*Click on the individual image to access the website based upon the author's work

Index: Main Home | Movies | The Odyssey | Electra | Oedipus | Aeneid | Canterbury Tales  | Macbeth | Hamlet | Shakespeare's Sonnets |

| A Woman Killed With Kindness| Tartuffe | Mary Stuart The Mill on The Floss  | Dubliners | Movies |

| To the Lighthouse | Wuthering Heights | Art Gallery | Poetry | Literary Moment | About Us

 

Macbeth

Act I

Act II

Act III

Act IV

Act V

Macbeth Newsletter

Resources:

Elizabethan Time

Globe Theater

E-Text

Bibliography

Macbeth Act V

 Summary Act V  Scene 1, 2, 3  Scene 4, 5, 6, 7 | Glossary Act V | Quotes Act V | Interpretations |

 Questions & Analysis | Quiz |Journals | Creative Writings | Critical Analysis |

 Illustrations & Bibliography

 

Summary
-By Xi Cao & Hang Chun Ke

Summary for Act V, Scene 1, 2, and 3

Lady Macbeth was "ailing". Her doctor and servant perceived that she was mentally illness but no physically. Because of killing King Duncan and Banquo, her camouflage of cruelty finally disintegrated by these bed deeds. Lady Macbeth, a woman filled with ambitious, because of "helping" her husband to take over the regality, she must hid her trepidation of killing people that hurdle Macbeth to the kingship. After she became queen, the consternation of doing bad things became deeper and deeper in her mind. She was showing her infirmity during the time she is ill, for example: "…here’s the smell of the blood still./All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand." Actually, the smell or the stain of blood has gone. But Lady Macbeth’ sleepwalking shows that the stain of blood is stayed in her heart and her distress. 
Regardless how Lady Macbeth attempted to alleviate her fear and guilt. Her speeches in this scene betrayed her.  Lady Macbeth's tone in previous acts had been eloquent and smooth.  In contrast, her tone in Act V was choppy.  It was disturbed by her mind, she couldn't speak eloquently.  Lady Macbeth’s will of surviving had decreased.  Finally, she was dead. Her brave was defeated by her fear.


Summary for Act V, Scene 4, 5, 6, and 7

Malcolm and Macduff began their retaliation to the devil Macbeth by leading thousands of hundreds soldiers to the Castle of Dunsinane.  Macbeth, in this crucial moment, perceived the abject ending for himself.  He cognized that three apparition’s proviso of their augury came true. Great Birham Wood was approaching Dunsinane Hill and Macduff, who was aspired to kill Macbeth, was not "born" from woman, he was out of his mother’s womb when he was untimely ripped.

Macbeth noticed that The Three Witches and the three apparitions' omens to Macbeth always had double meanings which concealing the complex reality within a framework that seems simple, "Accursed be that tongue that tells me so,/ for it hath cow'd my better part of man!  And be these juggling fiends no more believed,/ that palter with us in a double sense..."  When Macbeth understood he must end up with failure, his chagrin overthrew his optimistic mind. Macbeth knew it was the time for people’s avengement by the hands of Macduff and retribution.

In the battle with Macduff, Macbeth showed his fortitude toward death, "I will not yield,/to kiss the ground before young Malcolm's feet,/ and to be baited with the rabble's curse./  Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane,/ and thou opposed,/ being of no woman born,/ yet I will try the last./ Before my body I throw my warlike shield./ Lay on, Macduff, and damn'd be him that first cries,/ 'Hold,/enough!"  Macbeth died under Macduff's victory dagger, and Malcolm, King Duncan's son finally inherited his deceased father's crown.

