Act 4 Scene 1 MACBETH Flashcards
Summary (1)
-Three witches create a powerfull spela nd prepare to meet Macbeth . Hecat joins them to approve their spell .
-Macbeth then enters and commands them to answer his question .
-He is told three prophecies that he shuld fer Macduff , that he cannot be harmed by anyoen bron of a woman , and tha the is secure until Birnan wood comes to Dunsinane .
Summary (2)
-He then pressesthem for more information abotu Banquo’s offspring , and is shown a vision of eighht kings all desceneded from Banquo , who also appears .
-The witches suddenly vanish and Macbeth curses them . Lennox appears and informs Macbeth that Macduff has fled to England .
-Macbeth determines to kill Macduff’s wife and children .
Why is this scene important ? (1)
-The spells show how unatural the three witches are . Shakespeare offers a revolting level of detail lke ‘toe of frog , eye of newt’.
-Shakespeare potrays Macbeth’s complete confidence in committing evil . He is’ implicit in the sorcery and conjure(s)’ the witches .
Why is this scee important (2)
-We learn that Macduff has fled to England in ordeer to challenge Macbeth .Shakespeare , creates drmaatic tension hby showign that Macduff escapes at the point when Macbeth is in pursuit .
-The irony of the propheciies intensifies , more are given but are double edged , Shakespeare cretes a sense of anticipation with this device .
KEY SETTING ; Thunder
-Whenever the withces appear in Macbeth , theya re accompanied by thunder .
-The distrubance of nature reflects thier evil intentions. HOW DOES SHAKESPEARE HEIGHTEN THE SENSE OF EVIL IN THIS SCENE
Key Character : Macbeth
-In this scene , we see Macbeth descending further into evil . Prior to his arrival , acbeth is described by the withces as ‘something wicked; - not even SOMEONE , Macbeth is one of their kin dnow as rhey do a ‘deed without a name ‘.
Key Character ; Macbeth
-Shakespeare shows that earlier uncertainities have been stripped awy .
-Before , the witches informed Macbeth of the propeheicies , now he demands of thmaand wants to know .
-He even threatens powerful master spritis to cure if they do not answer him .
-When he leaves , there is no more agonisiign then what he needs to do - or discussing the situation with his wife .
-Macduff;s castle is to be attacked . Notice the dpes to which Macbeh has now fallen in deciidng to murder womena dn children without no pity .
EXAM FOCUS ; WRITING ABOUT IRONY
-irony is central to the play . Here the irony is that hte prophecies are all double -edged and turn agaisnt Macbeth .
-Witches say ‘none born of woman shall ahrm Macbeth’ which builds Macbeth’s confidence . However , as we later learn , Macduff ws ‘from his mothers womb untimely ripped .@
-Banquols earlier comment accurately reflects the turh , ‘the instruments of drkness tell us turths / win us with honest trifles , to bey’s in deepst cosnseuquence’
EXAM FOCUS ; writing about irony
These words are prophetic and a condemnation of all that Macbeth comes to believe . Shakespeare has Banquo return once more in this scne (with his eght heirs)( , to mock the stability of Macbeth’s throne .
Mr bruff
this scne furthers the theme of deception and equicocatoin .
-Many of the charcaters wear metaphorical mask and speak half-truths so do the witches .
-At the start of the scne , witches put ll sorts of hideous things inthe culdron , ALMOST an echo of Macbeth’s banquet ,w ehre evrythign gell part , .
Witches creatign very own specil feast which reflect evil that has been commtited so far in the play
Macbeth apporaches the witches
-full of bravado and confidence ,e choing hecates prohecy in act 3 that his overconfidence would bring his downfall.
-Macbeth came looking for reassurance and comfort -witches show thre appartions while seeming to comfort him are double edged , are actulalyd epetive and symptomatic witches pseksing riddles and alf truths .
-Shakespeare showing the apprtions he is signposting importnt details for audience .
First appartin
-Armed head - MB thinks its Macuff , but is actually decpaitiaiotn of Macufdd , He seems thankfullys eeing this .
second apaprtion
is macduff the loody child , no one ho ahsn;t been ‘born of woman’ can hurt him .
-The equiocation here is th apartion Mcduff ‘he was ripped’
-deception ehre reads into the porpoehcy tat he has nothing to fear .
third apaprtion
-malcom . duncans sun , carrying a branch form a trre if birnam wood moves to dunsinane .. obv he believes it is possibel nothign to wroy bout . he feels secucre , and goes away reassured .
-Before leaving order them to show one final vision ,a nd they show eight lines of kings all descendants of Banqo which amkes hims ad cuz its none fo his descendants hwoever Mb sees this and dosent dubt the prohpecis .
killing
-Its obviosu witches are playing with ihim , but his stat of mind dosen’t seme to notice ot care
-So far mb ahs killed a number of poeple , but each mrder one could argue had its purpose before killin d and b he argued hijmself wne throguh THEIR GOOD QUALITIES and then dcidied that murder had to be done .
-HE HWOEVER ,D ECIDED TO KILL lADY mACDUFF WITHOUT COUSNEL , HE SAY HE OWNT DEHSTIAE ‘thE FISTILING OF Y HERT SHALL BE THE FISTLING OF MY HAND .’
