Macbeth: Act One

Macbeth: Act One.

 

 

‘Fair is foul, and foul is fair.’ (sc.I)

 

1)      Consider the effects of the strange supernatural figures who greet the audience at the opening of the play. What context for our understanding is on offer? What do they suggest about the role of the ‘feminine’ in Macbeth?

2)    If the ‘fair is foul’ declaration is a useful ‘reading’ of the main situation and meaning of the play then what does this paradox say about Macbeth?

3)    Duncan as the King is supposedly ‘good’ and honourable. However can you detect any irony and ambivalence in his first words: ‘What bloody man is that?’ and his admiration for the ‘brave Macbeth’ shortly afterwards when he describes Macbeth’s bloody defeat of the ‘enemy’.

4)    Do you think Banquo and Macbeth are tempted by the witches’ predictions and how dangerous are these predictions? How is the ‘dilemma’ a temptation? Would Macbeth have thought of Kingship if the witches had not spoken to him?

5)    What type of world is the world of Scotland at this time? What type of behaviour is acceptable? How is the language of the play a reflection of this?

6)    Why does Macbeth write to his wife? And why do we meet Lady Macbeth for the first time as she reads the letter? How useful is this soliloquy for our understanding?

7)    What effects are produced by Lady Macbeth’s anti-maternal language?

8)    Is murder then their ghastly ‘birth’ or ‘offspring’? Is murder an act of consummation and if so what is being consummated?

9)    Think about the relationship between the Macbeths. Are they a close and intimate couple? If so, how ironic is this tragic intimacy and what might be revealed about intimacy through their passionate marriage?

10) There is much made about appearance in this Act. Why is there this recurring investment in the appearance of things?