Go To The Top




Act V Glossary


physic:   medicine
watched:   stayed awake
walked:   i.e., walked in her sleep
nightgown:   dressing gown
close:   hidden
accustomed:   customary, usual
mark:   hear, notice
mar all:   upset everything
this starting:   these starts
go to:   for shame
dignity:   worth
divine:   minster or priest
mated:   stupefied
on’s:   of his
dear:   deeply felt; also, grievous, dire
unrough:  unbearded, smooth-faced
protest:   assert
distempered:   diseased and swollen
pestered:   infested; obstructed; overcrowded
weal:   state, commonwealth
pour…us:   i.e., pour out every drop of our blood in purging our country
taint:   become tainted
disseat:   unseat, dethrone
oblivious:  i.e., causing oblivion
dispatch:   make haste
bane:   destruction
nothing:   not at all
shadow:   conceal
host:  army
certain issue strokes must arbitate:   i.e., the definite outcome must be decided by blows
owe:   own, possess
ague:   pestilence
forced:   reinforced; also, perhaps, stuffed
met them:   i.e., in the field, in open battle
start:   startle
petty:   slow, insignificant
recorded time:   i.e., recordable time
Direness:  horror
cling:   with, shrink
pull in:   i.e., rein in
doubt:   suspecy
undone:   destroyed
alarum bell:   the bell that calls to arms
harness:   i.e., armor
uncle:   addressed to Siward
harbingers:   announcers, forerunners
title:   name
prove:   challenge, test
kerns:   i.e., hired soldiers
staves:   weapons
undeeded:   i.e., unused
gently rendered:   surrendered without a fight
itself professes:   announces itself
my betterpart of man:   the better part of my manhood
palter…senses:   trick us by using word ambiguously
unshrinking…fought:   where he fought steadfastly, refusing to give ground
compassed…pearl:   surrounded by the most choice subjects of your kingdom
reckon…even with you:   make an accounting of the love each of you has shown, and discharge my debt to you
which…times:   which should be done immediately in this new era
producing…ministers:   bringing forth the agents
self and violent hands:   her own violent hands

Go To The Top

        Thanks for Macbeth, published by Folger Shakespeare Library providing the resources




Famous Quotes From Macbeth Act V


"Out, damned spot, out, I say!"
                                        -By Lady Macbeth (Act V, Scene 1)
"All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand."
                                        -By Lady Macbeth (Act V, Scene 1)
"What’s done cannot be undone."
                                        -By Lady Macbeth (Act V, Scene 1)
"I have lived long enough. My way of life is fall’n into the sere, the yellow leaf…"
                                        -By Macbeth (Act V, Scene 3)
"Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased…?"
                                        -By Macbeth (Act V, Scene 3)
"I have supped full with horrors."
                                        -By Macbeth (Act V, Scene 5)
"Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow…"
                                        -By Macbeth (Act V, Scene 5)
"Lay on, Macduff, and damned be him that first cries ‘Hold! Enough!"
                                        -By Macbeth (Act V, Scene 8)

Go To The Top





Creative Writings
-By Xi Cao

 

1) A Diary from Macduff

March 12, 1603
England
Cloudy Day

Country First or Family First?

I feel ambivalent for my family and my country. These two things are all paramount in my lifetime. I can’t determine which one is more significant for me. Right now I am tearing into two parts, one for my wife and son, one for my citizens. When I faced to my family I can’t forget my suffering citizens under the despot-Macbeth. When I faced my country, my decorous wife and arch, bright son would appear in my suppressed mind.  

Oh, god! Please help me, let me become two identical individuals, one for my "big menage," one for my "small home". But my hope did not come true. I am lacerating with myself incessantly. I choose my country indubitably, there were hundreds of thousands people waiting me to rescue them from the hell. Sorry! My wife and son, I need to carry my mission on, I know my leaving will put you in danger, so raise your fortitude and plucky spirit, wait for you husband and father come back to stay with you forever...

