Shakespearean Themes: Appearances vs. Reality in Macbeth Analysis

1. Lesson 3 Appearances vs. RealityObjective: to interpret the subtext between each characters’ public and private personas. [Subtext]An underlying and often distinct theme in a piece of writing or conversation. Reading between the lines. [Duplicity]Cunning and deceitful behaviour where someone leads a double life (usually with a public mask and a private truth).

2. TEACHER’S GUIDE

3. Celebrity Personalities AnalysisAre they the same off camera? THINK – PAIR - SHARE

4. How has Shakespeare illustrated the theme of ‘appearances versus reality’ in ‘Macbeth’ so far? PEEL WRITING TASK

5. Act 2 Scene 3 Analysis • Comic relief – release the tension. • Themes - themes of his speech are often ones we see throughout the play – truth and deception – half-truths to get out of trouble for clever language. • The Farmer – keeps the grain to himself when others are starving because he believes it will make it more valuable and get a better price – next harvest is plentiful – the price of grain plummets and ruins him – equivocator – • Macbeth has washed hands and changed clothes -- “Good morrow both…not yet…I’ll bring you to him” – short, simple sentences when he asks questions – shows his state of mind (before he was speaking in articulate symbolism, extended metaphor and soliloquy, now he is brief) - Macbeth – “Had I but died an hour before this chance, I had lived a blessed time” – from this point on, he is doomed. • Different attitudes between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth:- LM overwhelmed by negative emotion and faints.- M more in control of the situation.

6. Act 2 Scene 4 Analysis • Jacobean Era – feudalistic natural order (King, noblemen, Lords - gentry and landowners, peasants).- any break in this order was considered serious to this natural order.- Macbeth commits regicide (killing of king) which is a serious breach of the natural order. • Minor characters - Old Man and Ross discussing the happenings in the play outside the characters point of view.- “mousing owl” and “falcon” fighting – Shakespeare uses images of the disturbance of nature to reflect the huge crime that has been committed against Duncan – a crime so significant that it’s effected the balance of nature – the language here is significant because of the way that the old man speaks (uses natural and severe language, superstitious and simple minded).- Ross speaks in an artificial way, which becomes clear when he speaks to Macduff. • Covert - Ross admits his intention to follow the story being put out by Macbeth that Duncan’s son has murdered his father – he will go to Scone to see Macbeth crowned King.- Macduff signals his uncertainty by saying that he will go home to Fife.- Ross understands that the story might be untrue – he’s following it because he’s uncertain of what may happen – Macbeth is not the only who hides what he knows. • Continual theme in the play – the hiding of truth and living a lie. Historical context- refers to the moods, attitudes, and conditions that existed during a certain time.

7. Act 3 Scene 1 Analysis • Suspicion and paranoia - Shortly after murdering King Duncan, Macbeth is already plotting to murder his close friend, Banquo. • Banquo’s soliloquy – uncertainty – not best pleased how Macbeth has won the throne but wonders if a promotion will come his way – - “I fear thou play’dst most foully for’t”- “May they not be my oracles as well” • Richness of language – double meanings, puns, irony. - environment for the audience where they are on edge - to be Macbeth’s chief guest is to become his victim.- Throughout the play, Macbeth’s speeches change in order to reflect his state of mind – this scene, different man to previous scenes. • Macbeth character traits – the soldier, the worrier, the private man, the cunning and devious man – calculating - “Fail not our feast” and “My Lord I will not”. • Macbeth character arc - from noble and considered to cajoling and cunning – is he descending into mania with the mask finally slipping? Deeds corrupting the person? Pun - a joke exploiting the different possible meanings of a word or the fact that there are words which sound alike but have different meanings.

