Scene: At the palace

Characters: Banquo, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth

Action: It is several weeks or months after Macbeth and his wife have been crowned King and Queen of Scotland.  Banquo, alone onstage, thinks about how Macbeth has gotten everything he wanted and expresses the belief that Macbeth “played foully for it.”  He then pnders what the witches predicted for him and seems tempted by it.  Macbeth and his wife enter and invite Banquo to come to a special banquet that night.  Macbeth says that Malcolm has run off to England and is telling the English king that Macbeth usurped the throne.  He asks Banquo questions about where Banquo is going and how long he will be gone. 

After Banquo leaves, Macbeth confesses (in soliloquy) that he’s worried he can’t trust Banquo, and that he’ll do anything to avoid Banquo’s sons becoming king.  He then meets with some murderers whom he has had a meeting with earlier.  He tells them that Banquo is their enemy and they should be willing to help get rid of him.  Because they are poor and desperate, the men say they will do it while Banquo is on his way to the dinner party that night.  Macbeth insists that Banquo’s young son, Fleance, also be murdered.

Literary elements: Suspense – Macbeth’s questions to Banquo about how far he’s going to ride before the banquet are really attempts to get information about where Banquo is going. 

Note that Shakespeare never shows Macbeth and Lady M. at their moment of triumph when they receive the crown.  Instead, he shows that Macbeth is still not contented because he’s worried about Banquo.

Act 3 scene 2

Where: Palace

Characters: Macbeth and Lady Macbeth

Action: Alone, Lady Macbeth admits she is not enjoying being queen because she’s insecure.  When Macbeth comes in, she hides her unhappiness and tries to cheer him up.  Macbeth says he’s been having nightmares and that Duncan-even though he is dead, is better off than Macbeth, who is still worrying.  He tells Lady Macbeth that something must be done about Banquo and Fleance.  But he doesn’t give her any details—he says she’ll know once it has been done.

Literary elements: characterization – Note how the relationship between Macbeth and his wife is changing.  She hides her unhappiness from him.  He does not include her in planning for Banquo’s murder. 

Act 3 scene 3

Where: in a wood near the palace

Characters:  Murderers, Banquo, Fleance

Action:  The murderers wait to ambush Banquo, and when he comes they kill him, but Fleance escapes.

Act 3 scene 4

Setting: Macbeth’s castle

Characters: Macbeth, Lady M. various noblemen, Banquo’s ghost

Action: Macbeth welcomes his guests to the banquet.  He and Lady M. are once again putting on their “false faces” and seeming to be lighthearted and cheerful. Macbeth meets with a murderer at the door, who privately informs him that Banquo has been killed by Fleance escaped.  Macbeth says he’ll have to worry about Fleance later.  When Macbeth goes to sit down beside some of his guests, he sees the bloody ghost of Banquo sitting in the chair.  Macbeth talks to the Ghost and is frightened by it.  Lady Macbeth doesn’t see the ghost and tells the noblemen to ignore her husband’s strange behavior; she says that Macbeth has always suffered from unpredictable “fits.”  Privately, she tells Macbeth to get hold ofhis nerves.  Again, Macbeth thinks he sees the Ghost and Lady Macbeth says “For shame!”  She asks the noblemen to leave early, since her husband is continuing to have a “fit.”  When they are alone, Macbeth comments to her that murder has a way of coming to light.  He worries about the fact that MacDuff didn’t show up at the banquet.  He admits to Lady M. that he has a network of spies in every nobleman’s house so he can keep track of who may be disloyal to him.  And he says that he will go out early tomorrow morning and find the witches to ask them about his future.

Literary elements: Dramatic irony – Macbeth and Lady M. act cheerful to their guests and loudly wonder where poor Banquo is.  They know and the audience knows that Banquo has been murdered.

Characterization – Here, as in the earlier scene when Duncan’s body was discovered and Lady M. fainted, Lady M. cleverly covers up for her husband.

Symbolism – Macbeth’s sleeplessness represents his guilt.

Theme – Macbeth’s guilt.  The appearance of the Ghost and Macbeth’s reaction to it sow that, inspite of what he says, he does feel tremendous guilt.  These feelings will drive him to desperation.  At the end of scene 4 he says “We are yet but young in deed,”  and “I am in blood/Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more/returning were as tedious as go o’er.”  Both statements mean that he intends to keep on intimidating people and killing people to hold on to his power.

