Macbeth: Act 1, Scenes 4-5

H. As lady Macbeth sits down reading the letter Macbeth sent her it starts to rain. A dim candle is next to her as she slowly reads each word. As she finishes a jolt of lightning strikes and thunder follows. Lady Macbeth slowly raises her finger (like the witches) and devises a plan to kill king Duncan. But, as soon as she heard Macbeth coming home the rain diminishes and it becomes a normal afternoon.

D. “And fill me from the crown to the toe top full of direst cruelty; make thick my blood, stop up th’access and passage to remorse that no compunctious castings of nature shake my fell purpose nor keep peace between th’effect and it.” (41-46) I really feel that this quote is extremely creepy. In a way, this reminds me of the witches and how they asked these spirits to help them. Also, this quote shows how dark and driven Lady Macbeth is. I think that she wants the throne more then Macbeth does. Macbeth more respect and loyalty then Lady Macbeth does because although he wants to kill King Duncan, he will really never do it. That is why Lady Macbeth is making this plan to push Macbeth to do it.

C. I find it really funny when King Duncan said this, “There’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face. He was a gentleman on whom I built an absolute trust.” (10-13) It is so ironic that he said that, and we all know Macbeth is going to kill him. Rest in peace king duncan.

H. The room is dark and dimly lit by candles positioned around the room. The stone walls stand twenty feet in the air. this is the tallest room in Macbeths castle, it is the entry hall by the large wooden gates. The floor is stone also and the ceiling is arched with pillars made out of- you guessed it- stone. In the center of the room lies a large, round and wooden table. In the center of the table is a vas filled with roses. Lady Macbeth walks slowly around the table reading the letter from macbeth aloud. She wears a simple, yet elegant nightgown and her hair is straight-she has not gone to bed yet. The servent enters from a smaller door leading to the kitchen, not the two large archways that lead to the dining hall and living room. The servent is dressed in simple garments and as a calm look on his face. An expression he has practiced for years, working for the Macbeths

C. I wonder why Macbeth married his wife? She seems to be crazy and power lusting. Their might be some of that in macbeth to, but so far he seems calm and controlled. She just seems to extreme for him. Or maybe she was nice at first and she changed later on and as become a great influence to macbeth…

E. I find it funny how all the characters are kissing each others butts. Even the king who you would think thinks hes better than every one is flattering macbeth.

C. Not sure if this was mentioned earlier but what is around MAcBeth's age? His indecisiveness Tells me that he is on the younger side. I sense thatmhe is like a teenager or possibly a young adult. Again I am not sure if this was mentioned .

C. I think it's under scary that macbeth always thinks about killing people. The fact that he has thought about and also killed so many people concerns me. In my opinion I think Macbeth should worry about being the best king instead of who he will kill next.

E. I enjoyed our conversation about the witches somehow planting the vision of being a king in macbeth's mind as oppose to it being a reality. I kinda makes you think about it a lot. Like Ian said it is Inception like.

C. There were some very interesting points in the scenes we read today in class. Macbeth has a very interesting role in this whole story and he wants to try and become king any way that he can. His constant thought that always remains in his head is that he must kill the king and then he can easily flow into being the next and future king, because he is heir to the throne. But the king gives Malcolm the next heir to the throne instead of Macbeth. Why didn't Macbeth question him? If Macbeth knew that he was the rightful heir and he had evidence for it, then he could have nothing to worry about. But he just ate it up and didnt say anything. The only thing that he did was create a guilty expression on his face and begin to think of more ways to kill the king and Malcolm.

A. In the next scene following this one, we first meet Lady Macbeth. She is a very mysterious and evil character. In the beginning of the scene, she reads aloud a letter that Macbeth has written to her. We see that in this letter he states that he wants to kill the king and try his best to get to sit on the throne. But then something unexpected happens. As a lady you expect her to be more of the gentle side and the more reasonable side. But I was utterly mistaken to say that. Lady Macbeth suddenly calls her husband to soft and friendly and that he wont ever kill the king when push comes to shove. She is basically stating that she will take responsibility in killing the king instead of Macbeth. This is something that I completely did not expect from this character. Although I do see that Macbeth is dark and mysterious himself, and that his wife should be like him, I did not expect however that Lady Macbeth would be darker and more criminalizing than Macbeth himself.

I. I also agree with Ian Richter for the reason of why Macbeth always thinks of ways to kill and not end things in a more cleaner manner. I believe that with the mind like Macbeth's he can think of many more ways to get himself to be king.

D. Lines that I like are, " The Prince of Cumbrland! That is a step on which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, for in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires! Let not light see my black and deep desires." I like these lines because we get into Macbeth’s mind. We see that he wants nobody to know that he want to kill great men in order to obtain a higher status

i. I agree with ray parks A. response, “ In the next scene following this one, we first meet Lady Macbeth. She is a very mysterious and evil character. In the beginning of the scene, she reads aloud a letter that Macbeth has written to her. We see that in this letter he states that he wants to kill the king and try his best to get to sit on the throne. But then something unexpected happens. As a lady you expect her to be more of the gentle side and the more reasonable side. But I was utterly mistaken to say that. Lady Macbeth suddenly calls her husband to soft and friendly and that he wont ever kill the king when push comes to shove. She is basically stating that she will take responsibility in killing the king instead of Macbeth. This is something that I completely did not expect from this character. Although I do see that Macbeth is dark and mysterious himself, and that his wife should be like him, I did not expect however that Lady Macbeth would be darker and more criminalizing than Macbeth himself”

E. I really liked our conversation about the witches planting the vision of being a king in macbeth's mind. It makes you think about it a lot.

I believe Macbeth's wife is crazy. She seems not the right type of wife a great warrior, and soon to be thane of Cawdor, and eventually king should have. She wants to kill the king. Whats up with that? And she was saying it in a very creepy way. She wants some type of spirit to come to her. Weird!

C. I'm confused why Macbeth's wife wants to kill the king so badly. I understand that if that happens he may become the king but, take it easy man, if the witches say it's going to happen, it will. Or maybe the witches are making her act like this to fufill their prophecy. We still don't know if the witches are controlling what is going on or just told Macbeth what is going on.

I. I agree with jackson's idea how the witches may just be putting ideas into Macbeth's head. Not even controlling the situation and just lying about being the king. They may have done that just to create conflict. It's a possibility but I highly doubt it because him being thane of Cawdor, has almost already been proven true.