Macbeth Act 1 Scene 1 Analysis

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MACBETH

The classroom analysis (generalized)

(Previous analysis was June holiday homework)

Act1 Scene 1:

1 / 7 /11

A desert place.

The setting of ‘Thunder and lightning’ depicts bad weather, which shows the eerie atmosphere and tense mood. The play opens on a note of noise and disorder, foreboding much evil to come. Witches, who seem to enjoy the chaotic weather, appear to hold alien values and preferences compared to normal men and women.

The mood is sinister, dangerous and ominous; the immediate appearance of the witches starting from the first scene is used to inform readers of the underlying note of darkness.  

The witches speak in riddles, and seem to know Macbeth’s secret desires and are seen as mischievous, otherworldly and evil beings. By saying that the ‘battle’s lost and won’, many meanings emerge, such as the ‘battle’ refers to the fight with         Cawdor and though Macbeth may have ‘won’ against him, he has ‘lost’ a battle to himself, by afterwards caving into the witches’ tempting words.

They seem to refer the dark ‘ere’, which means after, ‘the set of sun’. This hints of their evil natures that seem to relate to their preference of bad weather and dark skies. They decide on the ‘heath’ to meet Macbeth. The rhyming words lead us to think of the ‘heath’, which is a wild and barren place, in relation to Macbeth and his future. This way, we are lead to think that Macbeth’s heart will too, become wild, dry and bare. This is the first meeting between Macbeth and the witches and we can see that they are keen to meet him. We can infer from this fact and what we have learnt about the witches’ that they plan to do him harm. The mention of familiars, ‘Graymalkin’, which is a grey cat and ‘Paddock’ , a toad, continues to inform us of the Witches’ supernatural status, as well as further deepening the theory of ‘evil witches’ as they have chosen to keep strange pets. Back in Shakespeare’s time, people believed that such familiars were actually spirits trapped in the bodies of animals, hence we see the witches as unnatural and demonic in nature.

The next riddle, ‘Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through fog and filthy air.’ Once again the seemingly illogical statement keeps the reader wondering. It could be saying that what appears to be good may not be so and that there is a thin line between good, ‘fair’, and evil, ‘foul’. It could also be warning readers of Macbeth and his deceptive personality, as well as not to take appearances and people’s personalities for granted as nothing is what it seems to be.

Hence, the recurrent theme throughout this scene is the perversion of moral values and the disruption of all thing good, as well as that nothing is to be trusted as appearances are a form of deception.  The witches’ evil is also a dominant theme throughout the scene as their preferences and actions give readers an overwhelming sense of evil and discord. There is an impending sense of disaster from their riddles and the belief that the witches are the embodiments of evil forces and the whole scene prepares the audience for the tragedy to come, as well as giving us a small peak into the future of the play.

MACBETH

The classroom analysis (generalized)

(Previous analysis was June holiday homework)

Act1 Scene 2:

9 / 7 /11

A camp.

The scene starts with King Duncan himself asking an injured captain to report on the latest revolt. The scene serves a purpose of explaining the political situation in Scotland through the onlooker’s eyes. In other words, though the scene does not go directly into the battle zone itself, it still adequately informs the audience of what is going on both outside and inside of the battlefield. It also introduces some important characters, such as King Duncan, Ross, Angus and gives a few mentions of Macbeth and Banquo. Though not as dark and eerie as the previous scene, this scene uses battle scenes and the imagery of blood and gore to further establish a slightly dangerous, gruesome scene. An underlying note of darkness can also be felt throughout the scene, as the use of subtle hints about Macbeth’s future betrayal keep up a sense of foreboding.

The battle is described as ‘two spent swimmers, that do cling together; And choke their art’. This tells us that the battle is very closely fought. No side is given a clear advantage but both sides are determined to keep the other ‘down’ for their own side to survive. The traitor ‘Macdonwald’ is also introduced as the enemy that King Duncan’s men are fighting in this particular battle. ‘And fortune, on his damned quarrel smiling, Show'd like a rebel's whore’, tells us that he at one point had seemed to be winning the battle, considering that ‘fortune’ is on his side. ‘Fortune’ is personified as a prostitute in this scene, giving him favors and such. Shakespeare also refers to ‘fortune’ as a goddess with a distinctly fickle nature that deceives the rebel (Macdonwald) with her smile before abandoning him. Following this predicament, Macbeth displays great courage and determination as he fought valiantly, undaunted by ‘fortune’.  

Because of his bravery and strong will, Macbeth is praised many times throughout the entire Act 1. The very first praise ‘brave Macbeth’, was given to him by the captain, because of his valiance and dauntlessness before Macdonwald. In this scene, Macbeth is constantly shown in a positive light. Multiple praises of him lead to the audience becoming in awe of him, as he appears very impressive. He is also praised as ‘Valor’s minion’. ‘Valor’ being considered as a goddess of valiance and bravery and Macbeth being thought of as a favorite of hers, hence leading to the conclusion that he is a valiant warrior. These praises help to raise suspense throughout the audience as the more in awe and impressed they become, the more they want to meet the glorious hero, Macbeth.

However, even though Macbeth is constantly praised throughout this scene, the overwhelming presence of gore and blood show some character flaws in him as well. Macbeth ‘carved out his passage’ throughout the battlefield and ‘unseam'd [Macdonwald] from the nave to the chaps, And fix'd his head upon our battlements’. ‘Carved out’ gives us the image of constant killings, till a passage is carved out through a wall of men. This savage, sickening imagery is made worse when the image of Macbeth ripping open the rebel from his chin to his navel and then hacking off his head. The gruesome, gory image is the work of Macbeth. Hence, because of his savage kills and brutality of the battles, we can infer that he also has a strong, ruthless and slightly cold-hearted side to him.

The blood and gore plays a large part in the play, as it is later on associated with Macbeth’s murder of King Duncan and his own eventual death. Here, Macbeth’s kills and the shedding of blood are glorified as it done in support of the King. The irony is that later on, Macbeth’s kills and the shedding of blood will be associated to the killing of the King and many other innocents. This scene is also ironical in the sense that Macbeth’s great achievement of killing the rebel will later be the very way he dies; his head will get chopped off.

Hints of the future turn of events continue to appear as the Captain reports of Norway’s immediate attack right after their apparent victory over Macdonwald,  ‘whence the sun 'gins his reflection; Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break, So from that spring whence comfort seem'd to come; Discomfort swells. Mark, king of Scotland, mark’ .  The meaning of this warning is that just as good things happen, bad things occur. This statement, though said with no reference to Macbeth, is immediately linked to him. This is due to Duncan’s praises of Macbeth just before the warning was said, ‘O valiant cousin, worthy gentleman’, hence it can be interpreted as a warning that while Macbeth seems to come across to the other characters as a savior and hero, he may actually end up as the source of all discord and enmity. This makes the audience think twice about Macbeth’s both future and current loyalty and starts off one of the major themes in the play: Appearance and illusions VS reality. What seems honest and beneficial may turn out to be the exact opposite. It also warns the audience of Macbeth’s future deceit and duplicity.

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The battle scene thickens as the Norweyan troops take advantage of their moment of victory to begin a fresh assault on them. Macbeth and Banquo are further praised here for their fearlessness and energy faced with yet another foe. They were said to be as dismayed and afraid as ‘As sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion’, in other words, not afraid at all. The use of nature imagery here are compare them to the eagle, king of the sky, and the lion, king of land, implying them to be very noble and prideful in their fight for their ...

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