to murder Duncan. • When Macbeth arrives at Inverness, Lady Macbeth tells him that she will take care of all the details of Duncan's murder.
