Macbeth - Act 1 Reading Journal

Scene 1
- First characters are the Witches. They apear to be planning, and speaking in rhyme (mystery, poetic)
- Thunder & Lightning = Goithic setting of darkness, mysery and an element of danger
- ''Fair is Foul, Foul is Fair'' quotation shows the twisted beauty in the poetic dialogue of the witches. Also portrays their enjoyment of causing death and creating madness
- Witches can predict future? Their dialogue foreshadows later events
- Scene shows the elements of the supernatural, scary and poetic language

Scene 2
- Enter a ''Bleeding Captain'', the first appearence of the theme of blood in the play. Very Gothic
- Captain portrays Macbeth (who still has not appeared in the play) as ''brave Macbeth'' and a ''cannon overcharged with double cracks''. Heroic warrior
- ''carved out his passage'', ''unseamed him from the nave to the chops'' and ''fixed his head upon our battlements'' portray gruesome images to the audience. Also, the last quote can be seen as a foreshadowing to Macbeth's own demise
- However, can the Captain be a reliable messenger? first, he is adressing the king, and will not wish to dissapoint him, second he is dying from his wounds and may be confused/disorientated
- The king bestows honour onto Macbeth for fearsome deeds, showing that How the battle is won is juat as important as Who won it.

Scene 3
- Witch two explains how she cursed a woman's husband with no sleep because she refused to give her chestnuts, and ripped off the thumb of a pilot. grotesque goings-on with the witches
- a drum sounds when Macbeth enters the scene. furthers the air of mistery.
- Witches prophesy over the kingship of Macbeth and Banquo. Unholy Prophesy furthers the possibility that they may have an insight into the future
- Macbeth shows signs of internal conflict, between ambition and loyalty, greed and fear. Banquo advises him not to think of such things
- 'Witches Vanish' stage directions show they are definately a supernatural element of this tragedy
- ''Cannot be ill, cannot be good'' shows how confused Macbeth has become by the witches' statements
- ''look how our partner's rapt'' after Macbeth's aside speach shows the audience that the other charcters of the play have noticed how mesmorised Macbeth has become

Scene 4
- Shakespeare's structure; 'a gentleman on whom I built absolute trust' enter Macbeth 'O worthiest cousin!' - Irony
- ''The service and loyalty I owe...'' Is he genuine to the king? What is he really thinking?
- the aside speach is in rhyming couplets. Macbeth is not supposed to have done this on purpose, but Shakespeare uses it to make his lines stand out here.
- ''I must fall down or else o'erleap'' Macbeth knows that it is a 'do or die' situation. he either acts quickly or not at all. he is still contemplating wether or not to do what must be done to obtain the throne of scotland

Scene 5
- Inroduction of Lady Macbeth:
1. We dont see how she behaves before she reads Macbeth's letter, so we are led to beleve that how she acts prior to reading the letter is how she always acts
2. Lady Macbeth is the first person who actually mentions killing the king to obtain the throne. Is she actually smarter than Macbeth, or just more devious?
3. Lady shows dominance over Macbeth, telling him that he is not man enough to kill the king
4. Question - Has shakespeare made a single-track minded beast, or an actual person with a concience, in Lady Macbeth?
- Faith/Relegion dilemmas and quotations; “Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark” – doesn’t want God to see and/or signs of a sense of guilt? “Look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under’t” – reference to the Garden of Eden Serpant (Satan).
- Letter sent ahead of Macbeth shows secrecy and limited disclosure of information
- the Doppleganger - are Macbeth and Lady supposed to reprisent 2 sides of 1 person?
- She seems to be the driving force behind fulfiling the witche's prophesy, in that she drives Macbeth to kill Duncan. Is she just a sort of catalyst?
- Gothic language - Raven, Blood and Battlements
- Lady as a 'Femme Fatal' to Macbeth

Scene 6
- ''The air is delicate.'' Enter Lady Macbeth. More of Shakespeare's purposefull timings, introducing irony
- The  king kisses Lady Macbeth as a sign of gratitude and greeting. Deceitfull beauty, Femme Fatal for Duncan etc
- does Macbeth's soliloquy that he is just as 'ambitious' as Lady Macbeth? it makes her look less evil in comparison
-  He has a conscience, and it troubles him much more than Lady Mc's does 
-  Lady Macbeth mocks Macbeth's manhood.
- Distorts innocence; “And dashed [babie's] brains out”
- Macbeth enters alone. needs time alone to think, dosen't have to hide how he feels
- Lady Macbeth; passionate, or faking? -‘thy love’
- the God-fearing/rational part of his mind tels him to forget about it all, proving the existence of a conscience (“No Further in this business”)
- manipulative Lady (blackmail?)
- “be so much more the man” – convinces him that he needs to man-up
- “False face must hide what the false heart doth know” ncourages him to be as deceitfull as her.