Scene one
- enter Banquo talking about how macbeth has it all now, just as the wierd sisters had promised, but they also promised that Banquo's children would become hiers to the throne; which has now confirmed this.
- Enter Macbeth and Lady Macbeth dressed as a king and queen and everyone else for the coronation
- Macbeth refers to banquo as his most important guest to his dinner later, asks him if he is going riding then brings up the subject of malcolm and donalbain fleeing. Macbeth talks about it as if they are the guilty ones. He pushes the blame onto them.
- when everyone has exited, Macbeth has a silioquoy - he mentions that he is scared of banquo because he is suspicious of him. he was there with the witches. he's clever. His children will be kings.
- Banquo was wise and took the right path macbeth didn't
- Macbeth meets with the murderers he explains to them how banquo has made their life hell and how he is innocent
- macbeth tells the murderers he hates banquo so much and would kill him himself if they did not have mutual friends so requires the murderers help
- he convinves the murderers that banquo is their enemy as well as his and tells them to kill banquo tonight. they accept.
- macbeth tells them to leave no traces of evidence and to kill fleane too
- the murderers exit
Scene two
- opens with Lady Macbeth asking wether banquo has left the court to a servant who replies that he's left but will be back tonight (he will be back in ghost form)
- She asks to have a word with macbeth and before he enters she talks about how she has what she wanted and is still not happy, how she has spent everything and gained nothing. she says it's better to be the victim than the murderer taunted with anxiety. - guilt, regret, morality
- enter macbeth, she asks him why he is keeping himself to himself -she's worried, wants to confide
- he talks about his mental tourture - senseless murder driving him insane - he has to get someone else murder banquo
- full of scorpions is my mind - animal imigary
- Lady Macbeth scared of him?
Scene three
- scene in which the murders kill banquo
- planning - tension - question of trust
- choppy dialouge between murders - comparison to lady macbeth and macbeth - panic
- Banquo is attacked, he shouts to fleance to escape and he gets away
- Muderers see the son has escaped and decide to go to macbeth and tell them of what has been done
Scene four
- meal scene, macbeth welcomes his guests and his guests thank him
- he plays the humble host as does lady macbeth
- the muderers enter in the middle of the feast and macbeth goes to talk to them - suspicious - he says that they have blood on their face - blood on skin motif again
- macbeth says he'd rather see blood on his face than blood in banquo's body - he praises them
- he says fleance has fled and macbeth is worried again, he says everything would have been perfect apart from that
- he tells him to get out and that he will speak to him again tomorrow, he exits
- lady macbeth tells macbeth he's not entertaining his guests - distraction, worried, trying to save him from suspition again
- lennox tells him to take a seat but enter banquo's ghost who sits in his seat - supernatural, enforcing how scared macbeth is of banquo taking his seat (honour)
- macbeth says to his guests that he hopes banquo is not present due to rudeness and not because something bad has happened to him - playing dumb and innocent again
- ross tells him to sit but macbeth says the table is full - no one else can see the ghost of banquo but macbeth - insanity, guilt, he is alone
- he sees the ghost in the seat and first blames some one else for his vision - who did this?
- no one knows what he's talking about, he goes crazy
- Lady macbeth tries to explain to everyone else that macbeth is ill and has been since youth - a cover up for his insanity
- tension in the room, lady macbeth tries to calm macbeth and everyone else
- the ghost reappears - his insanity and the things he says infront of his guests give alot away - very suspicious
Scene five
- the witches meet with a hecat in this scene
- supernatural
- reminder of the witches influence
Scene one
- darkness, torch, banquo and fleance
- 'give me my sword! Who's there?' tense atmoshpere in Macbeths castle - the king is going to die
- Banquo is no longer able to confide in macbeth about the three sisters as he thinks not of them (as he says)
- dagger speak - macbeth begins to halucinate - guilt driving him insane - 'dagger of the mind'
- gothic and paranormal visions in the night
Scene two
- Macbeth kills the king off stage - leaves the death of the king to the viewers imagination - later on in the play more deaths occur on stage - could slowley be revealing more as the play goes on (don't want to give it away all at once)
- could illustrate how macbeth is at first able to put the killing out of his mind (out of sight, out of mind) but then when we see banquos death later on he goes crazy.
- Panicy and blunt dialouge between macbeth and lady macbeth - arguing? tension?
- Macbeth feels increadibly guilty and lady macbeth says 'consider it not so deeply' - she is stronger and more evil - unable to feel guilt
- macbeth accidently brings the daggers back - first slip up - and lady macbeth has to sort it out.
- they clean the blood off their hands - blood is a significant motif in the play
Scene Three
- drunken porter speech - satirical, religious connotations with porter of hell gate - macbeth's castle is now hell
- porter finally answers the door to macduff and lennox, macduff complains of his late answer and the porter comically comments on the effects of alcohol - desire, lacking sexual performance and needing to urinate
- Macbeth enters
- Macduff askes if the king is awake, macbeth says not yet - first cover up, macduff says that the king commanded him to wake him early, macbeth takes him to the king - pretends nothing is wrong - so far macbeth is covering everything up well and not acting at all suspicious
- macduff exits to wake the king. macbeth and lennox left on stage. lennox speaks about the unruly night - premenition? pathetic fallacy - gothic
- macduff finds out the king has died and enters shouting horror horror
- macbeth & lennox both ask what is the matter - macbeth levelling himself with and imitating the innocent
- macduff tells macbeth and lennox to look for themselves and when they leave ring the alarms and informs everyone the king has died
- Lady Macbeth enters and pretends she has no idea what is going on, Macduff is reluctant to tell her what has happened because he feels it unfit for her ears. he thinks it will really upset her - dramatic irony, the audience know what macduff doesn't
- Banquo enters and declares the king has been murdered (he should be the most suspicious of Macbeth because of the incidents with the witches - tension)
- Macbeth says that it is a sick joke and there is nothing worth living for - except he's going to become king
- malcolm and donalbain enter and are told that thier father has been killed - donalbains first question - who did it?
- Macbeth lets slip - he says he killed the guards - why did he not mention this to everyone else before then? why had he been playing dumb? not part of the plan. Sucpision now lies on Macbeth
- He tries to cover it up and Lady Macbeth Distracts everyone by swooning - dramatic, acting. characters help her out instead of questioning macbeth
- everyone decided to exit and get dressed then meet back later to discuss leaving malcolm and donalbain on stage
- Malcolm and Donalbain discuss among themselves - they decide to flee as they are also suspects, suspicious of everyone and likely to be murdered. they take seperate paths - malcolm to england and donalbain ireland - more likely for at least one to survive. quickly made decision - fastly paced scene.
Scene four
- there is a break in the fast paced scene between the main characters - raise and fall of anxiety
- dialouge between an old man and ross - they talk about the suspicious happenings of last night - lead to talking about supernatural - horses eating each other - humans killing each other - theme of animal kingdom, death and murder - cannibalism
- Enter Macduff, they discuss who killed the king, macduff says it was the servants that macbeth killed, then ross comments that they had no motive to
- Macduff says they were paid to. He says Malcolm and Donalbain are prime suspects as they has fled. Macbeth is lucky - not part of his plan but the suspicion has been shifted onto them.
- Macbeth has already been named king
