Dr Faustus reading journal. Act two

Scene one

• we begin to see at the begining of this scene the fickle nature of faustus' personality
• he is starting to have thoughts of God, and that he should possibly turn back away from black magic
• 'something soundeth in mine ears' - his concious comes in
• As Robin is a slave to Wagner, Wagner a slave to Faustus, M also a slave to Faustus, Faustus is a slave to his senses - 'The god thou servest is thine own appetute' and thus cannot be saved
• We can see now that whenever Faustus' thoughts are wavering, the Good and Evil angel enter, though performed as physical characters, we wonder whether they are within Faustus' subconcious? - gothic element
• The good angel again tells faustus it's not too late, he can repent, etc, and the evil angel just tempts him to think of 'honour and wealth' - to which Faustus finds comfort
• Thinking of things of human worth seem to give Faustus alot of comfort and forgot the negative outcomes of the deal he has made with the devil
• It seems at this point though, that Faustus could turn back as to what follows...
• Faustus assures M that he has promised his soul, to which M asks that he writes it in his own blood by stabbing his arm - formalities of the contract? Perhaps it's not certain until Fausus does this, otherwise why would they ask that of him? so F could turn back? but he goes ahead, leaving the audience to believe his soul is truely damned
• Faustus' blood dries- 'What might the staying of my blood portend? Is it unwilling I should write this bill?'- it is as if his body is unwilling to the contract. Is his body warning him?
• but he is willing to make an end to the contract quickly - as not to change his mind
• on his arm is enscribed 'homo fuge!' - fly, o man! a warning to leave? but faustus says 'Yet shall not Faustus fly' - as if he is resisting and really wants to see this through
• M fetches some 'crowns and rich apparel' to F to make him feel better.
• The terms of the contract are now discussed (bit late) and talk about the nature of hell (bit late) and the deed is done.
• Now M asks Faustus what he wants and it is interesting to note that the first thing that F asks for is a wife, which on one hand makes me sympathise with Faustus as he is just a human being who needs love and perhaps is just lonely. However, when he asks for the 'fairest maid in Germany' I think that perhaps all he wants is a trophy wife, which makes more sense due to the shallow nature of his character. he also says 'i am wanton and lascivious' meaning sexually active and lustful
• m tells him to 'talk not of a wife', and when he seeminly gives in, he brings f 'a devil dressed as a woman' - we can see that m doesn't entirely serve f and is able to decide what he does and does not get, able to play tricks on f
• m explains to f that 'marriage is but a ceremonial toy', which makes sense as f need for a wife is mainly governed by the fact he is lustful and just wants sex, m tells him 'i'll cull thee out the fairest courtesans' meaning he'll select high class prostitutes for f - it's all he wants/deserves?
• m then offers f knowledge through books

scene 2

• another comical interlude with Robin, who has stolen one of faustus' books
• this scene has much sexual language or innuedo inserting through it
• 'will i make all the maidens in our parish dance at my pleasure stark naked'
• 'his things rubbed and made clean' 'chafing'
• 'nan spit, our kitchen maid, then turn her'
• reading this extract in these times is interesting as we have a sort of window looking into the past and how sexist those times were, turning a woman like an object, and having all the maidens dancing naked
• This use of a comical and sexual interlude could also provide relief for an audience to which sex was a sin outside of marriage - laughing about it to escape the repression and frustration felt by people sexually?

