Macbeth Act 1, Scene 5, Act 1, Scene 7 and Act 5, Scene 1 Essays

Macbeth Act 1, Scene 5, Act 1, Scene 7 and Act 5, Scene 1 Essays Macbeth Act 1, Scene 5, Act 1, Scene 7 and Act 5, Scene 1 Paper Macbeth Act 1, Scene 5, Act 1, Scene 7 and Act 5, Scene 1 Paper and this is important because at the beginning of the play, Macbeth was the stronger one hail brave friend. Macbeth doesnt like the idea that he has to turn evil to become king because he realizes that there are serious downsides to the murder. Lady Macbeth uses her power over Macbeth to terrorize him into committing the murder and this once again makes Macbeth feel more and more weak. In Act 1 scene 7, there are two parts, the first one is Macbeths soliloquy, and the second is the conversation between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. In the soliloquy, Macbeth is very negative and sees the act of becoming king in all its glory. He realises that there is a big disadvantage in following what the witches have told him but only vaulting ambition, which oer leaps itself and falls on th other. In the dialogue, Lady Macbeth is bullying him into committing the murder and because at this point Lady Macbeth is the more powerful of the two, she persuades him to kill the king. There is a change in Macbeths decision in both the soliloquy and the dialogue, the change in the soliloquy is when Macbeth says first as his kinsman and his subject, strong both against the deed; then as his host, who against his murderer shut the door not to bear the knife myself because he was going to commit the murder, and now he realizes that killing the king is not right. The change in the dialogue is when Macbeth says, bring forth men children only this is important because just before hand he had persuaded himself not to commit the murder and now he is going to go through with it. It is also important because Lady Macbeth wanted to have a part in the murder but Macbeth says that only men should do what he is about to do. Different people can understand the language in Macbeth in many different ways. Actors, who have to work out how they are going to play their part, need to know when to stress certain words and what they need to be doing. Shakespeare writes in old English and therefore actors in the present day, need to decide how they want their part to be understood by the audience. In the dialogue, Macbeth says to Lady Macbeth if we should fail? and then she says back to him we fail? because different copies of the story are rewritten by different people, the we fail? said by Lady Macbeth can be found written with an exclamation mark at the end of it. The whole of this scene is about regicide and that Macbeth has a lot of pride which means that, even if he knows athat it will be a failure in the future, he is powerless to do anything about it at present b ecause he wants the throne, as he has been told he will get the throne and cant wait for it to come to him. Macbeth knows that he wont be able to keep the fact that hes the murderer a secret for ever, and he tells us this in his soliloquy, but Lady Macbeth in her own wicked way bullies Macbeth into murdering the king. Macbeth is powerless against Lady Macbeth and she uses this to her advantage because anything she says, Macbeth will do. She tells Macbeth that he will come out of this successfully but screw your courage to the sticking-place and well not fail. In Act 5 Scene 1, Lady Macbeths character has transformed. She sleepwalks, and is haunted by the horror of what she and her husband have carried out. A doctor has been called because of her worrying behaviour. She repeatedly tries to clean her hands, as her gentlewoman tells us, and mumbles about the murders, which seem to torture her with guilt. She thinks her hands are still covered with the blood of Duncan, and yet all her attempts to clean them do not remove the blood; Out, damned spot! Out, I say! Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him? All her pleas in Act 1 Scene 5 to the evil spirits havent prevented her from feeling remorse. Her doubts about herself seem to have been justified she has been driven mad by the subsequent events. Again, she makes comments similar to those of Macbeth about the blood on her hands, saying; Heres the smell of blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand, Macbeth says; Will all great Neptunes ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red. Clearly, the guilt felt for Duncans murder, represented by his blood, stays with Lady Macbeth and her husband for the duration of the play, and hangs heavily on their minds. On three occasions during Act 5 Scene 1, Lady Macbeth mentions, in her agitated state, all the murders that Macbeth has carried out. I have already mentioned the comment about Duncans murder (the old man). When remembering the murder of Macduffs family, Lady Macbeth says; The Thane of Fife had a wife: where is she now? She also seems to be petrified that Banquo will rise from the dead to haunt her, and to comfort herself says; Banquos buried; he cannot come out on s grave. Lady Macbeth is evidently plagued by all the murders. When Macbeth says earlier in the play; Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep the innocent sleep. (Act 2 Scene 2), he accurately describes the desperate state of Lady Macbeth in Act 5 Scene 1. Her sleep is not innocent, but simply a time for her brain to re-live the awful events which have passed. Her authentic fear in this scene is a contrast to the