Macbeth Act I notes, questions and comments. 1. Scene i.

As noted, Graymalkin, and Paddock are traditional terms for witches familiars corresponding spirits that aid them in their endeavors. In Shakespeares day, and in one of the play drafts, the third with responds to Anon. This would have signaled to Shakespeares audience the presence of a familiar too powerful to assume corporeal form, refusing to take a physical presence (pg. 1) 2. Scene ii. Make note of the use of imagery and personification in the Ser. speech on page 2. What does the image of the swimmers suggest? What is the opinion of Fortune? (Where else have we seen fortune and fate?) How does Macbeth finish off Macdonwald? 3. What is the status of the battle each time Macbeth shows up? 4. Note the irony in the Ser. response to Duncans question at the bottom of page 2. Where do the images that he uses come from? 5. Describe Rosss entrance on page 3. (What does Lennox comment about his appearance?) What does Ross report? How might his news explain the disposition of his appearance? (Exhaust both plausible explanations.) 6. What does Ross report about compensation that the Norwegian king craves? 7. What punishment does Duncan give too the Thane of Cawdor? What does Duncan tell Ross to give to Macbeth? 8. Scene iii. The witches opening dialogue tells us what about their powers, motivations, and actions? What are they doing in this scene and what are their attitudes towards others?

9. How are Macbeths first lines strangely familiar? 10. How does Banquo describe the witches? 11. What blessings do the witches bestow upon Macbeth? 12. What does Banquo report about Macbeths reaction to the witches and their prophecy? What does he ask the withes and what do they reply? Explain the metaphor seeds of time?

13. How does Banquo explain the witches disappearance?

14. Note Shakespeares use of the emblematic image of the insane root/ That takes the reason prisoner. An emblem differs from a symbol in that its meaning is more literal, based on its representation. Drawing a picture or creating a mental image of this emblem, what is its meaning? Note: The words emblem and symbol often appear interchangeably in day-to-day conversation without causing undue confusion. A distinction between the two may seem unnecessarily fastidious. Nevertheless, an emblem is a pattern that is used to represent an idea, or

an individual. An emblem crystallizes in concrete, visual terms some abstraction: a deity, a tribe or nation, a virtue or a vice. An emblem is an object or a representation of an object. ... A symbol substitutes one thing for another, in a less concrete fashion. (Wiki)

15. On pages 7-8, Angus and Ross enter the scene, what greeting do they give to Macbeth? Compare Angus lack of knowledge regarding events to what Ross reports on page 3. Ross is standing there, why doesnt he correct Angus? What do these scenes lend to the atmosphere of the play? 16. Macbeths first lines on pg. 8 mark the beginning of many asides or places where he is talking to himself or zoning out in the presence of others. What might these many asides tell us about Macbeth? What might they indicate about his state of mind? 17. On pg. 8, how does Banquo explain the accuracy of the witches prophecy? 18.Scene iv. Note the abundance of references to economy payment, recompense, owe. Also, make note of the references to planting and trees. Think: Signifier/Signified. 19. Scene v. How does Lady Macbeths statement to unsex her comment on gender, and its perceived strengths and limitations during Shakespeares time? (Think about the Greater Chain of Being and a womans place therein.) What does she mean when she says take my milk for gall?

20. How many references to time have we seen so far? (eg. beguile the time, seeds of time ) What might time serve as a signifier for? 21. Scene vii. What is the emblem that Lady Macbeth somewhat clumsily constructs at the bottom of page 16? (Was the hope drunk) 22. What is particularly startling about Lady Macbeths first speech on pg. 17, especially the last half? What is she saying that she would do? What does Macbeths response to her plans and prodding on the bottom of page 17 (Bring forth) indicate? Order in everything; everything has its order. Great Chain of Being recapitulates the idea of order found inherently in all things. Nature, kinship, Kingship, etc, the GCB poses and constitutes a hierarchy of authority. How does Shakespeare signify these particular signifieds? (How does language signify order? How else is order represented? Theory of correspondences As above so below, as without so within. The simplest acts reverberate through the cosmos and are felt on their corresponding planes. Look for the links between the actions of men and the sympathetic correspondences in nature. Motifs Blood, time, fate, economy, nature, (dis)information, treachery, etc