Introductory Comments to Part Two of this Series
Please read below how I would handle
reading, explanation, and discussion of part Two of this series on how to teach
Macbetht, as an example of how I go
about presenting Shakespeare to students.
I am using my compressed version of Macbeth.
Know that I read every word of the original play with my students and
then perform my compressed version at our annual banquet. I am using the latter version to demonstrate
some of the many explanations I give and questions that I ask when I present a
Shakespearean play to my students.
Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth
All original lines by William
Shakespeare
Compressed for Presentation at Spring 2019
New Salem Educational Initiative Banquet
by Gary Marvin Davison, Ph. D.
Director, New Salem Educational Initiative
From Macbeth,
Act I, Scene Four
[Forres. The palace.]
[Enter Duncan]
Duncan:
[To Macbeth]
Welcome hither:
I have begun to plant thee, and will labor
To make thee full of growing.
My Comment/Question >>>>>
18)
Duncan is the King of Scotland.
He welcomes Macbeth and tells him that he is going to hook him up, that
he will have a promising future.
[To Banquo]
Noble Banquo,
That hast no less deserved, let me unfold
thee
And hold thee to my heart.
My Comment/Question >>>>>
19)
Duncan tells Banquo that he is as much in the king’s favor as is
Macbeth.
[To All]
Sons, kinsmen, thanes, know
We will establish our estate upon
Our eldest, Malcolm, whom we name hereafter
The Prince of Cumberland.
My Comment/Question >>>>>
20)
Duncan says to family and aristocrats gathered that his eldest son,
Malcolm. is being given title as Prince of Cumberland, the position that puts
Malcolm in line to be king.
Macbeth:
[Aside]
Prince of Cumberland! That is a step
On which I must fall down, or else
o’erleap,
For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires:
Let not light see my deep desires:
The eye wink at the hand; yet let it be,
Which the eye fears, when it is done, to
see.
My Comment/Question >>>>>
21)
Read again this line >>>>>
Prince of Cumberland! That is a step
On which I must fall down, or else
o’erleap,
For in my way it lies.
How is Macbeth reacting to Malcolm’s being
next in line to the throne?
Now read again this line >>>>>
Stars, hide your fires:
Let not light see my deep desires:
The eye wink at the hand; yet let it be,
Which the eye fears, when it is done, to
see.
What emotions is Macbeth experiencing? Ever known anyone caught up in such strong
feelings of envy and ambition that she or he would act a fool to get what that
person wants? Any predictions as to what
Macbeth is going to do now?
From Macbeth,
Act I, Scene Five [Inverness. Macbeth’s castle.]
[Enter Lady Macbeth, reading a letter.]
Lady Macbeth:
They
made themselves air, into which they vanished.
Whiles
I stood rapt in wonder of it,
came
missives from the king,
who
hailed me “Thane of Cawdor”;
by
which the title before, these weird sisters saluted
me,
and referred me to the coming on of time
with
“Hail, king that shalt be.”
My Comment/Question >>>>>
22)
Lady Macbeth is reading a letter from husband Macbeth giving an account
of his encounter with the witches, saying that they vanished as if into thin
air after predicting his gaining title to Cawdor and eventually becoming
king. “Rapt” means “enthralled,” which
means “amazed.”
Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be
What thou art promised; yet do I fear thy nature;
It is too full of the milk of human kindness.
My Comment/Question >>>>>
23)
Lady Macbeth is delighted with these predictions but assumes that she is
going to have to buck Macbeth up because in her view he is too much of a wuss
to take the bold action she now envisions.
What doe she mean when she says,
yet do I fear thy nature;
It is too full of the milk of human kindness
?
Hie thee hither,
That I may pour spirits in thine ear;
And chastise with the valour of my tongue
All that impedes thee from the golden
round,
Which fate and metaphysical doth seem
To have crown’d thee withal.
My Comment/Question >>>>>
24) “Hie”
means “get moving’; “hither” means “here.” She tells Macbeth (speaking as if he could hear
her) to get on home so that she could buck him up and move him to aggressive
action for fulfillment of the prophecies.
“Valour” means courage. Notices that this follows the conservative (traditional)
spelling still used, retaining the “u” as is done in the United Kingdom and
Canada. (I usually have to explain the
composition of the United Kingdom and Canadian history as a British imperial possession,
because such important details are not explained in social studies classes.)
“Chastise” in our common usage means to
criticize negatively; here it means “speak
bold words.”
“Impede” means to get in the way of
someone. What is meant by “the golden
round”? (Here I typically encircle my
head to suggest a royal crown.) “Metaphysical”
means something spiritual that cannot be known by rational (logical) thought
processes. To whom and what is Lady
Macbeth referring when she says,
Which fate and metaphysical doth seem
To have crown’d thee withal ?
[Enter Macbeth]
Macbeth:
My dearest love, Duncan comes here tonight.
Lady Macbeth
And when goes hither?
Macbeth:
Tomorrow, as he purposes.
My Comment/Question >>>>>
25) “Hither”
means “here” but in this usage Lady Macbeth is asking when Duncan will go out
from here, the Macbeth palace--- wanting
to know how long Duncan will be visiting them.
Macbeth says that the king “purposes” or intends to return tomorrow,
after just an overnight stay.
Lady Macbeth
O, never shall sun that morrow see!
To beguile the time, look like the
time;
bear welcome in your eye, your hand, your
tongue;
look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under it.
You shall put this night’s great business
into my dispatch
Leave all the rest to me.
My Comment/Question >>>>>
25) Lady Macbeth says that Duncan will
never see tomorrow.
“Beguile” means to charm, bewitch, fool
someone with a false face.
What does she mean by
To beguile the time, look like the
time;
bear welcome in your eye, your hand, your
tongue;
look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under it ?
“Dispatch” usually means to notify or to
send a messenger to notify someone; here
Lady Macbeth uses the word to mean her “control” of the scheme that will ensure
that Duncan does not see tomorrow’s light of day.
This is an enormously important juncture in
the play. What do you think is going to
happen?
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