Scene three

• The final scene of the act begins with Faustus' wavering (somewhat fickle) thoughts of god, telling m that 'thou hast deprived me' of heaven, when really faustus has deprived himself - he is the one that made the deal, m even warned him of what he would be missing out on - f unable to take responsibility - immaturity?
• f says 'i will renounce this magic and repent' - thinking himself that it is not too late, and he could have heaven if he repented and gave up the magic (he never repents though)
• At this point of wavering thoughts, the angels, as always, appear.
• The good angel as usual tell him 'repent yet, God will pity thee' - F is still able to repent? how far will he push his luck with god? - keeps anxiety levels up in audience
• evil angel disagrees 'thou art a spirit. God cannot pity thee' - conflicting voices to Faustus
• F then assures himself 'Ay, God will pity me if I repent' to which the evil angel tells him 'but Faustus never shall repent' then we can see faustus swayed by the evil angel - 'I cannot repent' straight after, as if his thoughts are completely goverend by these angels, surely he can think for himself? of maybe these angels are a part of his concious thought? either way we can see Faustus' fickle mind at work, with his ever changing views
• F then considers killing himself, regretting 'had not sweet pleasure taken over deep despair' - his senses had taken over him, making him blind to the consequences. He stops his wondering mind by calling M 'let us dispute again and argue of divine astrology' as a sort of comfort to himself, looking at divine astrology, which is possibly beyond God and Lucifer
• M & F go on to talk about astrology, but M stops trhe conversation by telling F 'think thou on hell, Faustus, for thou art damned' - disrupting his mind again
• F tells himself to 'think, Faustus, upon God', and tells (who he previously called his sweet M) 'go, accursed spirit, to ugly hell!'- sudden changing of mind - 'tis thou hast damned distressed Faustus' soul' - unable to accept responsibility for what he's done, and starting to realise the seriousness of the consequences to come
• at this point of wavering thoughts, enter the good angel and bad angel, as usual, the good angel tells him 'never too late, if faustus can repent', the evil angel tells him 'if thou repent, devils shall tear thee in pieces' - adding a threat and extra anxiety
• f then calls out to christ - 'my saviour, seek to save distressed faustus' soul!' (still not tecnically repenting) at which point lucifer, beelzebub and mephistophiles enter (aware)
• Lucifer is the first to speak, and reminds f that he has the legal rights to his soul and christ is unable to save him. Is this true? If F repented could christ still save him?
• Lucifer then tells f that he is doing wrong by them to mention christ 'thou dost injure us' and tell him 'not think on God. Think of the devil' - perhaps lucifer knows that if F did repent christ could save him, but is appearing now to secure F's soul (which is surely not an own-able thing anyway) by threatening him.
• F says sorry and agrees to think onlyof the devil now, Lucifer then brings on the seven dealy sins as a sort of distraction, theatrical, entertainment for F.
• The seven dealy sins then enter, pride, covetousness (desiring other peoples possesions), wrath, Envy, Gluttony, Sloth, Lechery (sin of lust) and in each of these sins we can link back elements to F's personality
• Why does Lucifer bring on the seven deadly sins at this point in the play? Maybe Lucifer brings them on at this point to remind F that he is a bad person, and his soul is damned, securing it for his kingdom. Maybe this is a really pivotal point in the play, maybe F could have turned back at this point if Lucifer had not come in at the point straight after he asked christ to save his soul.  needed to distract him
• Before Lucifer leaves at the end of the scene Lucifer presents F a book which should give him the ability to 'turn thouself into what what shape thy wilt'
• The scene ends with F saying 'Farewell, great Lucifer. Come, Mephistopheles' which could show him being fickle 'great Lucifer' after he was pretty much ready to repent for his sins (F as being easily swayed). It could also be played in a way that he is increadibly scared of Lucifer, and needs to suck up to him. In this loss of power, he somewhat regains it by commanding M afterwards. (but his power will be fleeting at the end of the period, when his soul is given over to lucifer)

Dr. Faustus reading journal Act one

Act one
scene one

• the scene begins with Faustus pondering over what he should persue in his studies
• He uses a process of elimination to decide which subject would be the best, by putting others down, 'a greater subject fitteth faustus' wit' (already we begin to see his arrogance) 'the end of physic isour body's health' (we can see how faustus is looking for something more important or higher than the body - i.e. the spirit)
• he comes to the conclusion that he will study magic
• 'necromantic books are heavenly' - 'necromantic' meaning black magic and 'heavenly' being an irony
• he commands on his servant (Wagner) to bring to him his friends Valdes and Cornelius, who can teach him about black magic
• at this point, before Valdes and Cornelius enter we see the first appearance of the good angel and the evil angel.
• The good angel tell Faustus to not be tempted by the black magic 'gaze not on it' 'read the scriptures' as a warning - giving the audience a sign that Faustus can turn back now unharmed, but he will not
• The evil angel persuades him to carry on his path, working on his arrogance 'lord and comander of these elements' - if the evil angel was not present perhaps Faustus would have turned back now? Is the evil angel the main reason for his downfall?
• After hearing the angels, faustus is full of greed and desire, due to what the evil angel says and stays on his path. 'How I am glutted with conceit of this!' - (gluttony-one of the 7 deadly sins)
• When Valdes and Cornelius enter, faustus explains how he has been caught up with black magic and wishes to persue it further, Valdes says 'Faustus, these books, thy wit, and our experience shall make all nations to canonise us', meaning that they will become saints or treated like celebrities

