MacbethAct 4 Scene 1 - Task: Explain the significance of the scene in the play as a whole

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Amrita Bharara

Coursework on Shakespeare’s Macbeth

Act 4 Scene 1

Task: Explain the significance of the scene in the play as a whole 

Macbeth is a well-known play written by Shakespeare in the early 1600s.  The main theme of the play is the downfall of a noble hero and how he turns into a bloodthirsty murderer after being misled by the witches.  The witches equivocated the truth to Macbeth to make him believe that he had the power to become King.  This brought to light a flaw in his character as he turned into a traitor and murderer with the help of the witches who were plotting against him from the beginning and also with the help of Lady Macbeth just to fulfill his ambition.  We can tell that Macbeth is easily manipulated especially by what the apparitions say to him in Act 4 scene 1.

This scene is significant in the play as it forms the basis of Macbeth’s weakness.  Throughout the play, we see that the witches do not exactly lie to Macbeth, they tell him the truth but the way they say it is to mislead him into believing something else, as they are very scheming and conniving. Hecate’s plan was to make Macbeth feel secure and confident about his character:

        “…Shall draw him on to his confusion.

        He shall spurn fate, scorn death, and bear

        His hopes ‘bove wisdom, grace and fear.

        And you all know, security

        Is mortals’ chiefest enemy.”

Macbeth’s thoughts towards the apparitions were that he was invincible and that no one could touch him.  The reason he thought this was due to the way Hecate and the witches had made him feel about his character, which was that he felt over-confident about himself and that he thought of himself as invincible.  Now that Macbeth is confident about himself, we see that he doesn’t doubt the witches and in this scene, he goes back to them for more information and this is when he sees the apparitions and believes them fully.  The first apparition says “Beware Macduff” so Macbeth is prepared to make risks and sets off to kill Macduffs family.  By this point of the play, we know that Macbeth has fallen into the trap of the witches plan.  He already thinks that he is invincible and he is reinforced of this when the second apparition says, “For none of woman born shall harm Macbeth” but he is yet to find out that Macduff was born by cesarean.  The third apparition says “Mabeth shall never vanquished be until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane hill shall come against him”, which makes Macbeth more confident as he thinks that could never happen.  These apparitions manipulate Macbeths thoughts and actions as the witches have previously prepared his character to believe anything by making him feel secure and more confident then he already was.  The scene also presents a procession of eight Kings and Banquos ghost which gets Mabeth a little angry as he doesn’t fancy seeing Banquo’s ghost.  Without this scene, Macbeth would not think he’s invincible and would not be prepared to kill Macduffs family by the misleading of the apparitions.

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This scene develops our understanding of the characters of Macbeth and the witches.  Opening the scene, the witches are presented as scheming and evil as they are shown around a cauldron brewing a potion.  This encourages an audience to respond by believing that the witches are evil but another reason that the audience thinks this is because of the words Shakespeare uses to present the witches e.g. the type of things they say when doing spells or conjuring potions “Double, double toil and trouble, Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

This reinforces our earlier response that the withes were ...

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