Go To The Top



2) Examples and Interpretations of  Ten Literary Elements from Macbeth


Literary Elements

Examples

Interpretations

From (Text)

Metaphor "Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown and put a barren scepter in my grip." On my head they placed a sterile crown and in my hand I hold a seedless scepter. Act III, Scene 1 Line 62 to 63
Irony "Duncan is in his grave; after life’s fitful fever he sleeps well, treason has done his worst; nor steel, nor poison…nothing can touch him anymore." Duncan is in his grave. After an eventful life he sleeps peacefully. Treason has done its worst. Neither sword, nor poison, nor revolutions in this land, nor foreign foes can touch him now. Act III, Scene 2
Line 24 to 28
Hyperbole "With twenty trenched gashes on his head, the least a death to nature." Lying in a ditch with twenty trench-like gashes in his head. Even the least of them would have been fatal. Act III, Scene 4 Line 27 to 28
Simile "Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear, the armed rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan tiger." Approach me like a Russian bear, a horned rhinoceros or a fierce tiger. Act III, Scene 4 Line 101 to 102
Personification "Stones have been known to move, and trees to speak." Gravestones have been move, and trees to speak. Act III, Scene 4 Line 124
Rhythm "And the crow makes wing to the rooky wood; good things of day begin to droop and drowse…thoy marvel’st at my words, but hold thee still. Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill." The good things of the day begin to droop and feel drowsy while the night’s black agents prepare to hunt their prey. You marvel at my words! But there’s more: ‘Things with a bad beginning only get stronger with more of the same. Act III, Scene 2 Line 54 to 58
Figurative speech "Whose heavy hand hath bowed you to the grave…" When his tyranny has bent you to the grave… Act III, Scene 1 Line 90
Symbolic "I am in blood stepped in so far that…" I am in the river of blood… Act III, Scene 5 Line 137 to 138
Repetition "O, treachery! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly!" Treachery! Run, Fleance, run, run, run. Act III, Scene 3 Line 22
Image "We have scorched the snake, not killed it. She’ll close and be herself, whilst our poor malice remains in danger of her former tooth…" We scorched the snake, but didn’t kill it. It will come back and give us its requital. Act III, Scene 2 Line 15 to 17

Go To The Top

 

Critical Analysis

-By Xi Cao

 

Critical Analysis- Supernatural power or ambition that dominates Macbeth's decisions?

Macbeth, from a venerable hero of Scotland to a notorious villain, does supernatural power, or Macbeth’s ambition dominates his decision? In fact they both make effects, as well as other factors.

Supernatural power "insinuated" Macbeth to approach his goal. At the beginning, Macbeth met the Weird Sisters; their prophecy, which declared that he would become the King of Cawdor, roused his sunken aspiration of becoming a king.  At this moment, supernatural power let Macbeth’s ambition triumphs his probity in order to make he achieves his mandated regality venomously.  When Macbeth nominated two of his murders to kill Banquo, there was third murderer appeared to help the two murderers to kill Banquo. This third murder was considered as supernatural power, which helped Macbeth achieved his contemplative murdering.

The witches led Macbeth to a tragic road, it was architected by The Three Witches, but also by Macbeth's own aspiration of the kingship.  Macbeth’s ambition was the most significant fact that made him a contemptible villain.  It took away his fame and destructed his reputation.  If he has no ambition to become a king, he would be apathetic about the kingship and considered the Three Witches’s prophecy as a blather or gibberish. However, Macbeth had the ambition, it was hid for many years. His status was the second highest in the country, Macbeth wanted to be first highest person because of his remarkable contribution as a general.  The Three Witches’ augury made Macbeth’s ambition unequivocal and it gave him an excuse for his betrayal.  The prophecy pushed Macbeth to act cruelly to kill people who hamper his progress of being a king. 

There is another crucial factor predominates Macbeth’s decision, Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth was an atrocious woman. In some considerations, Lady Macbeth was more ambitious that her husband. When she perceived the Macbeth would be the King of Cawdor, she decided she would try any way possible to accomplish the prophecy. Macbeth, in other hand, emphasized his wife’s thought. When he planned to give up his sinful killing, Lady Macbeth would consider him as a coward. In the early of the scenes, Macbeth is a puppet of Lady Macbeth in order to get her a higher position.

