Note: Continuation from Mrs. Peterson’s 2-day lesson of Macbeth Act I Scene III & IV
Aim: How has Macbeth’s interactions with multiple characters, coupled with various or
conflicting motivations, advanced the plot or developed the theme?
Do now: Complete answering the questions through a series of teamwork and discussion that were left from 12/06/21. (The questions can be found below.)
Summary of Our Group Discussion of Act 1, Scene III questions:
1. Macbeth reacts to the prophecies in a fantastical and excited manner, but becomes skeptical. However, Banquo feels excluded from the greatness that will come to Macbeth and questions his own future.
2. The line “instruments of darkness” imply that they represent the three witches, signifying their evilness and intent to bring harm.
3. Banquo’s warning to Macbeth is to not trust witches since they have bad intentions from the start. He believes that small truths from witches only mean that in the end, these truths will betray them and will play according to the witches’ plan. This further enforces “fair is foul, foul is fair”.
4. Macbeth is promising a lasting amount of friendship, truth, honesty, and freedom. This is significant because he already has broken this promise as he has not informed Banquo of his desire to be king, foreshadowing a future conflict between them.
My Interpretation/Explanation of 1st Soliloquy:
To refresh, a soliloquy is a monologue, especially in a play, that is delivered by a character who is alone or unaware of the presence of other characters and that reveals the thoughts or feelings of that character. The following reflects Macbeth’s thoughts.
Th
After analyzing this soliloquy, we learn that there are many uses of figurative language such as the “seated heart knock at my ribs”. This is a use of personification to show the excitement and fear of Macbeth wanting the title of king as if it is knocking. To understand when Shakespeare reveals a soliloquy, it is generally within the first 2 lines. For example, his various thane titles show the imperial theme: to be thane of Scotland before being king. This is an indication of his personal thoughts, giving away that this is indeed a soliloquy.
Summary of the Whole Class Discussion:
1. Macbeth vs. self - Macbeth is not sure whether he should follow the witches’ prophecy of being king and is confused at taking the right path.
Macbeth vs. Banquo - Although claiming that there will only be a promise of truth between them, Macbeth breaks this promise, foreshadowing future external conflicts between them.
Macbeth vs. King Duncan - There will be conflicts between Macbeth and King Duncan as one has to live without the other when Macbeth pursues the throne.
2. In the beginning of Macbeth, he is introduced as a loyal, brave, and national warrior with goodness and honor bestowed by the king. However, as the witches’ prophecy tempt Macbeth to fight for the throne, his thoughts of killing King Duncan and causing various deaths are formed in his head. This destroys the inherent goodness and honor we learned of him in the beginning.
If you are interested in watching these scenes as a movie, please view the following link from 0:40 to 18:45: https://drive.google.com/file/d/151XLZvplBEUt-_7JZTI66jLL7AXnDTLL/view
As the class read Act I, Scene IV in class on 12/06/21, below are teamwork and discussion questions to reflect our understanding of the scene.
Summary of Our Group Discussion of Act I, Scene IV Questions:
1. Upon meeting King Ducan as a reader, he can be described as a generous, fair, and trustworthy ruler who is very trusting of his subjects.
2. However, a ruler who is very trusting of his subjects can often be backstabbed from their close ones. This potentially leads to rebellion, deaths, and chaos of the kingdom.
3. King Duncan’s assertion foreshadows the idea that he can’t tell Macbeth is trustworthy, meaning he’ll be backstabbed in the future. His strong belief of Macbeth’s trusting character will only lead to greater damage of Macbeth’s betrayal.
The class left off at question three, as the period ended. Time is never on our side.
Reflection:
Today’s lesson broadened my understanding of the usage of soliloquies and figurative language, especially in Shakespeare’s work. I have also learned the skills of examining Act 1 Scenes III & IV through understanding his words like putting a puzzle together. While discussing the first soliloquy with my group, I have understood how they are revealed in Shakespeare’s writing and why they are necessary to drive the plot forward. The importance of learning this is because of how readers must understand the author’s intentions of revealing a character’s thoughts as this is essential in character development and audience engagement. These elements together help a reader better understand the text and broaden their knowledge through literary works containing themes relevant to today’s world. To use my broadened knowledge, I can examine future scenes of Macbeth with the same approach and incorporate the usage of soliloquies in my writing.
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