Macbeth Act 1

Setting
Away from societies rules and traditions.
The natural order is upset (lightning).
Weather is too hostile for Man "Fog and filthy air"

Structure
Set at the end of a conversation - secrecy.
Rhyming couplets - Sense of incantation and magic
Trochaic Tetrameter - 4 syllables stressed then unstressed (reverse of Iambic Pent.)

Context
Jacobean audience - Witches are a traitor to the natural order.

Other Quotes
"Battle's lost and won" "Fair is foul, and foul is fair": Paradox that only witches understand (Secrecy). Shows appearance vs reality.

"Anon!": Imperative - controlling

Gothic

• "What bloody man is that" - unrecognisable
• "Worthy Gentleman!" - Bloodshed celebrated

Macbeth

• "For brave Macbeth" - Focus placed on Macbeth's loyalty, the audience wants to meet him.
• Military alarum (similar to angels trumpets) emphasise contrast in order from S1 (royal authority)
• Banquo described as brave as Macbeth but he is overlooked.

Irony

• "What he hath lost, Noble Macbeth hath won" -  similar to S1, the connection between MB and witches. Irony and foreshadowing - Macbeth is replacing a traitor
• Dramatic irony - Macbeth doesn't know he is to be thane, engages the audience.

Witches vs Macbeth 

• Macbeth's first line: "So foul and fair a day I have not seen" - similar to witches 
• "Speak, I charge you." - Witches ignore his command, reversal of power. He has no control over his own destiny.
• When Macbeth is told he is Thane of Cawdor he has to choose if it is destiny or if he has to act.

Macbeth and Banquo

• "Seem to fear things that sound so fair" - Macbeth has thought of being King before: Guilt.
• Macbeth asides to Banquo - Conspiracy

Context

• "Wyrd Sisters" - Controlling man's destiny (Anglo-Saxon)
• James I - Demonology

Macbeth

• Emphasis on "Loyalty" and "Your highness" - Obedience rather than warmth.
• Dramatic irony as Macbeth takes on Traitors role - destiny for Duncan to die.

Duncan

• Duncan Names Malcolm his successor despite praising Macbeth. 
• "Let light not see my black and deep desires" - Secrecy, Appearance vs reality.

Lady Macbeth and the Martial Relationship

• Soliloquy criticising Macbeth. Thinks Macbeth's kindness is a weakness like the witches. She takes control to help him "Wouldst not play false, and yet wouldst wrongly win" 

• A messenger appears as if she commanded him. Starts the 'Unsex me' monologue (to spirits). Imperative against spirits - in control.

• She greets Macbeth, like the witches, by praising him rather than showing affection. She takes control by dominating the conversation and uses rhetoric to manipulate Macbeth. She is the 4th witch.

• "Look like th' innocent flower, but be the serpent under't" - Appearance vs reality. Lady Macbeth is actively planning the murder rather than Macbeth who is leaving it to chance

Irony

• Banquo mentions "Temple-haunting martlet" - Housemartins are meant to nest where love is present.
• Duncan compliments the castle and it's 'pleasant' atmosphere.
• Macbeth is preparing for Duncan's murder, not his reception.
• Lady Macbeth's 'pleasant exchange' and repetition of 'host' alienates her from the audience. (She is using her own advice - 'Look like the innocent flower')

Context

• James I was a patron of Shakespeare's company - Murder is an act against god
• 'Divine right of Kings' - King appointed by God and killing him is a sacrilegious act. Monarch subjected to no authority from Earth.

Soliloquy
"If it were done, when 'tis done[...] / It were done quickly" - Already feeling guilty, considering consequences that follow
"Plague the inventor" - Someone could murder him if he becomes king
Speech shows foreshadowing and that he fears divine punishment (Context)
"no spur" - No reason for him to do this. Talks himself out of it.

Lady Macbeth

• Immediately comes in after his speech. She attacks him from being a coward - comparing him to a cat proverb (simile). She challenges his masculinity, saying she could do it.
• Macbeth has considered regicide but has never said it, yet she compares him to a beast for coming up with it. 
• "all that may become a man" - He considers masculinity based on honour 
• "False face" - Repeating what his wife said.
• "[...] fairest show / [...] heart doth know" - Couplet, he is enchanted.
  
• She is persuasive and manipulative - To blame for the events that follow