scene two

• Scene consists of Wagner teasing two scholars who are wondering were Faustus is
• We can see the first signs of Wagner as a bully here
• Wagner explains how Faustus has a 'corpus naturale' - a body capable of movement and could be anywhere, taking the scholars question too literally
• the first scholar then says to the other 'I fear he has fallen into that damned art' - talking about the black magic
• the second scholar says that even if he didn't know faustus he would 'grieve him' and explains how they should try and get him back
• the other says 'I fear me nothing can reclaim him' - the reader questions whether Faustus is damned or if there is a chance he could turn back. Tension

Scene three

• Faustus enters, holding a black magic book, and spends the beginning of the scene conjuring a spirit (Mephestophiles)
• As soon as Mephastophiles appears, Faustus orders him to change his shape, as 'thou art too ugly to attend on me' - he is unsuited to hell? arroagant? spoilt?
• Faustus then tells himself he's the best spirit conjurer (arrogant)
• Mephistopheles explains to Faustus 'I came now hither of my own accord' and how he came to be in hell
• here we can see Faustus' ideas are being challenged, Faustus doesn't understand how M can be both on earth and in hell at the same time, but M explains how it is more of a hell of the mind, and warns Faustus 'leave these frivolous demands'- so he has been warned, Faustus' many warnings give the audience little sympathy for him
• Faustus is a man who is unable to see anyone elses feelings but his own, which is why he is so determined to live out his own wants, not regarding the consequences.
• He is occupied which 'voluptuousness' - satisfying the senses, and things of human worth, gold, celebrity status etc. but underestimates the nature of hell and eternity-not as clever as he thinks.
• Faustus ignores M warnings and tells him to propose the giving of his soul to lucifer, to which M replies 'I will, Faustus'-not trying to stop him any further
• Once M exits Faustus says 'Had I as many souls as there be stars, I'd give them all for Mephistopheles'- showing little concern for the offer he has just sent, he's very certain of his actions-self assured person

Scene four

• Wagner and Robin the clown enter as a comical interlude which mirrors the more serious plot
• Gothic feature- a break in the anxiety, allows for the anxiety to rise again
• Wagner bullies Robin for being poor, 'how poverty jesteth in his nakedness!'- classic bully, Wagner is poor, surely, as he works for someone else, and possibly wants to cover his insecurities by bullying someone poorer than him. 
• In the scene Wagner aims to get Robin to serve him
• There is a back and forth comedy in the structure when Wagner hand over the guilders
• Wagner further bullies Robin by conjuring two spirit which he says will 'fetch thee away', Robin is in disbelief, but 'runs up and down crying' when they appear- vunerable, easy target for W
• Wagner succeeds in making Robin serve him, and the scene (and act) ends with robin saying 'I serve him, that's flat' which could be interprated in different ways, 'serve him' means to be his servant, but also could mean to give him what's coming to him, both in this scene and the wider context of the plot meaning he'll get the consequences, as will Faustus.

Reading journal of act three of Macbeth

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

Reading Journal for act two of Macbeth

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

How does Shakespeare create mood and atmosphere in act two of Macbeth?