8. Historical Context Elizabeth I and James I The Jacobean Era When Queen Elizabeth died in 1603, she had no children, or even nephews or nieces. The throne was offered to James Stuart, James VI of Scotland, who then became James I of Britain. Brought up by Protestant regents, James maintained a Protestant regime in Scotland when he came of age, and so was an acceptable choice for England which had become firmly Protestant under Elizabeth. James was a distant cousin of Elizabeth – his ascension as King caused controversy amongst Catholic relatives (leading to Gunpowder Plot). Shakespeare was writing for the theatre during the reigns of two monarchs, Queen Elizabeth I and King James I. The plays he wrote during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, such as ‘A Midsummer Night's Dream’, are often seen to embody the optimistic mood of the Elizabethans. However, those he wrote during James's reign, such as ‘Macbeth’ and ‘Hamlet’, are darker and more cynical, reflecting the insecurities of the Jacobean period. 1040 – ‘Macbeth’ is set in Medieval Scotland 1606 – ‘Macbeth is written in the Jacobean Era The Gunpowder Plot Shakespeare and James I The Divine Right of Kings Certain Catholics (Robert Catesby, Thomas Percy, Guy Fawkes and a few others) turned to terrorism during James I’s Protestant rule, trying to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605. ‘Macbeth’ was written the year after the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 and is considered a piece of propaganda in support of King James – the message of the play: perpetrators of regicide will eventually receive their comeuppance. The conspirators were betrayed, and horribly tortured on the rack until they confessed. They were then executed in the most brutal fashion as a warning to other would-be traitors. Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ wove direct references to the Plot including King James snake/flower medal. Whilst the present Queen claims constitutional impartiality, in the European Middle Ages, the Divine Right of Kings was a dominant concept. The idea claimed that kings were answerable only to God and it was therefore treachery to challenge them. To kill the king (regicide) was to challenge the direct of authority of God and was considered an ‘unforgivable sin’. James I ruled under the notion of ‘the divine right of Kings’. • Shakespeare's play ‘Macbeth’ may be a cautionary tale, warning any other potential regicides (king-killers) of the awful fate for this crime. Macbeth’s victim, King Duncan is presented by Shakespeare as a noble, divinely-appointed ruler. Killing Duncan has catastrophic consequences for Macbeth and Scotland. Duncan could be a representation of James but might also allude to King Edward’s healing the sick: 'such sanctity hath heaven given his hand'. Religious Beliefs Lady Macbeth and Role of Women in Jacobean Society The Real Macbeth Religious thinkers in the Middle Ages had upheld the idea of 'The Great Chain of Being'. This was the belief that God had designed an ordered system for both nature and humankind within which every creature and person had an allotted place. It was considered an offence against God for anyone to try to alter their station in life. In addition, madness was often seen as a moral issue, either a punishment for sin or a test of faith and character. Macbeth was a real 11th century Scottish king, but the historical Macbeth, who had a valid right to the throne, reigning in Scotland from 1040-57. He succeeded Duncan, whom he had defeated in battle, but the real Duncan was weak and a younger ignoble King. In reality, Macbeth was succeeded by his own stepson, not Malcolm, who came to the throne later. Banquo is a mythical figure. Shakespeare found his version of the story of ‘Macbeth’ in the ‘Chronicles of Holinshed’ Jacobean society was patriarchal (much like the majority of Western history). Female characters in Shakespearean tragedies were often passive (Hamlet’s Ophelia submits stating “I shall obey my Lord” and Othello’s Desdemona states “To you I am bound”. However, Lady Macbeth is a cunning, manipulative and dominant woman who is associated with the supernatural. Her introduction in Act 1 Scene 5, subverting submission when she stops reading Macbeth’s letter, criticizes his nature as “too full o’th’milk of human kindness”. This behavior is controversial within the societal confines of a masculine hegemonic era in medieval Scotland. Regardless of her heroism or villainy, she is a radical figure for the era.