Act 3 scene 5

Setting: Place on the heath where the witches meet

Characters: the 3 witches and Hecate, Queen of all Witches.

Action: Hecate appears before the witches, looking angry.  She scolds them for meeting with Macbeth and setting a plan in motion without ever consulting her.  She says she will create a spell to trick Macbeth.  She knows that he will come to find the witches tomorrow.  They will raise false apparitions that will trick him into feeling overconfident.  This will cause Macbeth to use bad judgment and create his own downfall.

Literary elements : Dramatic irony – this whole scene exists solely for the purpose of letting the audience in on the witches’ plans. We know that the visions they will show Macbeth are false and are designed to trick him.  He doesn’t know that. 

Poetry – Hecate, like the other witches, speaks in rhyming couplets, not blank verse.

Act 3 scene 6

Setting: Macbeth’s castle

Characters: Lennox and another thane

Action: These two noblemen compare their views of Macbeth.  Both see him as a tyrant and a man implicated in the deaths of Duncan and Banquo.  Lennox says that Malcolm is in the English king’s court trying to raise an army to attack Macbeth.  Both nobles hope that his plan succeeds.  They also discuss the fact the MacDuff stays away from Macbeth’s castle and has not come to help Macbeth plan for an impending war against Malcolm.

\Literary elements: Exposition – This scene exists solely to let the audience know what the people of Scotland now think of Macbeth.  It also prepares for the re-entry of Malcolm, who will use English troops to fight Macbeth and try to regain his right to the throne. 

English III

Mon. Nov. 16: In class – Review Macbeth vocabulary.  Macbeth Act 2 sc. 3. HW – Read 1984.

Tues. Nov. 17: In class – Review of punctuation rules.  Macbeth Act 2. Sc. 4 HW – Read 1984

Wed. Nov. 18: In class – Quick practice quiz on Shakespeare background and Macbeth ( no grade).  Macbeth Act 3 sc. 1. HW – Read 1984.

Thurs. Nov. 19: In class – Macbeth Act III sc. 2-3. HW – Read 1984.

Fri. Nov. 20: In class – ESSAY on Macbeth.  HW – Read Mac beth Act 3 sc. 4.  Read 1984.

Mon. Nov. 23: In class – FINISH Act III.  General review of play. Acts 1 – 3. HW – Study for test tomorrow.

Tues. Nov. 24: In class – 100 point test on Shakespeare Background/Macbeth Acts 1 – 3.

AP Language

Mon. Nov. 16: In class – TEST on Medieval Background, Chaucer, Canterbury Tales and “Nun’s Priest’s Tale.” HW – Work on journal.  Study for Wordly Wise quiz tomorrow 7/8.

Tues. Nov. 17: In class – Wwise quiz.  Return research paper rough drafts.  Review “The Christian Paradox.” HW – Work on research paper. Final draft (2 copies) due Monday the 23^rd.

Wed. Nov. 18: In class – Practice pre-writing for essay on Gary Soto prompt.  HW – Research paper.

Thurs. Nov. 19: In class – Read Elizabethan Age background.  Background on rhetoric and logical fallacies.  HW – Research paper.

Fri. Nov. 20: In class – Continue background and practice on rhetoric and logical fallacies. HW: Research paper (2 copies plus green sheet and rough draft) due on Monday.

Mon. Nov. 23: In class – Turn in Research Paper final draft.  Practice with passage from Bacon essay. HW Classification assignment in journal..

Tues. Nov. 24: In class - .  Introduction to Elizabethan sonnets .

AP Literature

Mon. Nov. 16: In class – Hamlet Act II sc. 1.  HW – Work on Poetry Out Loud recitations.

Tues. Nov. 17: In class – Hamlet Act II sc. 2 HW- Work on Poetry Out Loud recitations.

Wed. Nov. 18: In class  - Poetry Out Loud recitations.

Thurs. Nov. 19: In class - Hamlet Act II sc. 2 scenes from film

Fri. Nov. 20: In class – Players speech.  Practice multiple choice (10 pts.)

Mon. Nov. 23: In class - .45 point essay (counts as test grade).

Tues. Nov. 24: In class – Begin Act 3 sc. 1 and 2.