Macbeth Summary
Notes
ACT I
Scene I
Macbeth: - “p’ful swordsman”
Themes
“Bloody man in the act”
“brave Macbeth”
- Ambition
Description of a war - Greed
“well deserved” hero - Power
“valiant” “worthy” “bold” - Supernatur
al
Scene III - War
Ominous
“withered world”
“hail Macbeth”
- Thane of Glamis, Cawdor and King > prophecy
- Macbeth is interested
Banquo
“lesser than Macbeth and greater”
-sceptical
“eaten the insane root” – doesn’t believe them
“Thou shalt get kings”
Macbeth gets the title of the Thane of Cawdor – remembers the prophecy and
believes it now
- Banquo thinks there will be consequences -> he says that Macbeth is
already “rapt” and entranced by the prophecy
- “cannot be ill” and “cannot be good”
- Witches are described as “instruments of darkness”
Macbeth’s soliloquy: describes the prophecy as “fantastical” and says “If chance will
have me king”
, Scene IV
Macbeth sees Duncan
- Malcolm is made Prince of Cumberland
Macbeth sees him as a “step..[to] o’erleap” – because it in his “way it lies”
- Macbeth’s villain arc begins when he says: “stars hide your fires” and “my
black and deep desires”
Scene V
Lady Macbeth gets letter
She wants prophecy to be true and knows that he has ambition but doubts his
abilities because of his “nature” and the “milk of human kindness”
She wishes to be a man so everything is easier; “unsex me”
She advises Mabeth to look “like the innocent flower” “but be the serpent under’t”
She says that his “face is a book” – she can read him and know what he’s thinking
She already devises a plan and says the king will not be the “sun that morrow
sees”
o Is ambitious and holds the power in the relationship
o “leave all the rest to me”
Scene VI
Duncan arrives in the “fair and noble house” of the Macbeths
Lady Macbeth calls on “spirits” to help her be evil and “make thick [her] blood”
Macbeth is doubting himself > “he is kinsman” and Macbeth is “host” and “subject”
The king also trusts him “double trust” and
Duncan is “meek and clear in his great office”
- The night is stormy > foreshadowing the darkness incoming and sets the
atmosphere
Macbeth doesn’t want to kill him because he awarded him and people praise him as a
hero
Lady Macbeth persuades him: - “coward” and questions his manhood
- “are you green” – a coward
She says that Duncan is “unguarded” and to “screw courage”
Macbeth sees her daring as unlike women and wants her to “bring forth men children
only”
Notes
ACT I
Scene I
Macbeth: - “p’ful swordsman”
Themes
“Bloody man in the act”
“brave Macbeth”
- Ambition
Description of a war - Greed
“well deserved” hero - Power
“valiant” “worthy” “bold” - Supernatur
al
Scene III - War
Ominous
“withered world”
“hail Macbeth”
- Thane of Glamis, Cawdor and King > prophecy
- Macbeth is interested
Banquo
“lesser than Macbeth and greater”
-sceptical
“eaten the insane root” – doesn’t believe them
“Thou shalt get kings”
Macbeth gets the title of the Thane of Cawdor – remembers the prophecy and
believes it now
- Banquo thinks there will be consequences -> he says that Macbeth is
already “rapt” and entranced by the prophecy
- “cannot be ill” and “cannot be good”
- Witches are described as “instruments of darkness”
Macbeth’s soliloquy: describes the prophecy as “fantastical” and says “If chance will
have me king”
, Scene IV
Macbeth sees Duncan
- Malcolm is made Prince of Cumberland
Macbeth sees him as a “step..[to] o’erleap” – because it in his “way it lies”
- Macbeth’s villain arc begins when he says: “stars hide your fires” and “my
black and deep desires”
Scene V
Lady Macbeth gets letter
She wants prophecy to be true and knows that he has ambition but doubts his
abilities because of his “nature” and the “milk of human kindness”
She wishes to be a man so everything is easier; “unsex me”
She advises Mabeth to look “like the innocent flower” “but be the serpent under’t”
She says that his “face is a book” – she can read him and know what he’s thinking
She already devises a plan and says the king will not be the “sun that morrow
sees”
o Is ambitious and holds the power in the relationship
o “leave all the rest to me”
Scene VI
Duncan arrives in the “fair and noble house” of the Macbeths
Lady Macbeth calls on “spirits” to help her be evil and “make thick [her] blood”
Macbeth is doubting himself > “he is kinsman” and Macbeth is “host” and “subject”
The king also trusts him “double trust” and
Duncan is “meek and clear in his great office”
- The night is stormy > foreshadowing the darkness incoming and sets the
atmosphere
Macbeth doesn’t want to kill him because he awarded him and people praise him as a
hero
Lady Macbeth persuades him: - “coward” and questions his manhood
- “are you green” – a coward
She says that Duncan is “unguarded” and to “screw courage”
Macbeth sees her daring as unlike women and wants her to “bring forth men children
only”
