Analyse Macbeth

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Macbeth

Hello today I am going to analyse the play Macbeth, which was one of many great plays William Shakespeare had written, such as, Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet. People know Shakespeare because of his great plays and sadly because of his appalling handwriting and spelling. Shakespeare had written 38 plays and 154 sonnets.

The play of ‘Macbeth’ was a tragedy and some romance. ‘Macbeth’ was set in Scotland. Shakespeare had set it in Scotland because the king gets killed, hence if he had set it in England then he would get into trouble by the monarch because he would be sending the wrong message about the king to the audience.

Shakespeare had tried to start his play with something interesting. This is because; in Shakespeare’s time the audience in the theatre could go in or out whenever they wanted, however Shakespeare wanted them to stay and watch all of his play. Furthermore if the audience did not enjoy the play then they would throw rotten food at the actors. So to attract the audience and keep they interested, Shakespeare had used three witches, he used this because people believed in witches at that time.

Macbeth is a loyal soldier for his king Duncan and a warrior for his country Scotland, in the beginning the play it shows Macbeth leading and winning the war against the Norwegians. Macbeth is currently the thane of Glamis. After the war, while Macbeth and Banquo are celebrating winning the war, they come across three ugly witches. The witches make three prophecies which are:

●Macbeth will be thane of Cawdor

●Macbeth will become king of Scotland

●Banquo’s sons will become king

Banquo and Macbeth don’t believe it at first but after the witches leave two men come to send a message to Macbeth from the king which was that Macbeth is now thane of Cawdor as a reward for fighting gallantly. This makes Macbeth believe in the witches because the first prophecy had come true. Here Macbeth has a small soliloquy. Macbeth afterwards informs his wife about the supernatural encounter with the witches. When lady Macbeth finds out about the witches prophecies she immediately tell Macbeth the only way to become king is to kill Duncan. Macbeth is unsure at first and takes time to think about it. Banquo becomes suspicious about Macbeth so he asks him if he is thinking about the witches, but Macbeth ingeniously replies no. After Banquo leaves, Macbeth has a famous soliloquy called the “dagger of the mind”. This soliloquy convinces Macbeth to murder Duncan. Macbeth uses a dagger to stab Duncan.

Ducan’s son, Malcolm, who is next in line to become king, flees the country fearing for his life. This make Macbeth king of Scotland. The result of killing Duncan makes Macbeth very conscious and nervous so he sends assassins to kill Banquo and his son because he thinks Banquo knows he has killed Duncan, and thus cancelling out the witches’ third prophecy. However Macbeths plan was only half done because Fleance had escaped. Lady Macbeth commits suicide when she can see imaginary blood on her hands. When Macbeth finds out about her death he replies by saying “I wish she died another time, so I could have time to grieve for her”. This shows that Macbeth has become heartless. Macbeth gains even more confidence when the witches say that he cannot be killed by a man woman born. While Macduff was in exile in England Macbeth killed all of his family. Enraged by this Macduff joins the English army and starts a war against Scotland. Macduff has a fight with Macbeth. Macbeth tells Macduff that he cannot be killed by a person woman born. Just before Macduff strikes the final blow he replies saying that he was born differently and then beheads Macbeth. This is why it is a tragedy because the main characters die. In the play Macbeth changes from a heroic warrior into a heartless power hungry madman.

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In this presentation I will be analysing two major scenes, act 2 scene 1 and act 2 scene 2.

Act 2 scene 1 starts out with Banquo entering the court of Macbeths castle with his son Fleance. Fleance says “the moon is down; I have not heard the moon. A dark and gloomy atmosphere is created in their speech because it the night and they are holding torches. Banquo also states that he cannot sleep because he is scared of having nightmares and hence asks the heavens to stop nightmares going into his brain.

Banquo asks for ...

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