anticipation evident in Act 1 Scene 5, where she is willing herself on. Now, she honestly regrets the murders, but knows Whats done cannot be undone. Her true feelings about the murders are revealed and there is no longer a masking of her conscience, as she wanted before. She now has an understanding of the real meanings of good and evil, and feels much guilt. In Act 5 Scene 1, blood is referred to as an evil, horrid liquid, which clings as a constant reminder of murder and death; Heres the smell of blood still. This is unlike in Act 1 Scene 5, where blood is viewed by Lady Macbeth as a driving force behind her and her husbands success; make thick my blood. (Act 1 Scene 5). Perhaps this shift in Lady Macbeths opinion of blood shows how she now realises the true horror of murder, whereas before she had no first-hand experience of it, and therefore mistakenly judged the act lightly. She thought she could cope with the situation, but even with the aid of the supernatural, it is clear that she could not. Before, in Act 1 Scene 5, Lady Macbeth appealed to darkness to mask the murder from her conscience, like a comforter and protector. In Act 5 Scene 1, Lady Macbeth regards darkness as frightening, not as comforting; Hell is murky! This is yet another example of Lady Macbeth being hounded by her guilt; she realises that she is doomed to reside in hell after her death, and darkness is something that reminds her of this terrible fate. The tone of Lady Macbeths speech in Act 5 Scene 1 is completely different to that of Act 1 Scene 5. She mumbles, falling over her words, as if speaking before she has thought. She bears all, and does not worry, or even notice, that the doctor and gentlewoman are there. This is very different to Act 1 Scene 5, where her words are carefully structured and deliberate. The speech of Act 5 Scene 1 has no purpose, whereas in Act 1 Scene 5 it was demanding and insistent. Shakespeare cleverly changes his use of verse form into that of prose for Lady Macbeth, as if she was an inferior part in the play. This use of prose shows the audience she is rambling, illogical and mad now. Her words in Act 5 Scene 1 flow as in a train of thought, and phrases are repeated many times, to emphasise her madness; Come, come, come, come, give me your hand. Sentences are left unfinished and often make no sense; One; two: why, then tis time to do t. The doctor makes a very appropriate comment at the end of this scene; Unnatural deeds do breed unnatural troubles; infected minds to their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets. More needs she the divine than physician. In other words, Lady Macbeths invocation of the supernatural (unnatural) spirits, and her husbands evil actions, have caused her to go mad (infected minds). The doctor admits he cannot help. At the beginning, Lady Macbeth finds strength from the supernatural to entice Macbeth to murder Duncan and to go through with the murder herself. As time advances though, her pretended strength diminishes as she fights the torments of her conscience. Lady Macbeths attempts to suppress her conscience fail, and blame engulfs and destabilizes her. In the end, she chooses death because she can no longer bear the torments of her guilt. The dramatic transformation of such a pivotal character adds suspense to the play, and also delivers a moral message to the audience (which included King James I, who had a personal interest in witchcraft); that the pursuit of witchcraft, murder and evildoing can only lead to downfall. It also reveals a slightly different view of the fiend-like queen, showing us that she feels remorse, and is defenceless to it, like any other person. In the 16th century the audience was not like it is today. People in general believed in witches. It was thought that they were a real presence. Magic was a common subject and quite normal. However, witches were also thought to be evil and were therefore killed. An example of this was The Witch Trials where James I executed hundreds of young women because they were thought to be witches. However, in the 21st century, there is a completely different concept of witches. Magic is no longer believed in. therefore, witches are now an aspect of fiction. Any outside influence that cannot be explained is not said to be magic or luck, it is explained to us by psychiatrists to be some kind of phenomena of the human mind. This means basically that it is of our own imaginations. In conclusion, the ways that the scenes would be presented to an Elizabethan audience are very realistic and scary. By scary, I mean that as the Elizabethans believed in witches, they feared them. So, when I present the witches and their familiars, it would be scary to this audience. However, this varies greatly from the way in which I would present the scenes to a contemporary audience. This being that everything is presented on a sub-conscious level. This is more acceptable to the society of today. Anything that is not quickly explained away is a threat to the stability of our society. If a seemingly abnormal occurrence cannot be explained as some kind of experience, people begin to feel at risk and scared. This feeling of insecurity has always been covered up through the different eras by different beliefs and commonly accepted ideas. If there were not a solid belief, we would be thrown into chaos and confusion. Everyone would question everything and life would become very frantic. Just as it does in the final scenes of Macbeth-when he dies.