Understanding Macbeth Questions to Consider ~ Act One ~
How brave is Macbeth? “For Brave Macbeth, well he deserves that name…” (1.2.17-18). “ [E]very one did bear thy praises in his kingdom’s great defense” (1.4.103-04).. “Wouldst thou… live a coward in thine own esteem” (1.7.45-7).
How do the witches influence macbeth? “If ill,/ Why hath it given me earnest of success/ Commencing in a truth” “If good, why do I yield to that suggestion/Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair…”(1.3.144-48).
How do the witches influence macbeth? Macbeth: “Do you not hope your children will be kings when those that gave me Thane of Cawdor promised no less to them” Banquo: “…But ‘tis strange. And oftentimes, to win us to our harms,/The instruments of darkness tell us truths…to betray ‘s” (1.3.128-37).
How imaginative is macbeth? IMAGINES KILLING THE KING “Present fears/ Are less than horrible imaginings./My thought, whose murder is yet fantastical,/ Shakes so my single state of man/ That function is smothered in surmise,/ and nothing is but what it is not” (1.3. IMAGINES AND FEARS THE CONSEQUENCES “If it were…” (1.7.1) “If the assassination could…” (1.7.2) “If we should fail-” (1.7.68)
How pure of heart is macbeth? 1.Thinks of consequences and damnation. 2. Fears his own assassination once king. 3. Duncan is family, king, guest. 1st Soliloquy, 1.7
How ambitious is macbeth? “…Art not without ambition, but without/the illness that should attend it” (1.5.19-20). “I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only/ Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself/ And falls on the o’her side” (1.7.27-8).
HOW OPEN AND HONEST IS MACBETH? Lady Macbeth: “Your face, my thane, is like a book where men/ May read strange matters” (1.5.73-74). Lady Macbeth: “Look like th’ innocent flower, but be the serpent under ‘t” (1.7.76-77). Macbeth: “False face must hide what the false heart doth know” (1.7.95).
how does macbeth relate to lady macbeth? “[M]y dearest partner in greatness” (1.5) “Bring forth men-children only…” (1.7-84).
YOU DECIDE: What kind of man is macbeth? How will he be affected by regicide, the murder of the king? Stay tuned for act II.