Go To The Top


Interpretations
-By Xi Cao




1)  Interpretation of Macbeth's soliloquy from Act Two, Scene 1. ("Is this dagger which i see before me...Words to the heat of the deeds too cold breath gives")


 

Soliloquy (From the Text)

Interpretation

Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight? or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?
I see thee yet, in form as palpable
As this which now I draw.
Thou marshall'st me the way that I was going;
And such an instrument I was to use.
Mine eyes are made the fools o' the other senses,
Or else worth all the rest; I see thee still,
And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,
Which was not so before. There's no such thing:
It is the bloody business which informs
Thus to mine eyes. Now o'er the one halfworld
Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse
The curtain'd sleep; witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate's offerings, and wither'd murder,
Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf,
Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace.
With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his design
Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth,
Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear
Thy very stones prate of my whereabout,
And take the present horror from the time,
Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives:
Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.

 

I can’t grab the dagger but I still see it there. It is so realistic in my mind which I could feel the sharpness of it. It can be see but can’t be touched. Is the dagger just an illusory, fictitious image in my tumultuous mind? No, no, no, the dagger is palpable; it is just as palpable as the dagger I now draw from my sheath. It is an auxiliary weapon I was going to use in order to help me to accomplish my goal and ambition in the future. My eyes are being ridiculed! Or are they worth more than my other senses combined. It is still there! Now the dagger is spattered and smelted in my sanguinary soul. The crimson,bloody business that fills my mind is making me see this. Half of the people are sleeping, wicked dreams control the deep, sinister willing of man. Witches sacrifice their offering to Hecate. Howling wolves tell murderers now is the time and serenade Tarquin as he stalks his prey. The earth mustn’t hear my footsteps now, even the stones mustn’t be allowed to betray my whereabouts. No one can see through the vicious dagger beneath my pretension of devoted heart. Nothing must detract from the deed. Now is the time! The time take the power that god mandates to me. All this talk only prolongs his life. It is a confidence between me and my benumbed, callous heart. How words cool the heat of the moment!"

 Go To The Top

2)  Interpretation of Soliloquy from Act Three, Act 1. ("To be thus is nothing But to be safely thus...Rather than so, come fate into the list and champion me to the utterance! Who is there!")


Soliloquy (From the Text)

Interpretation

To be thus is nothing;

But to be safely thus.

To be simply king is not enough for me, I must make my regality fixed.

Our fears in Banquo

Stick deep; and in his royalty of nature

Reigns that which would be fear'd: 'tis much he dares;

We must be vigilant of Banquo, he is a plucky man filled with fidelity

And, to that dauntless temper of his mind,

He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour

To act in safety.

He is a gallant man with acumen, this avoids him to be a foolhardy person.

There is none but he

Whose being I do fear: and, under him,

My Genius is rebuked; as, it is said,

Mark Antony's was by Caesar.

He is the only one I fear. I will be hampered if I stay together with Banquo. Mark Antony felt the same way when he met Caesar just as my feeling when I met Banquo.

He chid the sisters

When first they put the name of king upon me,

And bade them speak to him: then prophet-like

They hail'd him father to a line of kings:

When the Weird Sisters first said I would be king Banquo chided them and insisted they foretell his future. Then like prophets they hailed him father of a line of kings.

Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown,

And put a barren sceptre in my gripe,

Thence to be wrench'd with an unlineal hand,

No son of mine succeeding.

I am wearing a sterile crown and holding a barren sceptre, these all meant that I wouldn’t have posterity to carry on my regality after I die.

If 't be so,

For Banquo's issue have I filed my mind;

For them the gracious Duncan have I murder'd

If that is to be so, then it has been for Banquo that I've murdered a gracious king and haunted myself.

Put rancours in the vessel of my peace

Only for them;

I do this entire vicious thing for Banquo’s descendants?

and mine eternal jewel

Given to the common enemy of man,

To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings!

I've succumbed to the temptations of Satan for Banquo and his sons! No!