9. Macbeth Lady Macbeth King Duncan Banquo Macduff Macbeth is a Scottish general and the Thane of Glamis who is greeted by prophecies from three witches that he will be made Thane of Cawdor. This comes true. He longs to become King and is then tempted into murder (partly by Lady Macbeth) to fulfill his ambitions to the throne. Once he commits his first crime (killing King Duncan), he is crowned King of Scotland. He is brave but not virtuous. Macbeth is courageous on the battlefield but ill-suited to politics, quickly becoming a tyrant. He becomes suspicious of even his close friends like Banquo. His response to every problem is violence and murder. Macbeth is never comfortable in his role as a criminal and this leads to a psychological regression. A Scottish nobleman hostile to Macbeth’s kingship from the start. He eventually becomes a leader of the crusade to unseat Macbeth. The crusade’s mission is to place the rightful king, Malcolm, on the throne, but Macduff also desires vengeance for Macbeth’s murder of Macduff’s wife and young son. Macbeth’s wife, a deeply ambitious woman who lusts for power and position. Early in the play she seems to be the stronger and more ruthless of the two, as she urges her husband to kill Duncan and seize the crown. After the bloodshed begins, Lady Macbeth falls victim to guilt and madness to an even greater degree than her husband. Her conscience affects her to such an extent that she eventually commits suicide. Interestingly, she and Macbeth are presented as being deeply in love, and many of Lady Macbeth’s speeches imply that her influence over her husband is primarily sexual. Their joint alienation from the world, occasioned by their partnership in crime, seems to strengthen the attachment that they feel to each another. The good King of Scotland whom Macbeth, in his ambition for the crown, murders. Duncan is the model of a virtuous, benevolent, and farsighted ruler. His death symbolizes the destruction of an order in Scotland that can be restored only when Duncan’s line, in the person of Malcolm, once more occupies the throne. The brave, noble general whose children, according to the witches’ prophecy, will inherit the Scottish throne. Like Macbeth, Banquo thinks ambitious thoughts, but he does not translate those thoughts into action. In a sense, Banquo’s character stands as a rebuke to Macbeth, since he represents the path Macbeth chose not to take: a path in which ambition need not lead to betrayal and murder. Appropriately, then, it is Banquo’s ghost—and not Duncan’s—that haunts Macbeth. In addition to embodying Macbeth’s guilt for killing Banquo, the ghost also reminds Macbeth that he did not emulate Banquo’s reaction to the witches’ prophecy. KEY CHARACTERS IN ‘MACBETH’ Malcolm -  The son of Duncan, whose restoration to the throne signals Scotland’s return to order following Macbeth’s reign of terror. Malcolm becomes a serious challenge to Macbeth with Macduff’s aid (and the support of England). Prior to this, he appears weak and uncertain of his own power, as when he and Donalbain flee Scotland after their father’s murder. Hecate -  The goddess of witchcraft who works to enact her mischief on Macbeth (one of the three witches). Fleance -  Banquo’s son, who survives Macbeth’s attempt to murder him. At the end of the play, Fleance’s whereabouts are unknown. Presumably, he may come to rule Scotland, fulfilling the witches’ prophecy that Banquo’s sons will sit on the Scottish throne. Macdonwald – Traitor to the King whose army is defeated in battle by Macbeth and executed by King Duncan. Lennox -  A Scottish nobleman. Ross -  A Scottish nobleman. The Murderers -  A group conscripted by Macbeth to murder Banquo, Fleance, Macduff’s family (fails). Porter -  The drunken doorman of Macbeth’s castle. The Three Witches Three “black and midnight hags” who plot mischief against Macbeth using charms, spells, and prophecies. Their predictions prompt him to murder Duncan, to order the deaths of Banquo and his son, and to blindly believe in his own immortality. The play leaves the witches’ true identity unclear—aside from the fact that they are servants of Hecate, we know little about their place in the cosmos. In some ways they resemble the mythological Fates, who impersonally weave the threads of human destiny. They clearly take a perverse delight in using their knowledge of the future to toy with and destroy human beings.

10. Key Terms Glossary

11. PLENARY Is it good, bad or neither having a public persona where your private self is different?