Reading Journal - Act V.

Act V – Scene I:

·         Lady Macbeth – wash your hands – guilt

·         The guilt has driven her to insanity.

·         Is Lady Macbeth sleep walking? And is she really being visited by Banquo?

·         She has followed her husband into insanity.

·         Lady Macbeth is vulnerable – Macbeth has killed children, therefore if Lady Macbeth has had children and lost them, does she empathise with Macduff’s grief?

·         A woman and family have been killed; Lady Macbeth is now hiding behind her gender at the start of the play, now however she is scared because a woman has died at the hands of Macbeth. The possibility that she could die as well has entered her mind.

·         She questions her character and personality.

·         Another role reversal of Macbeth and his wife.

·         Guilt, remorse, blood and dreams.

·         Macbeth and Lady Macbeth – they fluctuate, one is weak, while the other is storng.

·         Lady Macbeth gains femininity

Act V – Scene II:

·         The Scottish lords discussing  the situation call Macbeth the “tyrant,”

·         The lords also talk about the need for Birnan Wood. 

Act V – scene III:

·         Macbeth boasts proudly that he has nothing to fear from the English - “none of woman born” – gender roles are once again included in the conversation, and the weakness/innocence of women.

·         The doctor tells the king that Lady Macbeth is kept from rest by “thick-coming fancies,” and Macbeth orders him to cure her of her delusions – he’s making the decisions with force, showing that he is string.

·         The audience see Macbeth as how he is describes at the beginning of the play by the Captain, Courageous, strong and a great warrior.

Act V – Scene IV:

·         There is an essence of fear and anxiety in the atmosphere because the men are about to go to war.

·         The men decide that each soldier should cut down a bough of the forest and carry it in front of him as they march to the castle, thereby disguising how many men they have.

Act V – Scene V:

·         “Life is but a walking shadow” – epiphany, futile, philosophic, lack of emotion, apathetic.

·         Logical and practical.

·         Macbeth’s preparing for battle – “beat them backward home” links to Macbeth at the beginning of the play.

·         Lady Macbeth’s death is announced – does he still need her?

·         2 people as one, psychological?

·         Nihilistic – nothing matters to Macbeth anymore.

·         Emotionally numb

·         Existentialist – only you can give it meaning, a focus on one’s self.

·         Macbeth has lost the one person who keeps him strong – companionship.

·         Macbeth manic depressive? – building up?

·         “it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing” – questioning superstition and the validity of the witches.

·         He feels he is being used by and toyed with by the witches, he doesn’t see the point.

·         Revelation signifies his fall.

·         Rejection of religion? Denying faith and the afterlife.

·         “Equivocation” – links to the porter – “ringing an alarum bell” – he knows he is going to hell.

·         “There is nor flying hence nor tarrying here” and “I’gin to be aweary of the sun” – don’t play with fire or the supernatural.

·         The gothic is subversively conservative, in making people obey the rules.

·         Non-Christian play, temptation?  

·         Like to Macbeth = blasphemy, the audience admire him – he gets what he wants, and does whatever it takes.

·         We see Macbeth as the tragic hero that we are denied by the witches at the end.

·         He has a bleak epiphany.

Reading Journal - Act IV

Act IV – Scene I:

·         Macbeth vows to kill Macduff and his family

·         The apparition states that Macbeth should “Beware Macduff”, yet the witches don’t say why he should fear him.

·         Macbeth fully trusts them, even though he is without Lady Macbeth.

·         It is the first time that Macbeth seeks the witches, rather than them looking for him.

·         Loss of sanity?

·         He goes to see them – does he tease them, almost taunting them?

·         Macduff – rebellion – gone to England

·         Macbeth is ruthless to assert his dominance.

Act IV – Scene II:

·         Macduff’s wife and children are killed – it’s ironic because previous to their killing Macduff’s son and wife discuss good and evil.

·         Ross and Macduff’s wife talk about how Macduff has left for England – he does for the right reasons (to protect his family) however they still end up getting killed.

·         It’s the first time we see the orders being acted out because of Macbeth’s actions.

·         Its also the first time that we see children and wholly innocent characters die in such a brutal way.

·         Macbeth is quick to kill of the Macduff’s because of their threat to the throne.

Act IV – Scene III:

·         Malcolm tests Macduff’s loyalty.

·         Ironic – dramatic, Ross say’s Macduff’s wife and children and OK, yet later he tells Macduff that they are dead – this helps to justify his revenge.

·         Human impact and suffering at the hands of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, the first time we have seen the consequences of their actions.

·         Moral interpretation and stance? Human nature.

·         Killing of children and women signifies innocence?

·         The killing adds a human element to it.

·         Macduff’s guilt – he wasn’t there to protect his children – makes their death even sadder.

Reading Journal - Act III.

Act III- Scene I:

·         Banquo shows he is suspicious and suspecting the king, but he knows to be quiet.

