Thursday, 3 November 2011

Reading Journal, Act III, 'Macbeth'

Scene 1:

  • ‘Thou playedst most foully for’t’ … ‘But hush! No more!’ Banquo shows he is suspicious of the King, but knows to be quiet.
  • ‘Our fears in Banquo stick deep’, ‘My genius is rebuked.’ – Macbeth shows he fears Banquo knows of his deeds and is possible contemplating how to ‘solve this’; to kill him.
  • This is emphasised as the witches’ prophesised that Banquo’s children will become King – Macbeth now fears that someone will kill him.
  • ‘Come fate into the list…’ Macbeth calls on the witches to change Banquo’s prophecy. Is this because he dreads having to kill again?
  • ‘Barren scepter’ could also connotate a fruitless crown. Is this a reference that Macbeth cannot have children. Lady Macbeth has possible mentioned she once had children as she has ‘given suck’. A scepter is also a phallic object which relates to Macbeth’s masculinity – is he trying to prove something to anyone, or just to himself? This adds to his dear of losing his crown, and therefore his status.
  • Macbeth speaks to the murderers as he cannot, or will not kill Banquo himself. Is this cowardly? Also this could make Macbeth an even worse character as he cannot do it himself and pays two citizens to do the deed. Talking to the murderers also convinces him, as if he is trying to justify it.

Scene 2:

  • Lady Macbeth speaks in rhyming couplets – just like the witches, which is poetic and charming.
  • ‘Destroy ‘destruction dwell’ ‘doubtful’ – alliteration, which emphasises Lady Macbeth’s power of speech.
  • ‘O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!’ – Macbeth shows evidence and imagery of a tortured mind as he seems to speak of being in pain. Normally this would cause the audience to sympathise, but because of Macbeth’s deeds, we cannot.

Scene 3:

  • We see Banquo’s murder on stage, unlike Duncan’s, which shows the haste and lack of planning it had compared to the first murder. This portrays the mess and drastic measures Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have to go to now, and it will not stop here.
  • ‘Tis he.’ ‘Stand to’t’. The scene is very fast and this is shown through the short dialogue between the two murderers. Creates panic and tension – what Macbeth and his wife are feeling?

Scene 4:

  • Just like Macbeth’s dagger soliloquy, this scene relies heavily on interpretation with regard to if the audience see Banquo’s ghost or not. It could be decided that the dagger cannot be seen, yet Banquo’s ghost can be seen, subtly showing the downfall of Macbeth’s state of mind.
  • ‘My Lord is often thus, and hath been from his youth’ – Lady Macbeth shows herself again as a convincing actor. She also shows her incredible power of persuasion, not only with Macbeth, but with others too.
  • ‘Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold.’ Macbeth is showing how he is reddened with guilt. Questionable whether he is talking about Banquo’s dead body, or himself, as he is shown to be so heartless, he could be described as ‘cold-blooded’.

Scene 5:

  • Evidence of the supernatural, again in ‘thunder and lightning’.
  • The three witches are told off by Hecat for ‘trade[ing] and traffic[ing] with Macbeth and being ‘spiteful and wrathful’. Shows to the audience that their meddling with Macbeth was just a game. Shocking as Macbeth took their words so seriously, therefore making all the murders in the play almost worthless as Macbeth was purely a chess piece in their fun.

1 comment:

  1. Is lady Macbeth really being 'charming' in scene (ii)? Lots of good questions in your comments.

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