Literature | High school » Laura Cole - Macbeth Study Guide

Macbeth Study Guide Compiled by Laura Cole, Director of Education and Training Laura@ShakespeareTavern.com For The Atlanta Shakespeare Company at The New American Shakespeare Tavern 499 Peachtree St. NE, Atlanta, GA 30308 Phone: 404-874-5299 www.shakespearetaverncom Duncan: King of Scotland. He “hath been so clear in his great office”. Murdered Malcolm & Donalbain: Sons to Duncan Lenox, Angus, Menteth, Ross, Cathness: Thanes of Scotland, warriors all. Original Practice and Playing Shakespeare The Shakespeare Tavern on Peachtree Street is an Original Practice Playhouse. Original Practice is the active exploration and implementation of Elizabethan stagecraft and acting techniques. For the Atlanta Shakespeare Company (ASC) at The New American Shakespeare Tavern this means every ASC production features hand-made period costumes, live, actor-generated sound effects, and live period music performed on period instruments in our Elizabethan playhouse. Our casts are trained to speak

directly to the audience instead of ignoring the audience through the modern convention of acting with a “4th wall.” You will experience all of this and more when you see ASC’s Macbeth. Who’s Who in Macbeth The 3 Weird Sisters: Witches, “secret, black and midnight hags,” they appear to Macbeth several times. Macbeth: Thane of Glamis, Cawdor and later King of Scotland. A brave warrior and later, Regicide*. “Hell Hound” Banquo: Thane (lord) also, battle companion of Macbeth, in vanquishing the traitor Macdonwald. Murdered Macbeth’s Lady: Macbeth’s wife and “partner in greatness”. Described as “fiend-like Queen” Macduff: Thane of Fife, “child of integrity” and “from his mother’s womb untimely ript” Macduff’s Lady: Macduff’s wife, the “poor wren” who “will fight, her young ones in her nest, against the owl”. Murdered Young Macduff: Macduff’s son, “Fathered, and yet he’s fatherless” Murdered. Fleance: Banquo’s son. He “flees”

The Porter at Macbeth’s Castle: Servant in Macbeth’s Castle. He has some choice words for sinners in Hell. The Bloody Captain: He witnesses Macbeth’s prowess on the battlefield at the start of the play. Hecat: “Mistris of Charmes” and a Goddess of the Underworld. 3 Murderers: “Hounds, Mungrels, Curres, Demywolves”. Siward: Earl of Northumberland, who brings 10,000 men to Malcolm’s fight against Macbeth for the Throne of Scotland. Young Siward: Siward’s son, “born of Woman”. Seyton: Macbeth’s servant. He brings sad news of Macbeth’s Lady. A Scottish Doctor and a Gentlewoman: They “have seen what they should not”. Servants, Messengers, Lords, Soldiers *Regicide: one who kills a king/the killing of a king. Macbeth Study Guide page 2 The Story Three Weird Sisters appear on a heath in Scotland while a battle rages. King Duncan of Scotland hears from a bloody Captain how his Generals, Macbeth and Banquo, have defeated the traitorous Thane of Cawdor,

Macdonwald, and the Norwegian King Sweno. He resolves to bestow Cawdor’s Thaneship on “brave” Macbeth who fought “with Brandisht Steel, Which smoked with bloody execution”. Macbeth and Banquo, traveling to Soris, encounter the 3 Sisters. They all hail Macbeth as Thane of Glamis (which he is already), Cawdor (which he is not) and as “King that shalt be”. Banquo they hail as “lesser than Macbeth and greater”. They vanish into thin air, and Ross appears, to greet Macbeth with the new title Thane of Cawdor. All three travel on to meet with King Duncan at Soris. King Duncan, overjoyed at the great victory, rewards Macbeth and Banquo and names his oldest son, Malcolm, as his heir. He invites himself to Macbeth’s Castle to feast and visit after the victory. Macbeth promises to travel ahead of the King to tell his wife of their arrival. Our scene shifts to Macbeth’s Castle, where his wife awaits her husband’s arrival. From her we learn some of Macbeth’s true nature.

He “would’st not play false and yet, would wrongly win”. She calls on Spirits to “unsex me here” and fill her “top-full of direst cruelty”. She is determined to help Macbeth achieve what the Witches promised him. King Duncan arrives at the Castle and is warmly welcomed by the Macbeths. During the feast that night, Macbeth has second thoughts, and his Lady must use all her whiles to convince him that Regicide is the only way to get what they both want. The bloody deed is done finally, and again, Macbeth is conscience stricken over the terrible crime- not just of Regicide but the betrayal of Guest Privilege. The next morning Macduff, Thane of Fife, arrives to travel on with Duncan, and discovers the grisly murder. The whole Castle is roused and Duncan’s sons, Malcolm and Donalbain, immediately resolve to travel to England and Ireland, respectively, to escape certain murder themselves. Banquo suspects treason. The Witches had proclaimed his future heirs as Kings, and not