Rather than so, come fate into the list.

And champion me to the utterance! Who's there!

Rather than that I will challenge Fate to the death! I will protect my position and receive greatest harvest from my assiduous effort.

Go To The Top





Questions and Analysis
-By Juan Guerrero

Part 1)  How does the play Macbeth fit in with the term’s theme of illusion and reality, blindness and sight? (Plato’s Allegory of the Den, Sophocles: Oedipus Trilogy, The road not taken) Please reflect on insights you have gained…or not…this semester.

The play Macbeth as the other plays and stories read throughout the term, relate closely to the theme of illusion and reality in which all of them use apparitions and sights to explain their main idea. For example Plato’s Allegory of the Den reflects the idea of how people sometimes can be blinded by reality. Then there’s a point where someone gets to see how the real world is and it can sometimes have a great impact on him and on those who he tells.
In Oedipus Rex: Trilogy you can see how its characters try to escape fate, but sooner or later fate will reach up to you and surprise you. This is what was proven in the play when Oedipus tried to escape from what the Oracle at Delphi had told him, but later on he found himself caught up in what was supposed to be his destiny yet ending his life in the way the gods had decided.
After all the plays read in class, it has changed me a lot in which it has made me think on how the world really is and how it does relate to the information given. Now thanks to Ms. Shore and how she has taught me I see things how they really are, because sometimes as a human you are “blinded” by something and you need that extra touch to make you realize the truth. I am thankful for this and to say the truth I enjoyed the class a lot, it has made me mature more than what I was and given me a new way to reflect on life and things. I will leave school with this knowledge and to be totally honest I hope I get to use this information for my future life, thanks Ms. Shore.

Go To The Top

Part 2) Fill in the right names:

In the story of Macbeth, Malcolm enters the play as a heroic fighter who defends the Scottish King Duncan against his Norwegian foe who is being aided by that traitorous Scottish Thane Macdonwald. Macbeth gains another thanedom as a reward for his military successes but assumes it is gotten through the supernatural help of The Three Witches. Macbeth is pushed by Lady Macbeth to become a traitor himself. The slain king’s sons run off in well deserved fear Malcolm to England and Donalbain to Ireland. As an example of the brutal tyranny of King Macbeth, we witness the tragic murders of Lady Macduff and their sons. It is only when Macbeth faces off with his nemesis Fleance who fights for the rightful king, Malcolm, that Macbeth falls.

Go To The Top


Part 3) Pick any 3 of the following quotations. Who said it? To whom? Give act, scene, and line. What does it reveal about the character who is speaking?

“Fair is foul, and foul is fair”
By: Witches
To: Themselves
Here the witches are talking themselves about where to meet Macbeth and tell him part of his future.

“Is this the dagger, which I see before me, the handle toward my hand?”
By: Macbeth
To: Lady Macbeth
Here after Macbeth has committed the murder of King Duncan he sees this dagger which represents the action he has done.

“Come you spirits that tend on mortal thought, unsex me here”
By: Lady Macbeth
To: Herself
Here Lady Macbeth talks to herself and sounds crazy when she starts planning the death of King Duncan by using her own husband for the murder.

Go To The Top

Bibliography:


The background image is based on the flowing source:

http://www.american-pictures.com/genealogy/descent/photos/Macbeth.2.jpg

The  images on Macbeth Newspaper are based on the flowing source:

http://www.bencelstudios.com/images/Artwork/king.jpg
http://ishtarg.cdemusic.org/macbeth/Banquo-2.jpg
http://www.tate.org.uk/collection/T/T00/T00733_9.jpg
http://www.theatrehistory.com/british/macbeth.jpg
http://x5452.landeck-manor.de/026_022.jpghttp://www.notfallseelsorge.de/Bilder/Funeral%20%20Judge%2005.jpg

 

 

Index: Bibliography | Guest Book: To View -To Sign | Web blog: Log In-View | Message Board | Poll | Media Problems Help