MACBETH di William Shakespeare, Sintesi del corso di Inglese

Scarica MACBETH di William Shakespeare e più Sintesi del corso in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! MACBETH UNIT 1 3 witches met in a storm, planning to meet Macbeth. thunder and lightning → open and a not specific place = evil is everywhere when the battle’s lost and won → someone win and someone loose (contrast) the witches represent evil → they can’t change the destiny of man but they can exploit his evil side, that is already inside of him (Macbeth = ambitious) fair is foul → here we have the theme of the whole play - theme of antithesis - appear and reality description of the character of Macbeth : - brave - disdaining fortune and uncaring about his destiny (similar to Beowulf, Achilles, Siegfried and King Arthur) - ambitious - loyal - noble - loved bloody execution, carved out his passage → descrizione molto cruda e uso di parole applied to butchers UNIT 2 It began with the witches describing a vendetta, and preparing to meet Macbeth. They told him that he would become Thane of Cawdor and the King of Scotland. Banquo asked about his own future, and was told that his descendants would become kings although himself would not. The witches refused to answer any more questions and vanished. Ross and Angus arrived and told Macbeth than Duncan had given him the title of Thane of Cawdor. Banquo said it was dangerous to trust supernatural predictions. so foul and fair → foul is for the weather and fair is for the win of the battle + riprende il discorso delle streghe what are these → start of the description of the witches by Banquo : - don’t look like the inhabitants of earth - choppy fingers - beards - skinny lips what are you? = he’s a general so he orders Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor and king → equivocating prophecy, Macbeth is enraptured by the speech like a child hearing a story who neither beg or fear yours favours nor your hate → descrizione del carattere di Banquo = he’s superior and he’s way better than Macbeth if ill...if good → equivocating prophecy = inizia con una verità ma finisce male if chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, without my stir → posizione che verrà contraddetta > SPOTLIGHT ON AMBITION < Macbeth’s ambition is the single defect in his character which leads to catastrophe. UNIT 3 Lady Macbeth reflects on her husband's character. She thought he was too decent, not roughless enough to pursue his ambition to become king. A messenger informed her that Duncan and Macbeth were arriving. At this news, she invoked evil spirits to eliminate from her any womanly feelings that might stand in the way of her plans. the perfectest report, they have more in them than mortal knowledge → he lies about this (there isn’t a third person that can confirms this), he want her to believe that this prophecy is confirmed by someone milk → something produced by women used to feed their kid = it’s a feminine thing. So she’s linking Macbeth with something that is feminine = she’s saying that he wasn’t a man enough raven → messenger of bad luck and death = she has already decided that Duncan will die come x 3 → it’s repeated 3 times like a witch doing a curse take my milk for gall → having no milk means that she’s not a woman = she wants to be unsexed that my keen knife see not the wound it makes → she want a thick in order to not see what she’s doing UNIT 4 They are prepared to kill Duncan but Macbeth doesn’t want to do that because he has everybody’s esteem. So Lady Macbeth gets angry and starts saying that he’s not man enough and that she would even kill her own child rather than go back on a solemn promise. She tells him her plan to make the king's grooms drunk, kill Duncan with their daggers and put the blame on them. This convinced Macbeth. From this time such I account thy love → if you don’t keep a promise you must not be serious also in love I dare do all that may become a man, who dares do more is none → Macbeth says that he's afraid to do what’s suitable to a men but he doesn’t want to do what’s suitable to a murder I would have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums, and dashed the brains out, had I sworn as you have done to this → we can see the real character of Lady Macbeth: - cruel and ruthless - very ambitious - a real witch Bring forth men-children only → she would not convey good values to a child False face must hide what the false heart doth know → appearance and reality > SPOTLIGHT ON A MARRIAGE < The relationship between Macbeth and his wife is central to this play. This is one of the few plays in which Shakespeare portrays a long lasting and successful marriage. UNIT 10 Macbeth begins a speech in praise of Banquo, but is horrified to see Banquo’s ghost sitting in his chair. Nobody else sees the ghost. Lady Macbeth explained away his behaviour to the guests and she decides to interrupt the banquet after the ghost second sight of Macbeth. Alone together, Macbeth tells his wife that he’s suspicious about Macduff’s absence and that he thinks that Macduff has spies everywhere, so Macbeth decided to visit the witches again. Now he can’t turn back, he would become completely ruthless. you know your own degrees → everyone is sitting at their place = in order of their degree they have their sit → Macbeth is in the middle thou canst not say I did it → Macbeth’s behaviour is really strange because he’s seeing the ghost and hath been from his youth → Lady Macbeth says to not care about Macbeth’s behaviour because he’s been doing this since young age you lack the season of all natures, sleep → he’s going crazy because he’s not sleeping during this scene the audience go through catharsis > SPOTLIGHT ON MACBETH’S DEGENERATION < After the murder of Duncan, Macbeth sinks further and further into evil. In this scene he’s already very different from the man who agonised so long before killing Duncan. This ceremonial banquet, which should be the culmination of Macbeth's ambitions, degenerates into