Macbeth

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   sullymonster Teacher
   Community / Jr. College

   Supernatural Forces

   Act I, scene iii:  The witches gather and perform a spell, ending in "Peace, the charm's wound up." This represents their supernatural being.  Then Macbeth refers to the weird feeling of the day in this quote:  "So fair and foul a day I have not seen."  Because the day is contradictory, Shakespeare is setting an uneasy mood.  Banquo then refers to the witches as "inhabitants o' the earth" as if they are human.  Macbeth will later refer to the information that they gave as and the information from Ross and Angus as "supernatural soliciting".  Act II, scene iii:  Later, after the king has been killed, Lennox will say that "the night has been unruly" and that he heard "strange screams of death and prophesying".  There has been many suggestions of forces beyond men's control.

   Ambition:

   In Act I, scene vii:  Macbeth lists all the reason he should not kill Duncan, but then says "I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself and falls on th' other".  He recognizes that the only reason to kill Duncan is because of what he wants.  Lady Macbeth refers to the deed as ambition herself when trying to convince him to do it.  She says that the crown is the thing "which thou [Macbeth] esteemest the ornament of life".  She says if he wants it, he should take it.

   Look to Act 2, scene ii for quotes from Macbeth about his guilt.

   Sources:

   http://www.enotes.com/macbeth/

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   Posted by sullymonster on Wednesday November 21, 2007 at 7:43 AM
   
   

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