Act Three: Macbeth Reading Journal

Scene I:

Macbeth and Banquo, as in the second act, are portrayed as very contrasting characters. Macbeth has evil intentions for his friend, which he hides through using apparently well-meaning words. For example, Macbeth’s order – ‘Fail not our feast’ is deeply ironic because Macbeth intends that Banquo will never arrive, having been murdered at Macbeth’s command. Banquo, on the other hand tells him – ‘Let your highness command upon me, to the which my duties are with a most indissoluble tie forever knit’. This emphasises his ongoing loyalty and respect for Macbeth.

Also, the fact that Macbeth dismisses his wife in court whilst saying – ‘While then, God be with you’ - makes you think that the balance between evil with the two of them has shifted. It makes the audience think whether Macbeth becoming king has made him more evil than Lady Macbeth, which is a distinctive contrast to the previous act. She used to order him around and now he does the same to her.

The murders are also a crucial part of the scene. Macbeth gets two other men to do his dirty work, instead of doing it himself. He has made himself like all other typical tyrants in other stories. This is a colder approach to what he did with Duncan, which suggests that his morality has changed from earlier scenes. Or maybe he fears to feel the same conscience again?

Scene II:

Shakespeare uses contrasting words or phrases, which suggest uneasiness between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and also Macbeth’s troubled conscience (e.g. – ‘our desire… without heart’s content). The scene also shows how Lady Macbeth feels weary and isolated with the marriage, which is a huge contrast to previous speeches from her of a sexual nature – ‘unsex me’.

Macbeth’s lines also use terrifyingly intense images (‘thy bloody and invisible hand’ and ‘night’s black agents to their preys do rouse’), quite similar to his previous soliloquy about the dagger. This is not a good sign as at the time that speech led to a very evil Macbeth. It implies that Macbeth is just going to turn more and more evil.

Scene III:

This is a very short scene but it is full of action. It is set in the darkness, which sets out the gothic theme within the play again. Also, the murder is actually set out on stage and not behind the scenes. I think this shows how greatly the change is with Macbeth. The level of his evil is rising and it is emphasised with the murders he performs or initiates.

Scene IV:

A banquet is meant to be a harmony between the king and his subjects. It is ironic that this scene is of a banquet because Macbeth has violated that harmony by killing the previous king and Banquo. His behaviour is pretence. Also, once again, Macbeth avoids naming the deed he has just asked the murderers to perform – probably to avoid feeling conscience. He uses evasive language by calling it words or phrases such as ‘dispatched’ and ‘the like’ and ‘it’.

The ghost is a very significant part of this scene because it emphasises the supernatural and gothic element of the play. Not only that, but it mirrors Macbeth’s guilt and irrational decisions. The fact that Duncan’s ghost did not appear is also questionable. He felt conscience then but maybe because he did not do the deed himself, he had to face the consequences of his actions by seeing Banquo’s ghost.

Macbeth’s starts to lose his cool and so does Lady Macbeth and whispers of Macbeth’s role as a king start to surface. Their guilt is proving harder to cover up.

Scene V:

The return of the witches continues to drum in the fact that the supernatural element in Macbeth plays a big part in the events that have happened and will follow. The fact that a higher power – Hecate – comes in to tell the witches how wrong they were by interfering suggests that there is a bigger picture to everything that is happening. It is just destiny’s plans for Macbeth and Scotland. Words such as ‘spells’ and ‘charms’ also emphasise the supernatural’s influence on the play.

Scene VI:

The unnamed Lord has a similar dramatic function as to the Old Man in the second act. However, his words are of hope and peace whilst the old man’s was of the strangeness and chaos. This could be connotations of future peace in Scotland.