               From the very beginning of act two Shakespeare sets up a mysterious atmosphere. He does this mainly by use of light; Stage directions state that Fleance enters with a torch, already limiting his vision to the light of the torch and suggesting that there is an area of darkness around him in which anything could be happening, it introduces a fear of the unknown. He enters with Banquo and there is an uncertainty of what the time is; ‘I take ‘t’tis later, sir’ which as well as reinforcing the mystery of the night time and darkness it also shows that the characters are awake and restless instead of asleep; could this be mirroring an overall feel of the castle on this night? As an audience we known that Macbeth has just killed the king, however the characters in the play do not know that murder has been committed; as well as putting themselves in danger of running into a murderous Macbeth they are also putting Macbeth in danger of being caught, leaving the audience tense.

               There is then a sinister and gothic atmosphere is created when we see Macbeth hallucinating later in this scene. I think it is important to remember when reading Macbeth that he has just come back from the unimaginable horrors of war; this could be an underlying force driving Macbeth’s insanity. He describes having a ‘dagger of the mind’ and a ‘heat-oppressed brain’ suggesting mental illness. Does this give the audience some leeway to sympathise for Macbeth? Does it set apart Macbeth from the evil Lady Macbeth? Insanity is used in other Shakespeare plays (e.g. King Lear) and is a classic gothic element. Again it is a fear of the unknown, there were so many elements (and still are) of mental health that are not yet understood and Shakespeare uses insanity in this play, and others, as a tool to create a tense and mysterious mood.

               Dialogue between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth is used in act two scene two to create an extremely panicked and anxious atmosphere; there is a section around line 20 when their conversation consists of one word exchanges such as ‘when?’ ‘now’ and ‘Ay.’ ‘Hark!’. This works by creating an anti-flow of speech, there are breaks between when the characters speak which could almost mimic a panting noise, giving a sense of adrenaline and terror. The lack of proper flowing speech in this section could be suggesting how traumatised the characters are by the events, as they are not able to speak properly. Shakespeare has used the dialogue between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to show a rise in anxiety and perhaps friction between the two characters.

We see Shakespeare use dramatic irony at the beginning of Act one, when the characters Banquo and Fleance know less than the audience by being unaware of the murder that has just occurred. He uses this again later in act two scene three when the murder of the king has been discovered and people do not know (or at least cannot be completely certain) that it was in fact Macbeth who has murdered the king. It is as if we as an audience are keeping the secret with Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and we feel the tension when Macbeth lets slip ‘I did kill them’ when referring to the kings guards. We know along with Lady Macbeth that this was not part of the plan, why did Macbeth just let slip? The audience become engrossed with the pretence and secret and feel the tension that is felt by the couple in this moment in the play.

Reading journal for act one of Macbeth

Act one

• pathetic fallacy - instant gothic feature - sets the tone of the play
• witches speak in rhyme, plotting - context: threat of women - threat of magic - we can see this also in faustus - and simillarly in frankenstien - a threat of knowledge
• they use paradoxes - fair is foul, lost and won
• as does macbeth - never so foul and fair a day - something not quite right - what at first may seem well will go terribly wrong - sets anxiety - another gothic feature
• eerie chanting tone
• short scene - leaves the audience with questions - witches always appear as mysterious - anxiety as they are a threat. not directly - but the audience watch them minipulate

Act two

• the captain tells the king how courageous Macbeth was at war - glorifying killing in the context of war.
• Macbeth is described as being ruthless with murder - which is portrayed in a positive but gory way - he chopped up his victims effortlessly - shows how ruthless macbeth is - but it is his job - he has been comanded and trained to be this way - this is what can allow the audience to feel a sympathy for macbeth? he is always being controlled - witches, lady macbeth
• Banqou is also described as courageous in war
• The king praises them - oh worthy gentlemen!
• The king has the traitorous thane of Cawdor put to death and the new title to be given to Macbeth - king mentions 'trust' - this will be his demise

Act three

• pathetic fallacy again as the witches enter - the audience know they are entering - which builds anxiety
• they begin by talking about skilling swine and planning revenge - they are as ruthless as men at war - can the audience make comparisons? it could be played this way.