·         “Our fears in Banquo stick deep”, and “My genius rebuked” – shows that Macbeth fears Banquo knows of his dirty deeds, he is contemplating how to solve this?

·         Witches prophesied Banquo’s children will become king – because of this Macbeth fears that he will be killed.

·         “Come fate into the list...” – he is calling on the witches to change their prophecy.

·         “Barren sceptre”- fruitless crown, implying that Macbeth cannot have children? Lady Macbeth makes a reference that she had children. “I have given suck” the word sceptre implies that it is a phallic object as well. This adds to his fear of losing the crown.

·         Macbeth cannot kill Banquo himself – talking to the murderers convinces him to kill Banquo in reality. He then tries to justify it to himself.

Act III – Scene II:

·         Lady Macbeth speaks in rhythmic couplets, which is poetic like the witches.

·         Alliteration “Destroy, Destruction, Dwell, Doubtful”

·         When Macbeth enters it changes.
·         “O full of scorpions is my mind dear wife!” – Imagery, tortured mind.

·         Macbeth’s last lines are rhyming couplets which mirrors Lady Macbeth's.

Act III – Scene III:

·         You see the murder happen on stage, it is muddled and messy.

·         The scene is fast, the short lines due to the stichomythia make the scene frenzied.

Act III – Scene IV:

·         Insanity, lightening, repressive, totalitarian dictatorship.

·         Transition to regular Gothic, this is a change in Lady Macbeth's character.
·         Does it show a deterioration of the mind? The dagger in Macbeth’s soliloquy is not seen, therefore is Banquo visible?

·         Macabre dance in the film version, is it the dance of death?

·         Macbeth learns that Banquo is dead and that Fleance has escaped. The news of Fleance’s escape angers Macbeth “the worm that’s fled  Hath nature that in time will venom breed” showing that if Fleance had died, his position as king would have been safe.

·         Lady Macbeth questions Macbeth’s manhood – reversed roles? Two halves of the same person?

Act III – Scene V:

·         The witches meet with Hecat – the goddess of witchcraft.

·         Hecate scolds them for meddling in the business of Macbeth - shows that there are powers higher than the witches that mere mortals cannot tamper with.

Act III – Scene VI:

·         Lennox and another lord discuss what has happened to the kingdom.

·         Banquo’s murder is blamed on Fleance, who has fled

·         Both men suspect Macbeth, whom they call a “tyrant,” in the murders of Duncan and Banquo.

Reading Journal - Act II.

Act II – Scene I:

·         Soliloquy

·         “heat oppressed brain?” – Heat of the moment.

·         Questioning his heroism, overwhelming thoughts.

·         “Thou marshall’st me the way I was going” – military style precision, a word associated with an idea or direction.

·         Macbeth likens himself to a rapist – ‘Tarquin’ Lucrece.

·         “Moves like a ghost” – swift movements as if it’s not him – invisible.
·         Procrastinating ‘while I threat, he lives’.

Act II – Scene II:

·         Duncan’s death = an air of mystery, hard to stage, killing someone successfully.

·         Lady Macbeth shows signs of having a conscience – “had he not resembled my father as he slept” -possible signs of guilt.

·         Quickly pace, tremulous and anxious.

·         Stichomythia .

·         He’s remorseful, regretful, sorry it’s come to an end in this way “This is a sorry sight”

·         Lady Macbeth likes the idea of the blood? Thrilling to her?

·         She undermines him “ a foolish thought” .

·         “I could not say ‘amen’” -  a sense of guilt again, lost his religion.

·         Shakespeare uses colourful imagery “White”, “Red” and “Green”.

Act II- Scene III:

·         Comical scene?

·         Lady Macbeth ‘swooning’ – acting, clever deception.

·         Malcolm and Donalbain leave to England and Ireland. Suspicion may fall on them, back then family kill family.

·         Malcolm and Donalbain’s departure is overshadowed by Macbeth – “I did kill them”.
·         Paralleling porter scene and Macbeth.

·         Drunk on power.

·         The relevance of the porter? Is he needed?

·         Darkly satirical.

·         How did he get drunk?

·         He references death, does he know that Duncan is dead?

·         He makes MacDuff seem more regal and worthy of his title.

·         Don’t take the scene literally, it is not meant to make sense.

·         It parallels what a mess the situation Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are in.

·         Is it there to purely please a Shakespearean audience?

·         The DVD version = comic relief?

·         Sexualised

·         Contrast of light and dark = Gothic.

Act II- Scene IV:

·         The Macbeth’s become royalty

·         Thanes etc should go to the coronation; however it’s happening too quickly.

·         Noble or cautious?  - They don’t want to give Macbeth allegiance.

·         The Old Man and Ross discuss events that will happen – foreshadowing the rest of the play.

·         They talk about Duncan’s death being represented in his horses “And Duncan’s horses – a thing most strange and certain...turn wild in their nature...”

·         Philosophical in the way that the scene ends – “That what make good of bad, and friends of foes!”