Macbeth’s line. He is the next to be waylaid and murdered on Macbeth’s orders. His son Fleance escapes the attack. Macbeth, now King, dines with his Lords in celebration. He makes a show of waiting for the murdered Banquo and is horrified when his dead friend’s ghost appears to him at the feast. His Lady covers for his bizarre behavior, and everyone retires for the night. The Witches are chastised by Hecat, their Mistress, for trafficking with Macbeth. She promises to use her stronger magic to show Macbeth his destiny the next day. Macbeth meets the Witches once more, and they show him apparitions who prophesy many unusual things. They tell him that he need not fear any man born of woman and that he will not be defeated till Birnam Forest comes to Dunsinane, his Castle. The witches disappear, and Lenox enters with news of Macduff’s escape to England. Macbeth orders the slaughter of Macduff’s wife, children and servants. Malcolm and Macduff are in England bemoaning the sad

state of tyranny in Scotland. Malcolm tests Macduff’s honesty and loyalty very cruelly. Macduff passes the test, and Ross enters, bearing news of Scotland. He also reluctantly tells Macduff of his family’s slaughter. Macduff, full of pain and grief, vows to confront the murdering King upon his return to Scotland. Macbeth’s Lady has begun sleepwalking and her gentlewoman has called a Doctor in to observe her strange behavior. He suspects the worst when the Lady cannot stop washing her hands and cries out “will these hands ne’re be clean?” Macbeth Study Guide page 3 Macbeth has lost all fear and perhaps all reason, judging that the Witches prophecies will hold true, and no one can harm him. He begins to rant and violently oppose all who try to reason with him. Malcolm, meanwhile, has returned to Scotland with Macduff, Siward and 10,000 men, to oust Macbeth from his throne. Malcolm has his men cut down branches in Birnam Wood, to disguise the true numbers of his force, and

they begin a march to Macbeth’s Castle, Dunsinane. Macbeth’s Lady kills herself, and Macbeth prepares for battle when a messenger enters and reports that Birnam Wood is indeed coming to Dunsinane Hill. Malcolm’s army gradually overwhelms Macbeth’s forces. Macduff comes upon Macbeth, and the final fight begins. Macduff kills Macbeth and brings his head, aloft on a pike, to Malcolm. Malcolm proclaims his right to the throne and invites his new-created Earls, the first that Scotland has ever seen, to Scone to see him crowned King of Scotland. Before a Performance, Think About This: Find out what the typical Elizabethan audience was like and imagine what a performance might have been like back then. What is different about theatre going nowadays? The answers may surprise you! Clue: What would this play be like to watch outside, in the light of day? During a Performance, Watch And Listen For This: Duncan in the beginning of the play honors Macbeth, and yet Macbeth immediately

feels threatened by Malcolm being named his father’s heir. Listen and watch for Macbeth’s line “that is a step, on which I must fall down, or else o’re-leap, for in my way it lies”. What does he mean? Lady Macbeth drugs the drinks of the grooms and lays daggers ready for Macbeth to use against Duncan. She also finishes the deed. Listen and watch for her lines about what Duncan looked like as he slept. Macduff is disappointed when Malcolm reveals his inner thoughts in England because those thoughts seem truly awful. Listen and watch for Malcolm’s list of apparent sins. The Happy Couple: Are the Macbeth’s happily married? Do they love each other? Can you find lines of text that indicate what their relationship may be like? How could you play the text to make them either happily or unhappily married? Does their relationship change during the course of the play? Physical Actions Revealed: Suit the deed to the word, the word to the deed. Where are there examples of the text

itself telling the reader what the physical action on stage should be? Example: “Turn Hellhound, Turn” Act V, Scene vii or “My hands are of your color”Act II, Scene ii Theatergoing Then and Now: Macduff was “not of woman born” which means he was born by Caesarean Section. Listen and watch for Macbeth’s reaction to this revelation. After a Performance, Talk About This: Violence: How does violence play a role in Macbeth? How do the fights and bloodshed add to the telling of the story? Do you understand more of what happens on stage? How does stage violence compare to TV or movie violence? How does it compare to real life violence? Macbeth Study Guide page 4 Original Practice Theatre: Does directly addressing the audience affect what you think and feel about the characters? Does it affect your understanding of what is going on onstage? Does it interfere? Why do you think Shakespeare wrote his plays this way? What are the benefits to the actor and/or audience? What are

the risks? Words Invented by Shakespeare and Used for the First Time in this Play: Assassination Champion Cow Drug Impeded Stealthy Unreal Vaulting Find for yourself where they appear in the play! Can you spot them in performance? Do they mean what you thought they meant? Staging In Shakespeare’s Theatres by Andrew Gurr and Mariko Ichikawa Shakespeare A to Z by Charles Boyce Our performance text is: The Applause First Folio of Shakespeare in Modern Type, Neil Freeman For more information on the First Folio of Shakespeare go to: http://web.uvicca/shakespeare/Annex/Draft Txt/index.html Movie Versions: Scotland, PA. 2001 Directed by Billy Morissette. Rated R Set in 1975, in a diner called “Duncan’s”. The bloody couple murder their employer and take over his diner. A detective named McDuff comes in to investigate. Macbeth, 1981. TV version with Jeremy Brett and Piper Laurie- Follows text closely. Macbeth, 1979. TV- Ian McKellen and Judy Dench. Truly great actors and directed by

Trevor Nunn, a legendary stage director. Throne Of Blood, 1957. Akira Kurosawa’s masterful retelling of Macbeth set in Feudal Japan. Starring Toshiro Mifune Definitions of Words Invented for Macbeth: For Further Information/Exploration: Websites: Assassination: the murder of an unusually prominent person Mr. William Shakespeare and The Internet: http://shakespeare.palomaredu/- This site contains excellent resources and is a great metasite. Champion: to challenge or defy, to uphold or support The Shakespeare Globe Centre USA: http://www.shakespeareglobeusaorg/ Drug: to administer a drug, to affect with a narcotic Books: Impeded: to block or hinder, to slow Macbeth, New Penguin Edition The Elizabethan World Picture by E.MW Tilyard Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human by Harold Bloom Asimov’s Guide to Shakespeare by Isaac Asimov Cow: to intimidate Stealthy: moving or acting furtively; secret Unreal: fantastic or illusory Vaulting: reaching for the height