• eerie chanting tone again - spells - metaphysics (faustus) - was seen as a threat to society
• a drum beats and the third witch claims Macbeth is coming
• Banquo and Macbeth enter and are curious as to who and what the witches are
• The witches hail Macbeth and Banquo, they tell Macbeth firstly he is thane of cawdor (before he has found out) then that he will become king and then they tell Banquo his children will become kings.
• Macbeth is intrigued asking them to speak more - the witches play with his pride
• the witches speak in riddles and paradoxes leaving macbeth and banquo confused yet intereasted
• Banquo tells them they have beards - how would he say this - as a joke?
• the witches vanish
• Macbeth and Banquo discuss the encounter focusing on the details of the prophecy
• They are disturbed by Ross and Angus who come as messengers to the king to tell Macbeth that he has been given the title Thane of Cawdor
• Macbeth and Banquo are amazed that the prophecy has come true and ponder on wether the other prophecies the witches proclaimed will also become true
• Macbeth whispers to Banquo that they shall speak privately and Banquo agrees - plotting? 

Act four

• reports of the execution of Cawdor come to the king from his son Malcolm
• Macbeth, Banquo, Ross and Angus enter
• The king thanks Macbeth and Banquo for their heroism
• Macbeth and Banquo tell the king of their loyalty to him
• King Duncan announces his plan to make Malcolm next heir to the throne
• Macbeth notes that this will get in his way
• Plans are made for the King to dine at Macbeths castle and Macbeth goes to inform Lady Macbeth

Act five

• scene opens with lady Macbeth reading a letter sent from Macbeth telling her of his new title and his encounter with the three witches.
• she thinks that Macbeth wants to be king but is too kind to take the steps to become king - she will encourage him.
• A messenger comes to tell lady macbeth that the king is coming to the castle
• Macbeths arrives and she and him discuss the arrival of the king 
• Lady Macbeth begins to plot - she is quick to plot - the audience share their secret - ironic something - audience know more than the actors - which can be anxiety building

 Act six

• King Duncan and his attendants arrive at the castle 
• Duncan compliments the castles environment and thanks lady macbeth
• Lady Macbeth says it's her honour to be hospitable to him - two faced - secrets - we see lady macbeth as a good actor - able to cover up. but can macbeth?
• the King wants to see Macbeth

Act seven

• Macbeth is thinking about assassinating Duncan
• He worries about the consequences
• He consideres not killing the king
• Lady Macbeth enters and when he says he doesn't want to kill the king she calls him a coward - contrast to how he has been described - plays with his pride. - macbeth is easily manipulated
• Lady Macbeth encourages him to proceed with the murder - comanding him
  

What are the gothic elements in Act One of 'Macbeth'?

The play starts off in an extremely gothic way, there is ‘Thunder and lightning’ a classic example of pathetic fallacy presenting ominous sounds and a dark tone to kick off the play. Three Witches enter and leave as asking questions; what relevance do they have to Macbeth? Why are they planning a second rendezvous? They are mischievous, evil characters that manipulate Macbeth. They represent the supernatural and unknown; a renowned gothic feature. As quickly as the three witches arrive, they disappear, leaving the audience with questions and a fear of the unknown.

When the three witches appear again in scene 3, greeted by thunder once more, one talks of ‘killing swine’ and another talks of plotting revenge on a sailor whose wife wouldn’t share her chestnuts. This conversation between them illustrates how ruthless and murderous the witches are, this can be compared to how ruthless Macbeth acted in war ‘with bloody execution’ the audience start to question whether there are similarities between the evil witches and Macbeth, it’s gives the audience a clue that the witches will entice him and what events will unravel in the play. The theme of death is a huge part of the play and a traditional gothic element. When the witches hail Macbeth it is as if they are on his side and praising him, we question the witches motives at this point; why are they so keen for Macbeth to become king and leave a bloody trail behind him? This gives the audience a further fear of the unknown towards the witches.

Banquo lightens the mood in scene three when he comments on the witches beards, there are different ways the audience can interpret this; he could be showing that he has the power and is not scared of them so makes mean remarks with no consideration for consequences, however he could be doing this because he is actually very scared by the witches and needs to lighten the mood to feel at ease. The fact that the three witches have beards illustrates that they are not traditional well kept females of the time. They have a masculine quality to them in beard form which could be suggesting a power they hold in a patriarchal society. They differ from the norm which is what makes them gothic characters in the play.