Julius Caesar
1. Complete Climax portion of plot diagram (see below).
- In-Class essays returned.
2. Review Act III sc i questions.
3. Read Act III sc ii & iii.
4. Film adaptation of Act III.
*Tomorrow: Review Act III questions; Act III quiz MONDAY*
English 11
Macbeth
1. Finish reading Act I, discuss.
2. Act I Quiz tomorrow.
- "Fair is foul, foul is fair" = ideas of right and wrong will be blurred/turned upside down; appearances will be deceiving (witches' lines are ambiguous)... on a larger scale, this line connotes that Macbeth will be a play about morality and the consequences of crossing the line of ethics
- "What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won." --> Duncan plans to promote Macbeth based on his bravery and loyalty (not to mention ruthless on the battlefield)
- Witches : Fair is/ foul and/ foul is/ fair - Trochaic tetrameter
Macbeth : So foul /and fair /a day /I have/ not seen- Iambic pentameter
- trochaic tetrameter: Shakespeare rarely uses except for supernatural beings, witches, fairies, or the like. In order to bring out the rhyme the last syllable is dropped from the end of each line. In line 2 the rhythm is reversed and the stress falls on the second syllable of each foot. In line 8 the stressed syllable in the third foot is omitted. This forces us to pause in the middle of the line and so secures additional emphasis for the closing word, "Macbeth."
- The witches inform Banquo that while he will not be king, he will father kings. They also say he is
“lesser than Macbeth, and greater,” and “not so happy, yet much happier.” --> paradox; the ideas are seemingly contradictory, yet when put together they have a greater value and deeper meaning. They suggest that Banquo will find his happiness and greatness through means that are different from Macbeth’s, and that Banquo’s happiness and greatness will somehow be more durable, truer. Macbeth will be crowned a king in the immediate future, but Banquo, as the father of future kings, will leave a legacy that will endure.
- (scene iii continued...) Macbeth is trying to make sense of the truths in the witches’ prophecies. They have given him information which is simultaneously great news—Macbeth will advance—but also horrifying news; for Macbeth to be king, Duncan must die. The passage advances the rising action in the play in that it helps
establish the play’s conflict: What Macbeth chooses to do with this information is the basis for the rest
of the drama.
- (scene iv) Macbeth says in an aside, “Stars, hide your fires, / Let not light see my black and deep desires”
revealing his deep ambition to gain the crown. He may feel shame for what he is now considering.
Duncan’s naming Malcolm the Prince of Cumberland means that Malcolm now stands in the way
of Macbeth’s becoming king. He is clearly thinking about Duncan and Malcolm as obstacles to his
own ascension to the throne.
- (scene v) Macbeth misquotes the witches’ prophecy, telling his wife in a letter that they said, “Hail, King that shalt be!” and not “All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter!” --> Macbeth misquotes the witches in a way that implies they are already referring to him as king. “Hail, King . . .” is very different than “All hail, Macbeth. . . .” Though initially Macbeth felt that he would not intercede in the course of fate, the way he informs Lady Macbeth of the encounters shows that he is impatient, already hearing himself referred to as king. The misquotation suggests that he is considering acting against Duncan.
-(...unsex me here...") Lady Macbeth knows that in order to murder Duncan, she must think and behave callously. She, as well as her society, view kindness and nurturing as feminine traits; she seeks to separate herself from them. Instead, she asks for her blood to be made thick, without “access and passage to remorse”; she asks to be made cold and cruel in order to carry out Duncan’s murder so that Macbeth will become king.
- (scene vi) dramatic irony: Duncan and Banquo find the Macbeths’ castle a welcoming, safe retreat.
- (scene vii) "False face must hide what the false heart doth know." Echoes the witches' lines; refers to appearance vs. reality; the motif of masks, also echoes L. Macbeth's assertion that Macbeth must look as 'innocent as a flower' but be the 'serpent underneath'