chaos and provides a symbol of the degeneration of Macbeth’s reign and of his own mind. UNIT 11 The witches prepare a horrible brew and meet Macbeth. He demands to speak to the witches’ masters. The witches show him 3 apparitions: 1. an armed head tells Macbeth “beware Macduff” 2. a bloody child says that no one naturally born of a woman can harm Macbeth 3. a crowned child, with a tree in its hand, promises that Macbeth would not be defeated until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane castle Then he asks about Banquo and they show him a procession of 8 kings, followed by the ghost of Banquo, who indicates they were his descendants. Lennox tells Macbeth that Macduff has gone to England, so he decided to attack Macduff’s castle and kill everyone in it. UNIT 12 We see Lady Macbeth walking in her sleep, she’s afraid of the dark and has a candle. She obsessively tries to rub imaginary blood away from her hands and alludes to the murders of Duncan, Lady Macduff and Banquo. The doctor concludes that she needs spiritual help rather than medical help. a great perturbation in nature → nature is perturbed again = Macbeth doesn’t sleep and Lady M. walks in her sleep which I will not report after her → Macbeth is a tyrant so everyone has to be careful = they might be in danger she has light by her continually → people that wants the light have dirty conscience = she feels guilty her eyes are open...but their sense is shut → fair and foul + appearance and reality one, two → Lady M. refers to the signs she gave her husband that he could kill the king (ringing the bell) washing → she has blood on her hands = referred to when she took the daggers → she said that they needed just some water = percezione cambiata when none call our power to account → she thinks that nobody suspect of them, in reality Mcduff and Banquo did yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him → confronto con quando parla del padre you mar all with this starting → Macbeth winced after after Duncan here’s the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand → it’s an hyperbole this disease is beyond my practice → the doctors says that she needs a psychiatrist wash your hands, put on your nightgown, look not so pale - I tell you again, Banquo’s buried, he cannot come out on’s grave → everything is mixed up = the murders are not in chronological order (=Mcduff is after Banquo) What’s done cannot be undone → she changes her mind = we find regret and remorse in this sentence UNIT 13 as honour, love, obedience, troops of friends → Macbeth have lost all this things (wife and friends) in their stead, curses, not loud but deep → the only thing he has are curses mouth-honour → his respect it’s just on mouths, not real cleanse the stuffed bosom of that perilous stuff which weighs upon the hearth → it’s a rhetorical question = Macbeth knows that the doctor can’t do that the queen, my lord, is dead → really short sentence = there’s nothing to do she should have died hereafter → Macbeth has no emotions, he express the Shakespeare’s idea of life → life is: - insignificant - unsubstantial = walking shadow - short = brief candle - meaningless = fool - you can’t choose your destiny = recorded time - fragile → refers to Lady Macbeth, she dies young - poor actor that has just 1 hour length for his show → he does his best but it doesn’t matter because nobody will remember him He thinks that you have the power to make your life fair in order to not be afraid of death the wood began to move → 2nd part of the prophecy = soldiers of the english army are cutting off the branches of the trees in the wood in order to disguise their real number, so it seems like the wood is moving to Dunsinane castle and begin to doubt the equivocation of the fiend → Macbeth begins to doubt about the prophecy I’gin to be aweary of the sun, and wish the estate of the world were now undone → he’s depressed bear like → during the banquet there was a bear tied to a pole and everyone were looking and laughing at it, as if they had imprisoned nature’s power tell thee, Macduff was from his mother’s womb untimely ripped → c-section = not born from a woman = he understands that the prophecy was equivocating the usurper’s cursed head → circular structure = the poem begins with Mcdonwald’s head and ends with Macbeth’s head Transformation of Macbeth: - he doesn’t tell his wife he wants to kill Banquo - during the banquet - he’s a brave man because he dares to look at what could appal the devil Macbeth’s symptoms of nervousness and guilt: - he has hallucinations - he imagines scenes of witchcraft - small noises frighten him - the sight of blood frightens him - he feels cut off from the comfort of religion - he hears a voice - he forgets to leave the daggers behind - he cannot look at Duncan’s body again Sleep When you sleep your soul finds relief. It’s one of the most important gifts given to human beings because it’s able to help them in their lives. As sleep does in human lives, Duncan brings order and balance in society. Signs of Macbeth’s degeneration 1. he seems convinced that murder will always be discovered, perhaps by supernatural means 2. he hints that he may take revenge on Macduff for his absence from the banquet 3. he starts keeping spies in the houses of his thanes 4. he decides to consult the witches again 5. he is prepared to do anything to safeguard his position 6. he has committed so many crimes that one more won’t change anything 7. he must act without thinking of the consequences 8. the thinks that his fears are because he’s a beginner of murder Can he really be considered as a hero? In my opinion Macbeth can’t be considered as a hero due to the fact that, even if at the beginning we can say that he got manipulated by his wife, killing Duncan was his own decision and I think that everybody is responsible for his own actions. Themes: 1. ambition 2. conscience and guilt 3. equivocation 4. appearance and reality 5. deasting and hospitality 6. order and disorder 7. sleep and sleeplessness