MACBETH- PLOT OVERVIEW-STUDY GUIDE

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Act 3 Scene 1

In a speech alone on stage, Banquo expresses his suspicions that Macbeth has gained the crown wrongly, 'foully' (3.1.3). Macbeth invites Banquo to the feast he is holding that evening and then finds out that Banquo and Fleance are going out riding during the afternoon.

Macbeth, in a soliloquy, tells the audience of his bitterness over the witches' prophecies to Banquo: that he will be father to a line of kings while Macbeth will have no heirs to the throne.

To be thus is nothing; but to be safely thus -
Our fears in Banquo stick deep (3.1.49-50)

Macbeth arranges to have Banquo and Fleance murdered.

Questions:
1. What argument does Macbeth use to convince the murderers to act?
2. How has Macbeth changed since the start of the play?

Scene 2

Lady Macbeth wants to speak to her husband, and sends word through a servant.

Naught's had, all's spent,
Where our desire is got without content; (3.2.6-7)

Lady Macbeth has not gained what she expected from Macbeth's accession to the throne. She is dissatisfied and seems lonely. She asks Macbeth why he is depressed and isolated. He explains his state of mind in lines 15-48.

Questions:
1. Why does Macbeth feel upset?
2. How has the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth changed from the beginning of the play?

Scene 3: Another murder!!

The murderers kill Banquo but Fleance escapes.

Scene 4

The king is holding his feast and the murderers tell him that Banquo is dead but that Fleance has escaped. This adds to Macbeth's worries but he goes to the feast. Macbeth is afraid when he sees the ghost of Banquo but Lady Macbeth tells him it is all in his imagination. The other guests think the king is having a momentary fit. Several times the ghost appears to Macbeth.

Questions:
1. What do we learn about Macbeth 's state of mind when he sees Banquo's ghost?
2. What dramatic effect would this appearance have on the audience?

Lady Macbeth sends the guests away and Macbeth speaks about the nature of violence: 'It will have blood, they say: blood will have blood.' (3.4.123)

Macbeth wonders why Macduff did not come to the feast.

He intends to visit the witches, to know 'the worst' (3.4.136) and to do whatever he must for his own good:

I am in blood
Stept in so far, that should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o'er:

We are yet but young in deed. (3.4.137-145)

Scene 5

The chief witch, Hecate, is angry because the three witches have tricked Macbeth without her help. She is going to make a powerful potion that will'draw him on to his confusion' (3.5.29)

Note that many scholars believe that this scene was not written by Shakespeare, but was added after his folios were published.

Scene 6

Lennox and another lord are discussing the state of Scotland under the rule of the 'Tyrant' (3.6.22 and 25), Macbeth. Malcolm and Macduff have gone to England to get help from Edward the Confessor, the King of England and a good king. Scotland is a 'suffering country, /Under a hand accurs'd.'(3.6.48-49)

Questions:
1. At the beginning of the play what did the Scottish lords think of Macbeth?
2. How has this changed?

3. Who is suspected of killing Banquo?